This Savory Yorkshire Pudding Popover Recipe is one I created here in America, bringing back memories of British hubby’s childhood Sunday dinners.
What Is A Yorkshire Pudding?
If Crepes could be on steroids, this is what they would look and taste like!
Rich in eggs, actually the eggs are really the star, substance and reason for such grandeur on what would otherwise be a Muffin.
Because of the substantial egg presence in the Yorkshire pudding recipe, it lends itself to filling with roasted meats, stews, or even sweet fruit jams.
Or simply toss a few ingredients in the hallowed hole, the kind of ingredients you might put into a wrap!
A Little History On The Yorkshire Pudding
Once known as ‘Dripping Pudding‘, these bread-like puddings came about back in the 1700’s as a rather clever idea by those who cooked in a kitchen fireplace.
Roasted meat was cooked on a spit over the flames of a fire in the kitchen fireplace, which reminds me of the book I published 19th Century Memoirs Of Adelaide Hall, which elaborates on kitchen life back in those days.
The batter for the pudding was mixed, poured into a rimmed pan, carefully placed beneath the roasting meat to catch the drippings.
Traditional Yorkshire Puddings Or American Popovers?
Well, here we are in a Sunday Roast battle of two continents across the same pond!
While I am the American, having grown up with American Popovers (the earliest American version of the Yorkshire pudding), my husband is British and longs for the perfect Yorkshire puddings he enjoyed as a kid.
It was a crisp Autumn day, I was making a lovely beef tenderloin, my professional chef son got for me, and hubby asked if I knew how to make a Yorkshire pudding batter.
I didn’t, but I knew I was about to learn, and thus the best Yorkshire/Popovers marriage was created.
Tips For The Best Savory Yorkshire Pudding
Let me be totally honest with you, the first time I tried making that lovely batter of eggs, following a recipe from one of my favorite British chefs, it did not turn out.
I did everything the recipe said:
- Let the batter rest.
- Bake in an oven with high heat.
- Use beef fat drippings or other meat pan drippings in the bottom of the pan.
They puffed up beautifully, then deflated before I could get them out of the pan.
What most British recipes don’t tell you is to add melted butter to the batter itself, and that is what made all the difference in my Yorkshire puddings!
Modern Recipes For A Traditional Side Dish
Now I’m going to tell you how I used my baking ingenuity, and combined it with British tradition, to create a modern recipe for one of my Brit hubby’s favorite side dishes.
I infused the American popover ingredients with a traditional Yorkshire pudding recipe and created a recipe that is now an easy Yorkshire pudding recipe that works every time!
A Savory Dish For A Sweet Dessert
Remember, the reason I decided to master this traditional British side dish in the first place, was to create the comfort food my husband enjoyed as a kid.
While my magnificent individual Yorkshire puddings are made from a savory pastry batter, hubby then tells me another story.
His grandmother used to set aside an extra one for him to drizzle Lyle’s Golden Syrup (a kind of treacle), across and enjoy as a dessert after a Sunday roast beef dinner.
Since I am a big fan of mixing sweet with savory in a variety of my recipes (many of my Middle Eastern lamb recipes are made with dried fruits), I thought it sounded like a good tradition to bring back for him.
Now I need to investigate if this little dessert he remembers, is what the Brits now call a sticky toffee pudding, or the infamous Dickens Christmas Pudding!
Turns out, sticky toffee pudding and Christmas pudding are more about the dried fruits, while Yorkshire pudding is more about the eggs!
Why This Savory Ingredient List Works
When making American popovers, there is often a fair amount of melted butter added to the batter, making for a rich eggy, buttery batter.
Making the recipe without melted butter in the ingredients is what I believe resulted in a Yorkshire pudding that deflated quickly.
The second time I made the Yorkshire puds (yeah, I can use British slang lol), I added melted butter to the batter and simply brushed a little vegetable oil on the inside of the metal baking cups.
This resulted in a good rise to the puddings, but hubby said he didn’t taste the roasted meat flavor on the outside of them.
Last try, was to make the puddings with the popover concept but to coat the hot pan with meat drippings.
Resulting in the best Yorkshire Pudding Popovers!
Tips I Discovered The Hard Way
Often times a recipe leaves out the reasons why this is this and that is that, when using particular ingredients.
So allow me to make some side notes for you here, in case you might wonder why some ingredients just work better than others.
Eggs In Yorkshire Pudding Recipe
When making Yorkshire pudding popovers, the key character in them is their eggy consistency, much like rich crepes.
Leaving the eggs out to room temperature, allows the luscious fatty aspect of the yolk to blend more easily with the whites and the other ingredients.
When they are cold, they are more stubborn to blend.
Flour For Yorkshire Popovers
Baking with flour has become a very finicky thing these days, as even I myself opt for nut and whole grain flour in many of my recipes.
However, all-purpose flour high in gluten is what allows them to stretch high and airy, where as a lower-protein cake flour or gluten free flour is just not going to make for a grand height to the finished bake.
Milk In Our Yorkshire Popover Batter
We need and want fat for these luscious pudding/popovers and the only milk that gives the heavy fat content we are looking for, is whole cow milk.
Sheep milk would be my preference since its fat content is higher than cow milk, but it is nearly impossible to find here in the states.
Goat milk would also be a great choice, since it too is high in fat.
Butter Is A Must In A Popover Recipe
My British husband loves his butter, and he only wants it unsalted!
Why? He says that salt was only added to creamy butter as a preservative for a time when there was no refrigeration and is not necessary any longer.
As for me, I prefer to determine the amount of salt I flavor food with especially since the amount of salt added in each brand of butter will vary. So, Unsalted it is!
Equipment Needed
- Popover pan or muffin tin – while a muffin tin works, the popover pan causes the Yorkshire Pudding Popovers to rise up tall and narrow at the bottom.
- Mixing bowl with a lid – this 2-quart glass mixing bowl with a pouring spout is a favorite in my kitchen.
- Small saucepan
- Measuring cup and spoons
- Hand mixer – an electric hand mixer can be used in ways a large stand mixer is limited to, and clean up is easy with just 2 retractable whisks to wash.
- Oven
Ingredients Needed
- Eggs
- Flour
- Whole milk
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Herbs – optional
- Meat fat or vegetable oil
Meat Drippings Makes For A Traditional Yorkshire Pudding
For the true low-down on traditional Yorkshire pudding, you might want to have a look at The Art of Cookery published in 1747 a bestseller by Hannah Glasse.
However, for us modern recipe creators, most any meat dripping will work just fine to impart a roasted meat flavor to these modern day Yorkshire Pudding Popovers!
Savory Yorkshire Pudding Popover Recipe
Equipment
- mixing bowl with lid
- popover pan or muffin tin
Ingredients
- 4 Large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp Unsalted butter melted
- 2 tbsp Dried herbs optional
- pinch Coarse salt
- 2 tbsp Meat drippings melted bacon grease works
Instructions
- Preparation For The Basic Ingredients In a large bowl, preferably mixing bowl with a spout to pour, whisk together the eggs with the cup flour and pinch of salt until blended into a smooth paste. Slowly whisk in the milk, melted butter and dried herbs until you have a smooth batter, a pancake-like batter. Cover with plastic wrap or an airtight container and allow to sit out room temperature for an hour, an important step that will contribute to a better rise when baked, rather than a cold batter.
- Preparing To BakePosition an oven rack to the lowest level in the oven (making sure there are no other racks above it), reducing the potential for the tops to brown too quickly. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- Place about half teaspoon of melted meat drippings in each cup of the muffin cups or popover cups and with a basting brush, quickly brush the fat on all sides of the cups. Place the pan in the oven for a minute so that the meat drippings become a hot oil. Quickly whisk the batter one last time.
- Carefully remove the pan from the oven and divide batter among the cups. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-minutes leaving the oven door closed at all times. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes until they appear to have crispy edges and are golden brown in color.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.