No traditional English Christmas dinner is complete without Yorkshire Pudding, what many Americans call "popovers". This is my mom's recipe, including her secret technique for tender, flavor-packed Yorkshire Pudding.
When hot bread first emerges from the oven, in my family even the kids know to grab the butter, then we’ll all tussle for the crusty heels, comfort food of the highest order.
But not all of us share this fresh, homemade bread experience. I once delivered three loaves of still-warm Swedish Rye Bread to a family in mourning and was greeted by blank stares, as if I were daft. It wasn’t until a kind soul added sausage and cheese that the loaves were sliced into.
How many know Yorkshire Pudding? You might call them “popovers” but think savory muffin-shaped but hollow Swedish pancakes or French crepes served hot-hot-hot, light, a little eggy and wet, but crispy on the edges. They’re a real treat, much too easy to make and tasty to consume to remain confined to a Christmas dinner menu.
Still, in my family, we usually serve Yorkshire pudding with a traditional English Christmas dinner, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, Brussels sprouts and trifle for dessert. When oven space is short, I also make Whole Roasted Cauliflower because it and Yorkshire pudding both call for a 450F/230C oven.
ALANNA’s TIPS For two dozen mini Yorkshire puddings, use a mini muffin tin with 24 cups, dab each cup with 1/2 teaspoon bacon grease. For extra-large (read “extra impressive”), double the recipe and fill the muffin tins right to the top, there will be a little extra batter leftover. If you like, add up to a quarter cup meat juice (from cooking roast beef, say) to the Yorkshire Pudding mixture. My mom swore that Yorkshire Pudding turned out the best when the batter rested for an hour or so, for a big dinner, it’s nice to have something whose prep can be done way up front!
MY MOM’s YORKSHIRE PUDDING (Popover) RECIPE
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 35 minutes
Makes 12 medium-size Yorkshire pudding
Recipe easily halved or doubled
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 125g
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 12 “dabs” bacon grease, about 1 teaspoon each
Heat oven to 450F/230C.
In a blender, mix the eggs, milk, flour and salt. Let rest on the counter while continuing or up to a couple of hours; longer is definitely better, the texture is much lighter and airier, as it should be!
Place a dab of bacon grease in the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan. Place muffin pan in oven and let heat for 10 minutes. Swirl the pans a bit to distribute the oil throughout.
Give the blender one more blitz, then fill hot muffin cups about two-thirds full.
Bake 15 – 20 minutes, gently remove from the muffin tin, often they’ll just fall out when the tin is upended.
Serve hot-hot from the oven.
NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Medium-Size Yorkshire Pudding: 100 Calories; 5g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 41mg Cholesterol; 220mg Sodium; 9g Carb; 0g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 3g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 2, WW PointsPlus 3.
Adapted from my mother’s long-time recipe for Yorkshire pudding, one of her very favorite things and frankly, mine too!
Mom's Secret Technique for Yorkshire Pudding
My mom always said that the secret to her very best Yorkshire Pudding was a dab of bacon grease when heating the muffin tins. All I know is, there's no eating just one Yorkshire pudding!
Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Do you have a favorite hot bread recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Follow Kitchen Parade on Facebook!
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A Traditional English Christmas Dinner
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