Yummy Yorkshire puddings (with photo)

[Hestonfan]

I realised there were many mistakes in the original post and I've tried to correct the obvious ones. I have made these again today and they have been devoured!!

Name of Recipe:
Yorkshire Puddings- adapted and converted from recipe by Gordon Ramsay's
Number of People:
1 x 12 large muffin tray- 4-6 people
Ingredients:
65 gr beef dripping (divided in 24 cubes)
260 gr full fat milk, room T
135 ml carbonated water, room T
300 gr plain flour
1 ½  tsp flake salt, ground
4 extra large eggs, beaten and seasoned with ground pepper


Preparation:
Preheat  oven at 220 fan forced.
Place beef dripping cubes in each tin hole.  Prepare all other ingredients.
Place muffin tin into oven roasting tray (it will keep the fat from cooling down when taken out) and place in the oven for around 8-10 mins on bottom shelf until the dripping is bubbling and sizzling.
Sift flour and salt into TMX bowl and then mix thoroughly at sp5. Turn down to sp1 and drip beaten eggs through the lid hole. Mixture look a bit like pastry- as soon as all the flour is incorporated, stop mixing.
Add carbonated water into milk jug and briefly mix with a fork (don’t want to degas). Turn TMX on again at sp1 and pour this mix gradually into TMX bowl (it will look lumpy) Slowly bring to sp4 and mix until lumps disappear and the mix looks like pancake batter (around 30 secs).
The mix is best used expeditiously now, so take oven tray trays with the muffin trays inside out of the oven on counter and pour the batter straight from TMX bowl and fill the holes 3/4 full.

Bake for 15-20 mins- keep an eye if using two trays (use in this case bottom and 3rd from bottom) as they cook faster. Lower T to 190C if they are risen and start developing colour fast in the first 5-6 mins.

Enjoy!
I can assure you that having lived in Yorkshire these were just like (if not better) than the real thing    

Photos:

Tips/Hints:
All ingredients need to be at room temperature. The trick is to keep the dripping sizzling for maximum lift.

members' comments

JD - it just blew me away - the largest Yorkies I have ever made.  I couldn't use the TMX to make the mixture though as that was busy cooking the roast beef and you did say the batter had to be used immediately it was made so I had to drag out my old Mixmaster. I haven't cooked with dripping for years so used some canola oil which I had fried something in previously thinking this would be tastier than new oil. For only the 2 of us, 12 was a little over the top but I'll come up with ideas of how to use them - jam and cream perhaps and freeze some for later. Thanks so much for your recipe, we loved it.

[Zan]

Must give this a try, love yorkshires.

[Hestonfan]

Hi Zan- updated post and added photo!
Would love to know if you liked them 

[judydawn]

Great photo Hestonfan, it reminds me of how much I loved Yorkshire puddings when my English neighbour introduced me to them back in 1967. Don't make them very often these days though as there seems to be so much to do to bring a roast together without setting myself another task. Back in the early days when I used to buy 1/2 sides of beef I used to render down the fat and use it for roasting etc but those days are long gone and I never cook or eat animal fat nowadays.  Would oil work just as well as beef dripping.

[Hestonfan]

Thank you Judy 

I am not sure if you could achieve the same flavour with oil- I have never tried.

The idea behind beef dripping is also that it has a high smoke point. To achieve a beefy flavour maybe you might try using rice bran oil which has a very high smoke point (1/2 Tbsp per hole) and use 2 Tbsp beef stock powder (and remove the salt) sifted in with the flour?

I ate the puds today with bbq sausages and steamed long stem broccoli (made stock with a roux using my own stock powder and port)

With the TMX they are so quick to make!

[judydawn]

Thanks Gabry - I also like the leftovers with jam and cream so don't think I had better put any beef stock powder in with the flour 

[CreamPuff63]

i have never had yorkshire puddings before - what exactly are they? are they like a type of pastry that is soft in the middle and harder on the outside? are they fairly tasteless?

[judydawn]

Hestonfan can probably describe them better than me CP63 but it is a batter thingy, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  You haven't lived until you've had roast beef with yorkshire puddings .  You can buy them ready made in the freezer section or you can also get the dry mixture in a box but they obviously aren't anywhere near as good as homemade ones.

Found this on the internet which describes them well.  You can also made just 1 large pudding but I prefer the individual ones.

 " Yorkshire pudding is an English savoury dish made from batter. It is most often served with roast beef, or any meal in which there is gravy, or on its own. Gravy is considered an essential accompaniment by many, and when the pudding is eaten as a starter, onion gravy is usually favoured above other alternatives. It may have originated in Yorkshire, but is popular across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Yorkshire pudding is cooked by pouring batter into a preheated greased baking tin containing very hot oil and baking at very high heat until it has risen. A fine recipe uses 1/3 c flour and 1/3 c milk per egg.

This dish resembles that of an american "pop-over" crispy on the outside and soft and pudding like on the inside i believe that is why its called "Yorkshire Pudding"

"Should they be crisp or soft? The latter for me is a totally personal issue, some like them soft, some crisp on the outside and soft in the middle."

[KarenH]

What a fantastic description of yorkshire puds JD!!  I agree with you that you haven't lived until you have eaten roast beef with lots of gravy and yorkshire puds.  I remember (in my much earlier life) when I first tried to make them - it was for a sunday lunch and I was trying to impress my new boyfriends mother (thinking she was prospective mother-in-law material  ) She was a yorkshire-born woman herself (and a fabulous cook), and I thoughts the puds would win her over.  Being my first effort, they weren't that great (texture of a squash ball and cold, because I didnt time it right).  Important lessons:  dont try a dish for the first time when trying to impress, and more importantly - dont try and impress a master with her own specialty    Didnt matter in the end, 'cause she didnt end up being the MIL

[CreamPuff63]

thanks girls, a new addition to the Sunday roast. poor little TM sits in the corner when we make the roast, so this will give him something to do 

[judydawn]

Sounds like the whole day was a disaster KJH. Wonder if that lady still remembers the day    At least you tried and that is all one can expect of a young person starting out.

[Cornish Cream]

According to "folklore" i.e. my DH, the reason they were eaten on their own with gravy was to fill up your stomach, so less meat was eaten with the main course.Seems logical when times were hard and meat expensive.

Do you eat "Toad in the Hole" in Oz? Another way to eat Yorkshire Pudding but you have to like sausages as well.

[judydawn]

Certainly heard of Toad in the Hole CC but have never cooked it. 

[cookie1]

Yes, we've had Toad in the Hole. I haven't made it for a while as DD doesn't like it. DH always puts heaps of tomato sauce on his!.

[Hestonfan]

Sorry- seem to have missed further replies in this thread 
Thanks Judy- I would say the puddings should taste slighly chewy (in Yorkshire they are not crispy)
They are a bit like a puffier, thicker, chewier savoury profiterol? Mmmh hard to describe.
They taste slightly sweet too. I would say though that to achieve the right taste you really need to cook them on sizzling beef dripping- I know it's not healthy, but it makes them what they were meant for 

As to the origin, the folklore version I know agrees with that of Cornish Cream's- these were cooked under the beef as a large pudding to tear- the whole roast was placed in a traditional spit with a tray underneath that was in contact with the fire, and where the juices dripped.
The batter was poured onto the juices as the meat approached end of cooking, so that people would start eating as the roast was given a rest before serving...

Since I posted the recipe I tried them (again!! ) in friand tins and they came up much taller!

Better start cooking something vegetarian soon to restore the lining of my arteries