[Sca-cooks] yorkshire pudding

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 7, 2008, at 3:34 AM, Lilinah wrote:

> Sandra posted, in reply to Adamantius:

[I think this was in response to something found in the Florilegium;  
the quote _looks_ like something I might have said but I'll have to  
take people's word for it... ;-)  ]

<recipe snipped>
>> Phew - all one sentence!  So this isn't a (modern) "put the batter  
>> in a pan
>> full of hot dripping and bake it" recipe, but something similar to  
>> older
>> recipes of catching the juice dripping from meat as it roasts, but  
>> with
>> batter in the pan instead of bread.  Also OOP, but older than I had  
>> been
>> aware the name was in use.
>
> OK, i am mystified (What?! Again?!)
>
> The only way i have ever known to make Yorkshire pudding is to mix  
> eggs, milk, flour, and seasonings and put it in a pan on a rack  
> beneath a roast so the drippings fall into it. I don't remember  
> where i got the recipe i used, but i know it didn't have all the  
> spices that Hannah put in hers. Still, it was tasty.

Sounds like it. I think there are various issues to be considered, all  
sort of peripheral to the question of whether our eat is being baked  
in an oven (what we now call roasting) or actually roasted above (or  
more usually in front of) a fire.

Yes, there are a whole lot of modern Yorkshire pudding recipes that  
involve roasting meat in a pan, then using the drippings or other fat  
to copiously lubricate some sort of baking pan and almost fry the  
pudding (as with things like popovers).

> I did this back when i was learning to cook (and it was a rather  
> small roast) in the winter of 1967 and had my first apartment (in  
> Manhattan). Meant i had some cleaning to do in that oven, but it was  
> an interesting experiment. I only ever had eaten roast beef and  
> Yorkshire pudding in the spring of 1962 in London at Claridge's, all  
> rich woods and Victorian atmosphere...
>
> I had no idea that people have been just baking batter mixed with  
> drippings on its own! That seems like... like... well, like  
> cheating...

Maybe, but there's a rationale. First of all, it's not cheating if  
you're making Toad-In-The-Hole, is it? Secondly, if the pudding is  
alone in the pan, you have more control over browned surface area and  
pouffiness in general. Third, how to you make gravy with pan full of  
pudding? Actually, you can, but it's harder.

I think James Beard had been an advocate (as much as he gets to be an  
advocate for proper English cookery) of the separate-pan method since  
the 60's or so...

> But, thanks for posting the recipe, Sandra. If i ever decided to do  
> another roast at home, i'll give it a try with all those extra spices.

Not a lot of extra spices, really... ginger and nutmeg?

Adamantius


"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter