Royal Society of Chemistry defines perfect Yorkshire pud

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has ordained that a Yorkshire pudding is not in fact a Yorkshire pudding if it's less than four inches tall, and has issued the definitive recipe for the traditional pud so aficionados can bake 'em up just like granny used to. The judgement came in response to an SOS from Brit expat Ian …

[Mad as a Bat]

I beg to differ...

...as a Yorkshireman I take exception with the rather pathetic quantities of pudding offered by the Royal Chemistry Society's recipe.

Here's a recipe that gives 6 good servings of pudding:

6oz plain flour

1/2 pint milk

3 eggs + 1 egg white

salt to taste

Blitz the lot with a hand blender. Leave to stand 30 minutes.

Heat a tablespoon of goose fat* in a full-sized roasting tin in a hot oven. At least 220C for a fan oven and as hot as it will go for a conventional oven. The oven needs to be up to temperature before adding the roasting tin. Get the roasting tin good and hot before adding the mixture. Give the mixture a final blitz then pour into the roasting tin and shove into the oven for 15 minutes and DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!

Cut up and serve slices with gravy as a starter. I usually hold back a little of the mix to thicken the gravy.

*goose fat has a higher smoking point than beef or pork fat but you can use beef/pork fat if you want a kitchen full of smoke.

[Anonymous Coward]

From a true yorkshireman....

Add an extra egg, it always comes out better!

[andy gibson]

Yum

Can't beat a traditional Yorkshire Sunday dinner - with Yorkshire Pudding as the starter, with the main course, and as a dessert!

[Mark]

I made 'em just fine

And I'm from SOUTH wales.

Wasn't soggy (except on some batter I had left over and put in the fridge for the next day). I used Clover in the bottom of a small lasagne pan, put it in the oven long enough to melt the "butter" and then poured maybe 2/3 inch of batter in it. Left it in there cooking until there was only a little water/fat left in the centre of the pud.

Worked fine. The very edges a little crispy with a softer batter in the middle (under the surface) and (I think I used a little too much fat) a slightly glazed underneath, meaning the pud came out easily. Though the glazed surface may have helped stop the gravy soaking into the pud while just sitting in the gravy.

[Simon Miles]

Hmmm

Not the most detailed recipe i.ve ever seen, how much milk/water?

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Yorkshireman I have one thing to say.

Cock.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pah....

What does some la-di-da RSC bod know about anything

Method:

Call aunty. Inform beloved relation of need for sustanance.

Sit back and wait.

It's also advisable not to have eaten for three days and to plan for not being able to move for a further three days as quality will only be surpassed by quantity.

[Matt Thornton]

RSC

So first they're saying they want to create an ending to the Italian Job (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/30/italian_job_ending_solution_contest/) and now they're coming up with the perfect Yorkshire pudding.

Do these "scientists" ever actually do any real work?

[Simon]

Quantities

What sort of a ridiculous recipe is this....

How can you state specific amounts of egg, flour and salt, when the half water, half milk has no quantity. By this definition I could use 1 gallon of water and 1 galloon of milk mixed with 1 egg, a tablespoon and a half of flour (is that plain or self-raising?) and half a teaspoon of salt and make the 'perfect' pud....I think not.

Either the RSC, or your hack, should be ashamed of themselves!!!

I also seem to remember that Yorkshire Pudding originates in Nottinghamshire...

[Nick Ryan]

Alternatively...

Alternatively, here's the easy way without messing around with this making wells in centre of bowls of flour nonsense..

Measure the milk and water into a blender (no need for a separate measuring container as the blender will have a scale on it). Dump all the other ingredients in afterwards. Blend until until it's all mixed smoothly. Leave for few minutes and pour into the hot dish as normal.

For the final act of laziness, rinse the blender and half fill with water with a little washing up liquid. Run the blender and it'll clean itself.

Done.

And the tech angle? using tech to make life easier - as it should be.

[JonP]

RSC?!

Wasn't it the RSC with that thing about the Italian job ending?

Do they actually ever do any chemistry or do they just sit around watching films and troughing yorkshire puds? Anyone know if they've got any jobs going?

[Anonymous Coward]

Strangely Enough

When I was in the States (In Denver, then strangely enough in Boulder also!) I had exactly the same problem. For years I've ued Delia's recipe with absolute success... but over there they failed. Without fail. Might be down to the differences in flour or the fact that they are a so high up there (altitude wise), but they never turned out right :( Back in the UK, no problems at all......... :)

[Paul Saleh]

Flamin' Chemists.

Tablespoons? Teaspoons? Scientific? And how much water/milk? This recipe won't get past the peer review stage I fear.

[It wasnt me]

Morons

Thats the mark of someone who spent too long at university and consequently has no view of the real world.

Boulder CO is at an altitude of 1 mile give or take. The recipe needs altering as it does for all recipes that rely on air / gas spaces expanding.

No wonder people are pulling funding for UK science if these are the numpties we pay for.

[Anonymous Coward]

bad science

"Half milk, half water to make a thin batter. " Half what? cup, pint or (god forbid) litre?

[DrPoppers]

Science, my ....

The RSC is publishing this? From my years studying chemistry I would expect an exact recipe. How much in weight is 1 1/2 table spoons? What volume of milk/water? Full fat milk or semi skimmed? What exact viscosity of batter is required? My old chemistry lecturer would have slapped my hands for such a wishy washy write up of an experiment, I want exact details.

[Sweep]

I love puds

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

2/3 eggs

pinch salt

dash worcestershire sauce

mix, leave to stand 30 minutes

heat oven to Really Fucking Hot

put roasting tin or pud tin in oven with fat or oil in the bottom. Heat till smoking. Add batter. cook 15-20 minutes. Eat.

[Luther Blissett]

Not just chemistry, then

> "It's in the blood and instinct of people born and raised there."

The RSC (not to be confused with the other RSC) recognises the element of voodoo.

God help us. Shouldn't this RSC be doing some real chemistry that badly needs doing well - like researching the effects of combinations of NICE's drugs? It even seems to have forgotten that Yorkshire Puds are CALORIES. And calories = fat people according to the prevailing Gospel. Which suggests some more real chemistry they could do - research in full the metabolic pathways, which HMcGuv wants us to believe are known, but are not. God help us.

[Eddie Edwards]

n00b question

How is that supposed to rise without using bicarb or self-raising flour?

[Nick]

Surely not....

A Yorkshire man insisting he knows better and insisting he has the last word?

Surely not.

/mine's the one with the Hale and Pace Yorkshire Airways sketch in the pocket

[Simon Round]

Pyrex!

"He explained: "I use batter mix that I pick up on my trips back to Blighty and my mum's old Pyrex dish. Perhaps the secret is to make them as she, as a true Yorkshirewoman, did. I try to follow in her steps."

Pyrex! Bloody Pyrex! Lad's got to be a bloody southerner.

What you need my lad is a good old fashioned metal Yorkshire Pudding Tin with a coating of carbon on it and bits of the last yorkshire pudding you made. Never wash the tin.

Put a good dollop of beef dripping or fat in the bottom and let it get very hot and smoking before you put in't mixture.

Bloody Pyrex!

I remember when all this were fields.

And Yes. I am a Yorkshire Lad born a and Bred. Bloody Pyrex!

Paris - because she knows you have to put it in hot.

[Keith Williams]

Something else too

My Gran was a Yorkshire lass, and my mum learned from her, and my mum insisted that the milk and egg had to be warm, not fresh from the fridge, before using.

And it is high time that the Register addressed these pressing issues from the world around us.

[Hollerith]

And adjust for altitude

In the Rocky Mountains, you have to adjust cooking times etc., as altitude really does make a difference. I was always wrecking hard-boiled eggs when I came to the UK, until I did them for less time.

[Sam]

This one always rises matron

Multiply as needed....

3 oz plain flour

3 floz Milk

2 floz water

egg

pepper

salt

2 Tablespoons of animal grease.

Bung all ingredients except the animal grease in a hand cranked blender as early as possible.

Blend.

Every time you go to check din din, blend again (ensures air entraining and long chain molecular malarkey).

Hot oven 220C, smoky fat (like the goose fat tip!), 20 mins while beef is resting.

Eat and drink far too much, watch MotoGP/F1/Superbikes/Cricket/whatever.

Break wind.

[Charles Tsang]

salt to taste?

Does that mean u have to taste the raw batter to determine the saltiness?

Eewwww...!

I guess you could remember for next time though.

[Dave Gregory]

I was going to say that.

The secret of a proper Yorkshire is, as Mad as a Bat states:- get it hot, and keep the door shut.

Also, it's a long, long time since I heard of anyone else using pudding batter to thicken the gravy, something my grandmother used to do. Ahhh, nostalgia...

[David Willis]

Simple solution

1 cup of flour

1 cup of eggs

1 cup of milk (milk/water mix if you want)

1 cup = easy to remember!

1 teaspoon of salt.

beat eggs first, add four and milk, beat. Allow to stand for 10 mins.

Cooker temp about 200 C, get the oil/fat to smoking stage and add mixture. DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR UNTIL COOKED.

Could I add the definition (to clarify for the chemists) - Yorkshire nann bread - like Yorkshire pudding but less than 1 inch tall..

[Edward Clarke]

Your recipes aren't going to work...

Baking in Boulder is a pain in the arse. You're over a mile ( 1655 meters ) up from sea level. See if you can dig up "Pie In The Sky - Baking at High Altitudes" by Susan Purdy (ISBN 0-06-052258-5). The techniques in there may help you with your pudding.

[Eric Sisson]

Altitude affects cooking

One factor that Ian Lyness and the RSC should consider is the effects of altitude on cooking. Many recipes require modification for altitudes above 3,500 feet. According to Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder,_Colorado the elevation of Boulder is 5,430 feet or 1,655 meters.

[IR]

High altitude

Boulder is about a mile above sea level. You have to change the cooking instructions for everything up there, I think usually you add a little extra self raising flour for cakes but I have no idea about Yorkie Pud. Bisquick used to have a good Yorkshire Pudding recipe on the British boxes, but they stopped putting it on there for some reason.

[Alistair]

Marmalade

Serve left-over Yorkshire Pudding with marmalade.

Can we now have the perfect recipe for that delicious orange-based preserve?

[Andrew Moore]

I've never had any problems...

but then it takes a Lancastrian to do the job properly anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

A title is required

Friend of mine (a southerner) makes the best yorkies I've ever tasted, using almost exactly that recipe. The exception is that she's a veggie, so she doesn't use beef dripping as oil. She replaces it with olive oil, in which she melts a lump of butter (about 1/4 the volume).

I'd try it myself, but I'm such a bad cook, I can burn water. And even when I don't, it comes out lumpy.

[Anonymous Coward]

So nice to see that someone knows how to serve them...

I've only ever had them served properly once. That was in Bradford.

(And the family were surprised that I knew how it was supposed to be served. Little did they know that the Southerer had a Northern parent...)

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Mad as a bat

A table spoon and a half of flour???

Half milk, half water???

Half a teaspoon of salt?????

Where the fek is the exact science in that????

TY Mad aza bat for the more precise measures! :-) Now - if it was not for the fox that ate my chickens last night I would have some bloody eggs to try it with....

[Keith]

And for people who have things to do in life

Aunt Bessy makes yorkshire puddings.

She even makes ready cooked ones that just need heated.

(mine's the one with the couple of quid in the pocket to go buy some frozen ones)

[Nemo Metis]

@ Sam

one word my son, Perfick!

And if you want it done the best me ducks, then only in the proper home of the Yorkie pud can you get it: Nottingham.

[Paul Schofield]

Theres yer problem....

I see 2 fundamental problems in his approach....and they are both summed up in his first sentence:

"I use batter mix that I pick up on my trips back to Blighty and my mum's old Pyrex dish"

As previously noted - Bloody Pyrex!!!! you cook yorkshires in a nice thin tin that is reserved only for making that food of the gods of Yorkshire......

Secondly (and I am suprised no other bloody minded yorkshire git has picked up on this) Effing Batter Effing Mix???? Who uses mix to make a dish that is Eggs, Flour, Salt and Milk??? Come On.......

Yorkshire pudding batter is gut feeling.... a Yorkshireman KNOWS when it is right.... get the fat hot, keep the door closed....and never will a floppy pudding appear again....

Bringing a little piece of Yorkshire to Canada....and never have a problem getting my puds up.......

[Anonymous Coward]

Aunt Bessy's

In the freezer! Always work perfectly for me, but then again I am a lancastrian so I guess the Yorkshie lot would not expect any better!

AC and flames because.......

[Frank]

@andy gibson re. yum

...and for dessert as well ?!?!

oh....maybe with sugar in the batter mix....and some jam spread on top.........I'll try it :)

P.S. try spreading a little bit of strawberry jam on a slice of fried bread, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Anonymous Coward]

@And for people who have things to do in life

They are NOT Yorkshire puddings. If you believe they are then you have never had proper ones.

Paris 'cos she'll know how to make 'em rise.

[Anonymous Coward]

*Shakes head*

I'm a Midlander living down south and I've never had problems with my Yorkshire puddings. Use a tin, get the oven hot and get the oil in the tin hot. And keep the oven door shut! This makes a huge difference in the quality of the final pudding.

Of course, if cookery was taught to a decent level in education these days there would be no need for the RSC to do something like this.

[Rob]

People from yorkshire

are they related to people from ireland, they both seem to go on about being from a particular place, yet they never seem to be in that place, if it's so good, shut up and go back, otherwise just accept that you're just another earthling like everyone else

[Anonymous Coward]

Recipes

Thanks for the extra recipes. The RSC one is a bit daft as it doesn't state how many it serves and some of the quantities.

The last time I tried to make home Yorkshires, they came out like flat pancakes. Quite stodgy too. Think too much flour.

Anyway - will try some of the above next time.

Peter

[Paul Rhodes]

Too Thick == RSC == Not Risen

West Yorkshire recipe works fine on the shores of Lake Ontario - no altitude adjustment needed here. I find that Canadian oven doors are too big and the house fills with smoke too easily, if the Smoke Alarm doesn't go off, the oven's not hot enough!

Put a fork in the mixture, remove it and hold level, and the mixture should run smoothly down the tines if it's thin enough.

[Anonymous Coward]

@David willis

"1 cup = easy to remember!"

easy to remember, but not exactly an acurate measurement. Using a coffee cup will give slightly different results to using an egg cup.

Perhaps America has some strange conspiracy between cup manufacturers to keep them all the same size.

[Martin]

what??????

And for people who have never had a proper yorkshire pudding

By Keith Posted Thursday 13th November 2008 15:16 GMT

Aunt Bessy makes yorkshire puddings.

She even makes ready cooked ones that just need heated.

(mine's the one with the couple of quid in the pocket to go buy some frozen ones)

corrected for you

[Edward Rose]

I can't believe it!

"I use batter mix that I pick up on my trips back to Blighty "

Am I the only person here to be deeply disturbed by this comment. It's flour!

Then, he goes on to say he try's to make them like his mum did (or something like that).

Definitely use a metal / enamled tin.

Can also make sure stuff stays hot by shoving t' hob on, then putting tin on t' hob (especially if you are putting sausages in, or better still, bacon pieces).

[Random Noise]

Good with BRANDX mustard

Colemans mustard eh?

Colour me cynical here but just how much of a bung did RSC get from Coleman's PR company for this?

Excellent explanation of this practice can be found on Bad Science.

http://www.badscience.net/

[Senor Beavis]

@Mad as a Bat

I'm now copying and pasting the recipe using a "Peeee Ceeeee", thereby providing the heretofore absent IT angle

[Anonymous Coward]

To combine threads

How can I use a Yorkshire pudding to solve 'The Italian Job'?

[Anonymous Coward]

Heston Blumenthal's recipe

2 eggs

Half a cup of plain flour

Half a cup of milk

A pinch of salt

Briskly combine the ingredients in a pre-heated particle accelerator and set to 'High' for 20 minutes.

[Roger Greenwood]

A true yorkshireman

would not be seen dead in a kitchen, except to get another glass of chilled chardonnay from the fridge.

[Anonymous Coward]

For perfect puds...

Stick in oven that's at 180C, then crank the dial to 240C so oven temperature increases as puds cook. 10-12 min is enough.

[Simon Robinson]

Complaints about fluid measures

As far as I understand it, "Half milk, half water to make a thin batter" means you add the milk/water gradually until the mixture is a thin batter. Therefore exact measurements are impractical. However, they should define the dry measures better (especially as that seems an excessive amount of salt).

The best solution to this, as any other culinary problem, is "Muuummm....."

/off to tease Chemistry lecturer friend

[Jon Green]

Missed two vital points!

1. Use the cheapest, weakest flour you can find. If you use strong flour (high gluten), the puds won't make it much past the rim of the dish;

2. Despite comments here, do as little beating of the mixture as possible. The less gluten that's released, the better the result. If you're going to use a blender, stop immediately you've the right consistency.

Oh, and it doesn't have to be animal fat in the pan. Veg fat works fine -- try it with extra-virgin olive oil for a different (and rather nice IMHO) flavour.

If you can get hold of Geo Watkins Mushroom Ketchup, add a little instead of water for a real depth of flavour. If you can't, try a little light soy sauce (but remember to reduce the amount of salt accordingly).

[Gary]

Dumb recipie

I don't think I will try the recipe. It is wrong. Only a moron would post a recipie like that. Maybe you want to try my recipie for apple pie.....

1 tbl spoon of flour

some milk

some lard

some apples

some heat

some sugar

some baking powder

some stuff

instructions....

combine all the stuff together. cook.

If you like the recipie for apple pie, I have more like that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Get thissen out a' kitchen lad

Batter mix? Get outta' road lad...

Tha' needs:

'ot tin (not cleaned) wi' fat smokin'

8 eggs

8 oz flour

pint 'a proper milk

bit a' salt

Stick tin in t'oven as 'ot as it'll go. Put flour in t'bowl, make a well in t'middle wi' a fork. Crack t'eggs into middle and draw in t'flour from edges til tha' gets an even paste. Slowly add t'milk as stirrin'. Chuck in some salt.

When t'fat is smokin' take out tin and add batter. Whack it back in fer abaht 15-20 minutes, an' keep friggin' door shut!

Make sure tha' puts tha' tray low in t'ven, as them buggers don't alf rise!

Add beef an' gravy and tha's got a reet treat there lad.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jamie Oliver syndrome

Salt, pepper, "worcestershire sauce"? Egg whites? Fucking amateurs! The only thing that'd save your skins in Yorkshire is the guy who recommended the frozen ones.

[Chris]

yanks

I was in my 30's before I discovered that the delicious thingies my mother called Popovers were really known as Yorkshire pudding. My one and only attempt at making them fell totally flat (literally).

(Flames for a hot oven, my probable downfall.)

[Anonymous Coward]

A note on these "from a packet" recipes

Most of these packets of "ready" mixtures are just overpriced self raising flour with instructions for the recipe written on them. You are paying 4 times as much, just for them to weigh out the flour for you.

Ex-pats should do as I do and turn Thanksgiving dinner into a proper English roast, subversion at its finest.

[Anonymous Coward]

Milk

The RSC dude who was on the Today program said it has to be skimmed milk.

Bon appetit.

[Stu]

Life-long Denver resident says...

Add a bit more flour, a little less fluid. Cake recipes commonly add another tablespoon or so of flour to the cup of flour. Since the recipe given is a "until it looks right", leave it just a bit thicker than you would normally.

Or head over to the Pearl Street Mall and find a book on high altitude cooking.

If you think Boulder is bad, try cooking at Leadville (elevation > 10,000 feet!). Relatives there say that recipes need significant changes to work right.

Bartenders in Leadville do not serve flat-landers (that's us, folks) more than 2 beers; saves the effort dragging the idiots out the door.

[Anonymous Coward]

And that

ladies and gents is why scientists when they are being all scientific like shouldn't be allowed to write recipes. Many thanks to the alternatives provided above, I'll be trying a few in the coming weeks.

Mine's the one with the batter stains on the front.

[Richard]

Pancakes

I prefer to use the batter mix for pancakes ... mmm pancakes .. with brown sugar, lemon juice and ice cream ... mmm pancakes mmmm ....

.....

dribbles on keyboard

[Duncan Harper]

Mmmmm

All that talk of having yorkshire pudding for pud took me back to my childhood - anyone else had it with golden syrup? Deeelicious!!

[JCL]

High Altitude

I tried them in Verbier as a Christmas treat for friends and ended up serving biscuits they were that flat. Now, my wife mind, she seems to do well cooking Yorkshires in Fernie, Canada even though it's about 1km up. In fact she seems to have turned a number of Canadian friends into YP fanatics - we had to take a YP dish out for one of them. I'm moving back in May, so if I can find sausages that don't have chilli or maple syrup in I'll be laughing.

While over there I saw a recipe for Yorkshires in an American food mag, but they seemed to want to call them "Puff Pancakes" I ask you...

[jake]

@Roger Greenwood; @Rob; @"measurements" twats

Roger:

"would not be seen dead in a kitchen, except to get another glass of chilled chardonnay"

Chardonnay? I doubt it, lad. True Yorkshiremen are often seen pasing thru' the kitchen, heading out the back door to the local for a jar or three of Bitter. Many also have a crate of bitter in the sideboard nearest their favorite chair. (My sister's father-in-law is a Dalesman, and I spent over 6 years living there).

Rob:

Yorkshire, and especially the Dales, are a place you have to live in for a longish period of time to understand. Being a social chamaeleon helps ... when living in a strange place, try to remember that the locals don't necessarily do things the way you expect. Ireland is similar. I miss both places, occasionally. But then I remember we're supposed to have 78F/26C highs with clear skys tomorrow afternoon here in Sonoma, CA.

"measurements" twats:

Not one of you knows squat about cooking, do you? The recipe makes perfect sense to me.

Agree on altitude being the most likely problem with the puds.

Agree on shuddering at the thought of "packet" puds ... the mind boggles.

Strangely, the wife & I were planning on RB&YP for supper on Saturday ...

[Anonymous Coward]

true grit

You have all forgotten that a proper Yorkshire Pudding can only be made by a cook who can say and understand "nathenthee,sitthisenndown and all gerrit ready in a jiff,theznoneedfoopnymedisennwhenthaz adsumathis,tha nose.

Only a true 1940's Yorkshireman will understand this. Ihad to make them misself becoz mi mom were at t'work durin' t'war.

[Anonymous Coward]

Volume, not weight

Equal volumes of beaten eggs, flour, semi-skimmed milk + a little salt.

Beat until combined.

Fridge for 1/2 hr.

Pre-heat metal container with animal fat.

180C in fan oven is adequate.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Anyone who suggests vegetable fat

You can stick it up your arse, that's not a Yorkshire pudding. ANIMAL fat is the only way to go. If you don't like eating meat, go and make up your own vegetarian specialty, but you're not likely to get as much enthusiasm about lentil rissoles as this thread has shown for Yorkshire pudding.

What is it with vegetarians that they have to spend all of their time making cheap knock off vege imitations of meat? Quorn - "it looks just like mince" , vegetarian sausages? IF YOU'RE A VEGETARIAN, WHY DO YOU TRY AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE ANIMAL PARTS??? Make it look like a carrot or something.

Whew, glad I got that off my chest.

Mine's the one with the raw steak in the pocket

[Anonymous Coward]

batter mix?

try FANNY BATTER instead.

Yours,

Rude Kid ('Viz' circa 1988)

ps that's UK fanny not 'merican before you all start spitting chunks (of YP possibly)

[Paul Schofield]

@ High Altitude

I couldnt agree more.... Canadians seem very receptive and appreciative of a good Yorkshire Pud.

But what I wouldnt do for a good unadulterated proper banger. None of this maple syrup or chilli shite in them. Why do they have to mess about with stuff here? I would also love a good pint of green top milk (remember that????) but thats illegal in Ontario.... and when I buy cream, I want it to say Ingredients: Cream. not the list of other stuff it has here......

@ Rob...

Why would we need to be there....we know it is so good having been there, so we decided to spread the good word and educate all you heathen non yorkshiremen.....

A true yorkshireman doesnt need to get his coat, as thats for southern nancys. And anyway, the world moves around a yorkshireman.....

[Chris]

Recipe for Yorkshire Puds from a Yorkshireman

Take a measuring jug and use equal measures of everything.

If you measure 200ml of Flour then measure 200ml of egg, 200ml water and 200ml milk (blue top is best).

Doesn't matter if you go a few ml over on the eggs.

Add a teaspoon of Vinegar and a pinch of salt and mix the lot together. Leave in Fridge for hour before cooking.

Heat oven to Gas Mark 9, put small amount of fat (goose or lard) into tray(s) and wait until fat smokes. Take batter out of fridge 2 mins before cooking and add a few drops of cold water, mix a few times. Add batter to tray(s), put into over and then turn oven down to Gas mark 7.

Cook for 15 mins or so.

I use this method and get fantastic puds. The Vinegar really does make a difference - If I forget it they never rise as well.

Paris?: She has a couple of well formed puddings.

[Anonymous Coward]

Puds?

Paris might "eat" some of those. In american slang, a pud is a penis.

[Anonymous Coward]

The correct recipe

There is no more a single correct recipe for Yorkshire pudding than there is a single correct recipe for pizza, or chili con carne or for that matter any other "peasant" food.

Different parts of Yorkshire have different traditions for the making and consumption of Yorkshire pudding. In our neck of the woods it's a sing;e plate sized, light and fluffy pud per person with gravy as starter. Some like to add onions to the tin before the batter. For preference you should add an extra egg white for each egg in the batter mix to make the finished article fluffier. In other areas the tradition is that the pud is cooked in a single large tray and each person served a slice each. Sometimes these are risen round the edge, sometimes the pud is barely risen at all and is heavier. More like an oven cooked pancake.

The idea of a single authentic recipe is frankly laughable and just goes to show that a bunch of geeky scientists simply can't cope with the real world of human experience.

The correct recipe is the one which produces the result that you like the best.

[Gareth Jones]

@Simon

You remember that Yorshire pudding originates from Nottinghamshire? How old are you exactly? The now legendary pud is hundreds of years old.

Some would have you believe it comes from France (Fanny Craddock for one*). While other will tell you that it was introduced to France by the Normans who were of course of Viking descent, and that the Normans who came to France via britain actually took the recipe to France from britain. Then there are those who claim that the recipe is actually a Viking one, and so on and so forth.

Nobody really knows where it came from and many areas of the country have tried to claim it as their own usually on the grounds that "my great, great granny used to make them and she's from Cardiff" or some other solid proof of origin. The same is true of the likes of the Cornish Pasty. The reason they are called Yorkshire puddings is probably down to the Yorkshire tradition of the big pud as starter. Even as a Tyke I don't believe the pud originated here.

And of course discovering the earliest know recording of the recipe would prove nothing. Who is to say that the writer didn't simply copy an already tradtional receipe.

And there are many variations on the receipe, how well the pudding rises depends on the combination of oven and receipe. I have found that moving from a gas oven to an electric fan oven has forced me to modify my receipe for the best product. And then there is the matter of the size of the pudding. Larger puddings must be cooked at a lower temperature or the edge of the pud will burn before it is fully cooked. The perfect pud comes with experience.

I was given the following as a starting point years ago. One or more eggs depending on the desired amount of batter. The same volume of plain, weak flower as egg. The same volume of liquid as egg. Salt to taste.

The liquid is a matter of taste, some like milk, some find water to be better and some prefer a mixture. You certainly wouldn't want to use proper fresh milk without any water, but the watery stuff they sell in supermarkets these days would be OK on it's own.

The very fact that the proportions vary so much from one recipe to the next would seem to demonstrate that the proportions aren't critical anyway.

DON'T cool the batter in the fridge. DON'T use a blender to mix it, do it slowly. And definitely DON'T open the oven door until the puds are cooked.

Paris is a bit of pudding isn't she?

* I can't hear that name without thinking - "Now all your doughnuts will be like Fanny's"

[Anonymous Coward]

Yorkshire pudding in high altitudes

I'm from Colorado, here's my recipe:

7/8ths cup flour

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

Teaspoon salt

Couple shakes of pepper

Beat everything until smooth-- let stand, see if bubbles rise. If the bubbles are less than a quarter inch in diameter, beat batter even more. Let it sit and reach something approximating room temperature.

Use a heavy cast iron pan, preferably the one the roast was cooked in. Heat that sucker up until smoke rises from the grease, about 450-475 Fahrenheit. Add batter, and cook in still very hot oven for 15-20 minutes.

Basically, it's the smaller amount of flour that allows the pudding to rise properly in higher altitudes.

And, yes-- Yanks do know of and enjoy a good Yorkshire pudding, though it probably isn't as well known here as in the UK.

[baz]

In the style of Gordon Ramsey

- Tescos

- Aunt Bessie's 12 Individual Yorkshire Puds

- Oven

- 10 minutes

- Done

- Fuck

[Paul Rhodes]

Plain Food for Colourful Folks!

Friends of mine who were married on the Shores of Georgian Bay (she's Canadian, he's Welsh) served then them at their wedding, no-one asked what they were so they're pretty well known.

Never had a problem with opening the oven door (just did it to put the Chicken back into warm).

Now where in the GTA can I get proper (not streaky) bacon and decent sausages?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yorkshire pudding with eggs?

The whole idea of a Yorkshire pudding is to fill you up before a main meal, you'd have eggs on days when you didn't have meat so the mix will ALWAYS be just water and flour - James Martin despite coming from Yorkshire gets this tragically wrong and adds 6 eggs or something completely ridiculous.

Mix the PLAIN flour and water, and beat for a few mins, leave to stand for a few more mins

get the fat very hot - beef or goose fat, pour in the mix, never ever open the oven door

and they shouldn't be anywhere near 4 inches high - they look ridiculous and can't hold the gravy properly as they fall over, the diameter to height ratio is VERY important

A Yorkshire Cook - with more than 15 generations experience handed down of cooking the perfect Yorkshire Pudding.