When is a pudding not a pudding? When it's a Yorkshire Pudding.

How much do you know about Yorkshire, England? Well, we didn't know all that much ourselves. It turns out that, like all places around the world, there is a rich history of Yorkshire that dates back into antiquity.

Let's take a look at where Yorkshire is, exactly:

Yorkshire is in red

It is separated into North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire. The populations in 2011 was 5,234,700. The name Yorkshire comes from the Viking word for city, jorvik (york). Shire is an old English work meaning care or official charge. Yorkshire was named as the administrative area or county of the city of York. Cities that make up Yorkshire are Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Kingston upon Hull, York, Huddersfield, Middlesbough, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Hallifax.

In addition to Yorkshires great beauty and rich culture of architecture, music, and art, there is the ever popular Yorkshire pudding, the topic of today's blog. 

Yorkshire Pudding with beef, potatoes, peas, and carrots

It isn't possible to talk about the cuisine of Yorkshire without talking about pudding. But not pudding like most of us think. In fact, Yorkshire pudding is proudly the national dish of the wonderful country of its origin.

Apparently the very first time a recipe for Yorkshire Pudding was recorded was in a book entitled, The Whole Duty of a Woman, in 1737.  It seems that is was part of a woman's duty to make a proper pudding from the drippings coming off the roast on the pit in the fire place. This pudding wasn't yet named Yorkshire.  In the day it was called Dripping Pudding. According to the book :

"Make a good batter as for pancakes, put in a hot toss-pan over the fire with a bit of butter to fry the bottom a little, then put the pan and butter under the shoulder of mutton,  instead of a dripping pan, keeping frequently shaking it by the handle and it will be light and savoury, and fit to take up when your mutton is enough, then turn it in a dish and serve it hot."

That really isn't much of a recipe for those who don't know what to do, but a "good" woman would know understand it perfectly.  The first recorded recipe was from one Hannah Glasse who wrote the book The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, in 1747.  And Hannah was the one who renamed the pudding which we now call Yorkshire pudding.  Her recipe was:

"Take a quart of milk, four eggs, and a little salt, make it up into a thick batter with flour, like a pancake batter. You must have a good piece of meat at the fire, take a stew-pan and put some dripping in, set it on the fire, when it boils, pour in your pudding, let it bake on the fire till you think it is high enough, then turn a plate upside-down in the dripping-pan, that the dripping may not be blacked; set your stew-pan on it under your meat, and let the dripping drop on the pudding, and the heat of the fire come to it, to make it of a fine brown. When your meat is done and set to table, drain all the fat from your pudding, and set it on the fire again to dry a little; then slide it as dry as you can into a dish, melt some butter, and pour into a cup, and set in the middle of the pudding. It is an exceeding good pudding, the gravy of the meat eats well with it."

As with many things, over time changes happen.  The a modern version of Yorkshire Pudding is a higher rising version of the original which was more like a pancake.  The newer version is very much like a popover, using a very similar method.  We'll get to that in a minute.  

In a 2008, a ruling from the Royal Society of Chemistry stated that a "Yorkshire pudding isn't a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall."  

As you might guess, Yorkshire Pudding is a staple of a British Sunday lunch.  In some cases, the pudding is eaten prior to the main course of meat.  It is served with a rich gravy from the meat drippings. This tradition was established when meat was not so easy to come by and was expensive. The idea was that the pudding and gravy would fill people up so they would eat less of the more expensive foods.  That traditional has not been lost over time.

Sometimes Yorkshire Pudding is made in a large pan that is served as part of the main portion of the meal, like the images below:

The meal served in the Yorkshire Pudding

Sometimes Yorkshire Pudding is made in small cups, like in this image:

And almost always Yorkshire Pudding is served as a savory side with gravy.  We said almost always, because you can serve the puddings as a dessert with jam and butter.  However, we sort of think that might offend the sensibilities of those who stick to traditional.

Today we offer you a Yorkshire Pudding made from beef slow cooked for dripping to make the pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding with slow cooked roast beef

Here's what you need:

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup beef drippings (can use lard)

2 Tablespoon water

Here's what you need to do:

Heat over to 425 degrees.

Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl.  Let rest for 10 minutes  In another bowl mix flour and salt.  Mix egg mixture with flour mixture until smooth.  Let set for 30 minutes.

Using a muffin tin, divide the beef drippings between the cups.  Place tin in heated oven and allow to heat until nearly smoking.  Remove pan and fill each cup to about 1/3.  Put back in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until browned.

Serve hot with your beef and whatever vegetables you like.  Consider potatoes, peas, carrots or anything else you like.

Left over puddings do not heat well, but can be served cold with butter and jam.

There you have it....Yorkshire Pudding.  Easy to make and a really tasty addition to your Sunday meal.

Now, go out and make something good.