How to make Yorkshire puddings

A Yorkshire pudding is a core component of a British roast dinner. Traditionally, it’s served alongside roast beef, but over time many of us have come to expect it as the final flourish on any serious Sunday roast, and the presence of a Yorkshire pudding on a Christmas plate is now a hotly contested issue. But what is a Yorkshire pudding? How is it different from a pancake? How did it begin its life? All of this information is critical to understanding how to make Yorkshire puddings in the first place. Let’s dive into the jug of batter and find out.

Beloved of Brits everywhere, Yorkshire puddings (affectionately known as Yorkies), are golden, puffed-up baked beauties best smothered in gravy, made using a simple batter of eggs, flour and milk. Yorkshire puddings have a long but fairly consistent history.

The first known reference was in a book called The Whole Duty of a Woman in 1737, in which the dish was referred to as “dripping pudding” and served with mutton. It wasn’t, as it sounds, made with beef dripping; it was named for the way it was made – by placing a pan of batter underneath a roasting mutton joint to catch the juices. Then, in 1747, Hannah Glasse published her book, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple, refining the recipe and renaming it Yorkshire pudding (though she doesn’t seem to have been connected to Yorkshire). In her instructions, she stated that a pan of dripping should be ‘set on fire’. From the very beginning Yorkshire puddings have been about two things: smoking hot fat and pancake batter.

Yorkshire pudding ingredients are identical to pancake ingredients. They are:

• Plain flour

• Milk

• Eggs

Compared to a classic crepe recipe, Yorkshire puddings use a higher ratio of eggs to flour, and much less milk – because the batter doesn’t need to be thin enough to quickly coat the bottom of a pan.

An American Dutch baby uses quantities that are similar to a Yorkshire pudding. The puffy, skillet-baked pancake from Pennsylvania is traditionally served with butter, sugar, lemon and a flurry of icing sugar – possibly some berries. And if a Dutch baby is one big Yorkshire pudding, popovers (most often associated with New England) are baked in a muffin tin like individual Yorkies and served with butter and jam.

For cooking, sunflower oil (as in the recipe below) yields excellent results because it has a high smoking point, so the fat can be nice and hot before the batter hits it, which means a quick rise. But for deep, rich, authentic yorkie flavour, you might want to consider beef dripping.

Here’s our failsafe everyday recipe:

• 100g M&S Remarksable Value plain flour

• 2 M&S Remarksable Value free range mixed-size eggs

• 100ml M&S Remarksable Value whole milk

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7.

2. For the batter, add the plain flour, ½ tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper to a

bowl. Add the eggs and whisk to a smooth paste. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking continuously into a smooth batter. Transfer to a jug and set aside for at least 1 hour.

3. Measure 1 tsp of oil into each hole of a 12-hole (or 6-hole) muffin tray. Pop into the oven to heat through for 5-10 minutes.

4. Pour the mixture into the hot muffin tray as quickly and as carefully as possible and return to the oven to cook for 25 minutes, until golden brown and puffed up.

• Whisk the batter in a jug, or transfer it to a jug to rest – for easy pouring on to hot oil later.

• Rest your batter for at least an hour – some cooks swear by resting it overnight.

• Use a carbon steel Yorkshire pudding tray.

• Once you’ve selected the right oil, get it seriously, smoking hot.

• Make sure your tin has plenty of space above it in the oven (manifesting a terrific rise).

• Do not open the oven door too soon. Even towards the end of their cooking time, keep pushing your puds right to the golden brown finish line, bearing in mind they might look darker than they are through the oven window.

• Freeze some for next time. Store baked and cooled Yorkshire puddings in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to a month. Then, when you’re ready to cook them, preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6 and bake for 8-10 minutes, until piping hot.