When is a pudding not a pudding? When it's a yorkshire pudding! Well let's put it this way; you wouldn't eat is as a desert. (Well not twice, @Veit.)
Yorkshire pudding traditionally accompanies roast beef and should be served with a lovely meaty gravy. It is cooked in a large tin, traditionally under a roasting joint of meat, in order to catch the juices that drip down, and then cut into portions, although individual round puddings (baked in bun trays or small skillets) are more usual nowadays.
In Yorkshire it was often eaten as a separate course prior to the main meat dish, probably to help fill people up. An old saying is "Them that eat most pudding gets most meat."
When baked with sausages (within the batter), it is known as toad in the hole.
Ingredients
2 Eggs
4 oz (125g) plain flour
1/2 Pint (150ml) milk
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp lard or dripping
Method
- Pre-Heat the Oven to 425F (220°C, Mark 7) (This is very important - the oven must be hot).
- Mix the eggs with the milk.
- Sift the flour into a large bowl and season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
- Gradually pour in the liquid and stir until you have a stiff batter. (Beat or whisk well until you have no lumps).
- Allow the batter to rest for half an hour.
- Place the lard or dripping into a deep sided baking tin and put in the hot oven (if your making individual puds place a little of the dripping or lard into each tin).
- Place the tin back in the oven and heat up the fat until it's very hot.
- Pour in the batter mixture (carefully).
- Place back into the oven and bake until the batter is puffed up, golden brown and crispy.
- Serve immediately.
Definitions
To beat: To thoroughly combine ingredients and incorporate air with a rapid, circular motion. This may be done with a wooden spoon, wire whisk, rotary eggbeater, electric mixer or food processor.
To pour: To transfer a liquid from one container to another.
To sift: To put dry ingredients such as flour or sugar through a sifter or mesh screen to loosen particles and incorporate air.
To stir: To agitate an ingredient or a number of ingredients using a hand held tool such as a spoon.
To whisk: To beat a mixture vigorously with a whisk.