Yorkshire pudding is a popular side dish that gets its origin from the aforementioned county in Northern England it's named after. The bowl-like shaped pudding is pretty simple to make since the batter consists of flour, eggs, milk (the first three combined in near equal parts) and salt. It's also quite the versatile dish as it can be served as either a first-course dish with sauces like gravy or as the main course with a roast.

Making a superb pudding

There is Yorkshire pudding and then there's superb Yorkshire pudding. The secret to making the latter is to heat up the oil, or fat used to grease the pans in the oven, first before adding the batter.

If you're worried about the extra time, don't as the first step only takes a couple of minutes while the pudding takes up to twenty minutes to finish baking. Below is a recipe that is as simple as it gets and includes some variations to try.

The recipe

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 3 tbsp oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 210ºC. Grease the insides of a 12-cup muffin pan with the cooking oil using a brush.
  2. Crack open the eggs and combine them with milk in a medium-sized bowl. Beat them together until fully incorporated.
  3. Stir in the flour in additions until fully combined.
  4. When the oven is hot, place the muffin pan into the oven to heat up the oil and take it out when it turns hot.
  5. Divide the batter among the hot cups of the muffin pan. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pudding turn golden.
  6. Remove to cool.

Serves: 12

Variations

Salted caramel

Like most dishes or desserts, Yorkshire pudding can be served with sweet or savory sauces to get a rise out of consumers.

A popular choice is salted caramel. Just combine a cup or two of brown sugar with a little water in a saucepan over medium heat and cook down to a thick syrup. Add some pinches of salt and stir and voila. This goes well with the pudding.

Rosemary and thyme

Some bakers like to add herbs to their pudding and Yorkshire pudding is no exception.

Almost any type can be added to the batter before baking but one die-hard combination is thyme and rosemary.

Fresh or canned fruit

If you prefer all of your pudding to have a sweet taste, try adding a little sugar and some fruit of choice to the batter before baking. The fruit doesn't have to be fresh as canned fruit will also do for this variation.

Rashers of bacon

As for the savory lovers out there, they can add some meat to the batter like rashers of bacon. Just chop the meat small, then fry them up until crispy and add them to the batter once they have cooled.
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