Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common British side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying components of the meal. As a first course, it can be served with

onion gravy Onion gravy is a type of gravy prepared with onion. Various types of onions are used in its preparation. Some preparations caramelize the onions. Onion gravy may be served to accompany many foods, such as pork, beef steak, meatloaf, hamburger, ban ...

. For a main course, it may be served with meat and gravy, and is part of the traditional

Sunday roast A Sunday roast or roast dinner is a traditional meal of British and Irish origin. Although it can be consumed throughout the week, it is traditionally consumed on Sunday. It consists of roasted meat, roasted potatoes and accompaniments ...

, but can also be filled with foods such as bangers and mash to make a meal.

Sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s can be added to make

toad in the hole Toad in the hole or sausage toad is a traditional English dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with onion gravy and vegetables. Historically, the dish has also been prepared using other meats, such as rump ste ...

. The 18th-century cookery writer

Hannah Glasse Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September 1770) was an English cookery writer of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'', published in 1747, became the best-selling recipe book that century. It w ...

was the first to use the term "Yorkshire pudding" in print. Yorkshire puddings are similar to

popover A popover is a light roll made from an egg batter similar to that of Yorkshire pudding, typically baked in muffin tins or dedicated popover pans, which have straight-walled sides rather than angled. Popovers may be served either as a sweet, t ...

s, an American light roll made from basically the same recipe, and to

Dutch baby pancake A Dutch baby pancake, sometimes called a German pancake, a Bismarck, a Dutch puff, or a Hootenanny, is a large American popover. A Dutch baby is similar to a large Yorkshire pudding. Unlike most pancakes, Dutch babies are baked in the oven, ...

History

When

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bread ...

began to come into common use for making cakes and puddings, cooks in

northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

(Yorkshire) devised a means of making use of the fat that dropped into the

dripping Dripping, also known usually as beef dripping or, more rarely, as pork dripping, is an animal fat produced from the fatty or otherwise unusable parts of cow or pig carcasses. It is similar to lard, tallow and schmaltz. History It is used for ...

pan to cook a batter pudding while the meat roasted. In 1737, a recipe for "a dripping pudding" was published in Sir Alexander William George Cassey's book ''The Whole Duty of a Woman'': Similar instructions were published during 1747 in the book ''

The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'' is a cookbook by Hannah Glasse (1708–1770) first published in 1747. It was a bestseller for a century after its first publication, dominating the English-speaking market and making Glasse one of the ...

'' by

, with the name 'Yorkshire pudding'. It was she who renamed the original version, known as Dripping Pudding, which had been cooked in England for centuries, although these puddings were much flatter than the puffy versions made in modern times. William Sitwell suggests that the pudding got the name 'Yorkshire' due to the region's association with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

and the higher temperatures this produced which helped to make the batter crisper. Originally, the Yorkshire pudding was served as a first course with thick gravy to dull the appetite with the low-cost ingredients so that the diners would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course. Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or

white sauce White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

. In poorer households, the pudding was often served as the only course. Using dripping, a simple meal was made with flour, eggs and milk. This was traditionally eaten with a gravy or sauce, to moisten the pudding. The Yorkshire pudding is meant to rise. The

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Instit ...

suggested in 2008 that "A Yorkshire pudding isn't a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than tall". In a 2012 poll conducted by

T-Mobile UK T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, w ...

, the Yorkshire pudding was ranked tenth in a list of things people love about Britain.

Baking method

Yorkshire pudding is baked by pouring a batter made from milk, flour and eggs into oiled and preheated baking pans (

ramekin A ramekin (, ; also spelled ramequin) is a small dish used for culinary purposes. Name The term is derived from the French ', a cheese- or meat-based bowl baked in a small mould. The French term is in turn derived from early modern Dutch ', whi ...

s or

muffin tin A muffin or cupcake tray is a mold in which muffins or cupcakes are baked. A single cup within a regular muffin tin is and most often has room for 12 muffins, although tins holding 6, 8, 11, 24, and 35 muffins do exist. A single cup within a m ...

s in the case of miniature puddings). A basic formula uses 200ml flour and 200ml milk with four eggs (also 200ml). Water produces a lighter, crisper, but less sweet pudding than using milk. They can also be baked in cast-iron frying pans or similar. A 1926 recipe involves covering the pudding with greaseproof paper to steam it and then serving it with jam, butter and sugar.

Yorkshire Pudding Day

National Yorkshire Pudding Day has been celebrated on the first Sunday in February in Britain since 2007. It is celebrated on 13 October in the United States.

References

External links

* * {{English cuisine British puddings English cuisine Savory puddings