PERFECT YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS

Don’t ask me why but until a few weeks ago I had never made Yorkshire puddings. Crazy huh? Especially as they’re ridiculously easy to make. Almost as easy as taking an Aunt Bessie’s one out of the freezer and popping it in the oven. Well, not quite but you get the idea.

I searched for the best recipe and as usual, I ended up on Felicity Cloake‘s page on the Guardian for her ‘perfect Yorkshire puddings‘. I love her page as she experiments with loads of different recipes, compares them, weighs them up, takes the best from each one and then comes up with the ‘perfect’ version. It never disappoints. So this is her recipe…

INGREDIENTS
250g/5.3oz plain white flour
150ml/5 fl oz whole milk
4 free-range eggs, beaten
2 tbsp beef dripping or sunflower oil

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8 and prepare a large roasting tin or a 12-hole muffin tin, greased liberally with dripping or oil. I used goose fat.

Start by sifting the flour into a large bowl with a generous pinch of salt. Combine the milk in a jug with 150ml cold water.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the eggs.

Pour in a little milk and water, and then whisk the lot together to make a smooth batter. Mix in the rest of the liquid, until you have a batter the consistency of single cream. Leave at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.

Put your roasting tin, or muffin tin on a high shelf in the oven and leave for 10 minutes to heat up.

Take the tin out of the oven, and keep warm on the hob if possible while you ladle in the batter – if it doesn’t sizzle when you add the first spoonful, put the tin back into the oven until it does.

Yorkshire pudding batter going into hot fat then into the oven… pic.twitter.com/cLWZriN4X7

— A Spoonful Of Sugar (@spoonfulofsugr) April 16, 2017

Put the puddings into the oven and cook for 15–20 minutes until well risen and golden. Keep an eye on them towards the end of the cooking time, but do not be tempted to open the door until they’re beautifully bronzed, because they’ll sink.