Yorkshire pudding

My husband often catches me sitting in front of my oven as I watch my food bake. It’s certainly better than TV. Cookies brown, pork roast crackling goes crunchy, cakes rise. And Yorkshire puddings are one of the most satisfying rises of all, starting out bubbling around the edges, then blooming dramatically into wonderful bowls of crispy dough, the perfect vehicle for gravy.

I tested various recipes, with Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith’s recipes rendering suprisingly disappointing, heavy Yorkies. The recipe below follows Mary Berry’s. The batter is thin but this produces the lightest Yorkies, which work so well with the mandatory roast beef.

I also prefer to make one or two large Yorkshire puddings rather than trying to quickly and accurately pour equal amounts of batter in to 12 muffin tins.

Ingredients

Makes 12 muffin sized Yorkies or 1 greedy large one

1. 3 eggs
2. 115g/4oz flour
3. 275ml/½ pint milk
4. beef dripping or oil with a high smoking point
5. salt

Method

1. Mix together the eggs, flour and a pinch of salt.

2. Add the milk, stirring constantly, until you have a runny batter.

3. Leave this to rest, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.

4. Place 1cm/½in of beef dripping in the bottom of each pudding mould, or if you are using a rectangular roasting tray, place 1cm/½in of beef dripping across the bottom.

5. Heat the dripping in the oven (at 240C/460F/Gas 8) for about ten minutes, until it is piping hot.

6. Remove the roasting tray from the oven, pour in the batter, and immediately return to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy, making sure not to open the oven door for the first 20 minutes.