Mr. Joel

I love visiting my cousins in Scotland. I love seeing my family, I love the countryside, and I love the food. Now, if you know anything about Scottish food, the last part of that statement may stick out a bit. Scottish food does not have a reputation for being good. British food does not have a reputation for being good. But it is. At my cousin’s farm it’s fantastic; because the majority of what they eat is homemade, local, and seasonal. The foodie trifecta.

Now, Yorkshire Pudding is not the best nom-able that I’ve had at my cousins; but it has the best simplicity to deliciousness ratio. Also it is the one that is most often paired with gravy. Yorkshire pudding was invented in Yorkshire, England; it’s not really pudding in the American sense. It’s pudding in the ‘food made of a batter that rises when it is cooked and is yummy’ sense. The pudding is typically made as part of a big dinner with a roast and potatoes and carrots and such. The batter at it’s simplest is one part eggs, one part, milk and one part flour. It is baked on hot oil in the oven. The oil is usually the drippings from the roast, which makes the pudding extra yummy. It used to be that you would make one big pudding and cut it up into wedges when it was served; but now it’s the style to make mini puddings in muffin pans and eat them like dinner rolls. Which is what I did.

The Recipe:
(this made 22 mini puddings in my muffin pan)

four eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
roast drippings, lard, or vegetable oil

Heat the oven to 450 F. Whisk the eggs and the milk together in a bowl. A large one is good but it doesn’t have to be super large, just large enough to hold all the ingredients listed above. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. Then sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. You want this to be a smooth mixture, so take your time and stir a lot. When your done let this mixture sit for 30 min. While it’s sitting get out your muffin pan and put about a half tsp of roast drippings, lard, or vegetable oil in the bottom of each cup. Pop that in the oven and let the oil heat until it is almost smoking. Or let it heat until it is smoking, it’s easier that way, your smoke alarm will let you know when they’re done. You’ll notice this is a great recipe to make while you’re preparing other things. It was invented that way. It assumes that you’ve got your roast going and that your mashing potatoes and boiling carrots and preparing other good things too. That’s part of why I like it. I often have a lot going on in the kitchen while I’m cooking. I’ disorganized like that. When the oil is hot fill each cup 1/3 to 1/2 way full. Put it in the oven and let it cook until they’re golden brown. That’s about 20 min. When they’re done let them cool for a minute, pop them out of the pan, heat up more oil and make puddings until there is no more batter. Serve fresh with gravy or stuff them with some other edible.

P.S. These do not reheat well, so if you want them hot, eat ‘em fast. However, they are also very good cold with jam for breakfast the next day.

Tags: food