The Best Yorkshire Pudding

By Kath Dedon

.

J. Kenji López-Alt calls this “The Best Yorkshire Pudding”. I found his recipe on Serious Eats and made it to serve with our Christmas dinner. I made my Perfect Rib Eye Roast for the main attraction.

Yorkshire puddings typically call for using beef drippings from the roast, but my roast never produces enough drippings. Kenji suggests using drippings, lard, shortening, or vegetable oil. I used a couple of tablespoons of drippings from the roast and added melted duck fat to make the ½ cup of fat needed to finish the Yorkshire pudding.

This Yorkshire Pudding recipe is SO easy to make and it drew rave reviews at the table. I had to share it on the blog to keep the recipe handy for future feasts at Chez Dedon.

The secret is to make the batter the day before. Kenji did all of the scientific experiments, and found that Yorkshire Pudding rises much higher if the batter has been made ahead of time. You just whisk the ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. When the roast is done, you take it out of the oven to rest and make the Yorkshire Pudding. Simple!

I made mine in my 10-inch cast iron skillet. If you have a 10-inch skillet that is oven-safe it is clearly the easiest pan to use because you don’t have to divide the fat and batter between multiple wells. According to Kenji, you can also use two 6-well popover tins, one 12-well standard muffin tin, one 24-well mini muffin tin, or two 8-inch cast iron skillets.

I know I’ll be making The Best Yorkshire Pudding again. There’s no reason not to with such an easy recipe! I might try it in my 12-inch cast iron skillet next time. I think it would work. If you try that, please let me know how it works for you!

My pudding rose so high! I think it would work in my 12-inch skillet next time.

The Best Yorkshire Pudding

(Adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe on Serious Eats)

(print the recipe)

Makes one 10-inch skillet-sized,  or two 8-inch skillet-sized, 8 popover-sized, 12 muffin-sized, or 24 mini muffin-sized puddings

For the batter

4 large eggs (200g)

1 cup plus 2 teaspoons (150g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (175g) whole milk

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons (28g) water

½ teaspoon (2g) kosher salt

To finish the Yorkshire Pudding

½ cup beef drippings, lard, shortening, vegetable oil, or duck fat (I used about 2 tablespoons of beef drippings and then added duck fat to make ½ cup.)

1. Whisk the eggs, flour, milk, water, and salt together to make a smooth batter. Pour into a container, preferably something like a Pyrex quart measuring cup. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 3 days.
2. Put the oven rack in the center position and heat the oven to 450°.
3. Put the ½ cup drippings or other fat in the 10-inch skillet. (Or microwave the fat to liquefy it if it is solid, and divide it between the two 8-inch skillets, 8 popover cups, 12 muffin cups, or 24 mini muffin cups.)
4. Put the skillet (or muffin tins) in the hot oven and heat for about 10 minutes, until the fat is “smoking hot”.
5. Pour the batter into the skillet. (Or divide it between the wells of the tins. Each one should be between ½ and ¾ full. The skillet should be about ¼ filled.)
6. Bake until the Yorkshire pudding has quadrupled in size, is browned, and sounds hollow when tapped. My 10-inch skillet took 24 or 25 minutes. Smaller muffins will take about 15 minutes; popover-sized or 8-inch skillets will take about 25 minutes.
7. For the 10-inch skillet pudding, cut into 8 pieces and serve immediately.