Yorkshire Pudding
Yorkshire pudding was designed to fill you up before the meat arrived, and a famous 2008 ruling said a proper one must stand at least four inches tall.
Published
Quick Facts
- What it is
- A baked batter of eggs, flour and milk, cooked in sizzling hot fat
- First in print
- 1737, as 'dripping pudding'
- Named in print
- 1747, by Hannah Glasse in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
- Classic partner
- Roast beef and gravy
- Original job
- A cheap first course to take the edge off hungry appetites
- Height rule
- The Royal Society of Chemistry said in 2008 that a proper one should be at least four inches (10 cm) tall
- Famous relative
- Toad in the hole, which is sausages baked in the same batter
- Celebration day
- National Yorkshire Pudding Day, the first Sunday in February
The pudding that was meant to ruin your appetite
The Yorkshire pudding began as an economy measure. Meat was the expensive part of a Sunday dinner, and flour, eggs and milk were cheap. So the pudding came first, with gravy, and filled people up before the beef appeared. A well-known Yorkshire saying sums up the logic: those who eat the most pudding get the most meat. The idea was that a hungry diner who had already had a big plate of batter would take a smaller slice of the joint. In many Yorkshire homes, the pudding still arrives as its own course, swimming in onion gravy, before the main event.
From dripping pudding to Hannah Glasse
The earliest printed recipe appeared in 1737 under the plain name 'dripping pudding'. The batter was cooked under a joint of meat turning on a spit, so the fat dripped straight onto it. In 1747 the cookery writer Hannah Glasse published a version in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, and she gave it the name we use today. She also recommended making it with the meat juices, a practice that explains why the pudding tastes so good with gravy. The spit has long gone, but the principle has not changed. Hot fat and a runny batter make the pudding rise and crisp.
Why yours collapsed (and how to stop it)
The recipe is famously short: eggs, plain flour and milk, sometimes with a splash of water. The skill lies in the heat. The fat in the tin must be smoking hot before the batter goes in, so that the edges set and climb at once. Many cooks rest the batter first, and most agree that opening the oven door mid-bake is a risk, because a gust of cool air can flatten a rising pudding. The four-inch rule came from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2008. It declared that a Yorkshire pudding under that height was not a proper one. The statement caused a happy uproar, and it gave Yorkshire cooks a number to aim for. The batter is essentially the same as for pancakes, and the two differ mainly in the tin and the temperature.
Toad in the hole, wraps and the great debates
The same batter, baked around sausages, gives toad in the hole. It is another thrifty classic, and it has its own devoted following. The pudding has also moved well beyond the Sunday plate. Large Yorkshire puddings can be filled with stew, sausages or a full roast dinner, like an edible bowl. Pubs and restaurants have also served it flattened into a wrap around roast meat. Then comes the question of what counts as a Yorkshire pudding on the plate. Some say it belongs only with beef. Others happily serve it with chicken, pork or a Christmas roast. Older traditions even include sweet versions, eaten with jam or sugar, though few modern cooks would serve one that way. One thing most people agree on is that it should be crisp at the edges, soft in the middle and served hot.
A pudding with its own day
Yorkshire pudding has a loyal fan base well beyond its home county. It is a fixture of the British Sunday roast, and it appears on tables across the country. National Yorkshire Pudding Day falls on the first Sunday in February, which gives cooks a good excuse to dust off the tin in the middle of winter. For a humble mixture of three basic ingredients, it has proved remarkably durable. It began as a way of stretching a dinner, and it now defines one.
Notable people
- Hannah Glasse
Keep exploring
The Sunday Roast
Published
The French nicknamed the English 'les rosbifs' for it, and a chemistry society once ruled on exactly how tall a Yorkshire pudding should be. Meet the Sunday roast.
Welsh Cakes
Published
Wales's national teatime treat is cooked in a pan, not baked in an oven, and it's been fed to families for generations. Is it a biscuit, a scone or a pancake?
Scotch Whisky
Published
Scotch whisky has to sit in an oak cask for at least three years, so every bottle on the shelf is a small act of patience, and some outlast their makers.