History of Food: Yorkshire Pudding

By Maya Glantz, Third year History of Art, and Saiba Haque, Food Editor

The Croft Magazine// The Croft Magazine (Food Section) and the Bristorian Magazine (University of Bristol's humanities magazine) presents you with a special collaboration article.

We bring to you the history of food. This collaboration article focuses on the History of the Yorkshire puddings. The recreation of both historical and present day recipes are provided in this article. To read a historical rundown of how the Yorkshire pudding came to be, click here to reach the Bristorian Website.

One of the most loved side dishes in numerous homes throughout Britain, the Yorkshire pudding is a quintessential British delicacy. It's often made with a kind of fat, and a thin pancake-like savoury batter. However, the older version of the Yorkshire pudding was made differently than the one we know today.

Traditional Yorkshire Pudding:

As mentioned in the Bristorian collaboration article, the early version of Yorkshire Puddings are synonymous with ‘Dripping Puddings’. Meat was cooked by being hung over a pit of fire, and a tray, filled with batter, under the meat would catch all the fat to make dripping pudding. Later, a more cohesive recipe would use the same setup, but have the tray catch the hot dripping from the meat first, then the batter would be added and then the rest of the hot meat dripping would continue to fall on top of the meat. However, since hanging meat over a pit of fire may be too inconvenient these days, here’s a guide on how to replicate the flavours of the traditional Yorkshire pudding in your kitchen:

Ingredients:

70g Plain Flour

2 eggs

100ml whole milk

3 tbsp beef drippings

Method :

Heat oven to 200 degrees
Transfer 3 tablespoons of your preferred fat, most traditionally beef drippings, into a large ceramic dish and place in the oven to heat up while you make your batter
Sift flour into a large bowl
Beat eggs in a separate bowl until yolks and whites are fully combined
Beat eggs and flour together to form a homogenous paste
Slowly pour milk into the batter while whisking constantly
Steps 3-6 can be done in advance and stored in the fridge until ready to use
Pour the batter into the heated beef drippings and cook for 15-20 minutes until fully risen and cooked, for best results do not open the oven door while cooking.
Once ready, more hot melted beef dripping can be brushed on the fully formed Yorkshire pudding for that extra rich flavour.
Cut up smaller portions for serving. Serve with gravy as an appetiser, like they did in the olden days.

The Modern Yorkshire Pudding:

The modern Yorkshire Pudding takes a few liberties from the “Dripping Pudding” of the olden days. Other types of fats, like vegetable or sunflower oil, are more readily available, and easier to store in the pantry or shelf at room temperature, unlike beef dripping. Although the ready-made Yorkshire pudding are easily available now, the shelf stable ingredients for the modern day Yorkshire pudding recipe, makes it tremendously easy to make them at home on a whim. The modern day Yorkshire pudding also comes in perfect individual portions through the use of a muffin tin, to provide a light and airy vessel for gravy. Here's how you can make it with pantry ingredients:

Ingredients:

150 g plain flour

3 eggs

250ml whole milk

6 tbsp sunflower oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat oven to 210 degrees
Add 1 tbsp of oil into each hole of a muffin tin and place in the oven to heat up
Sieve the flour into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt and pepper
Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and then combine with flour
Slowly pour milk into the bowl with the flour and egg mixture while continuously beating using an electric whisk
Allow the batter to sit until the oil is fully heated up, you can test this by adding a drop of the batter into the oil - if it sizzles the oil is ready
Pour batter evenly across the 12 holes of the muffin tray
Return the tray to the oven and allow to cook uninterrupted for 15 minutes until golden and fully puffed up
Serve alongside your roast dinner and other desired trimmings.