[Sca-cooks] yorkshire pudding

[Stefan li Rous]

Suey replied to Serena with:
<<< I don't have the recipe here but my biggest hit is my auntie's  
Yorkshire
pudding. There is nothing that can bet that and it is medieval in my
book. Also people cannot believe how cheap it is. >>>

Suey, I'll go along with the idea of yorkshire pudding being English,  
but what little I've seen on this indicates it is post-period. Hmmm.  
I guess we get back to definitions though of exactly what is and is  
not "Yorkshire Pudding". Here are a few snips from the pudding-msg  
file in the Florilegium.

"Al-Baghdadi has several recipes that describe the making of flat  
breads with
assorted fillings which are place by the fire with a chicken hung  
above them
which drips it's juices onto the flatbread as it roasts. Although not  
exactly
"Yorkshire" pudding, it definitely has the basic intent. IIRC, there  
are also
a couple of recipes in Le Manegier which describe a similar process.  
Hope this
helps.

Ras"

"I haven't seen any indication that any kind of baked pudding, sweet or
savory, is found in a period source. One thing to bear in mind is that
ovens seem to figure less in medieval cookery than they do subsequently,
except for obvious things like bread, pies, and tarts. For cooking them
in front of a fire, well, as I say I've seen no evidence of it. Also,
one should consider that if this dish did exist in the Middle Ages, it
certainly wouldn't be classified by a name which refers to guts,  
which is
basically what "pudding" means.

There _are_ some English baked pudding recipes (in both name and form)
beginning, I'd guess, in the late 16th, early 17th centuries, but none
quite like Yorkshire pudding, AFAIK. There may be an issue regarding the
availability of hardish wheat flours in England at whatever time we're
talking about. You need at least some gluten to get that dramatic rise.
Of course, if there is an Italian precedent, that may not matter.

It probably is Georgian. Anybody have a copy of Hannah Glasse handy?

Adamantius"

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****