All things British really appealed to me as a kid… I mean, we had Monty Python… The Beatles… The Stones… All the pithy British sitcoms on PBS like Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, and then the Vicar of Dibley and of course, the veritable Doctor Who (My grandparents had a Doctor Who coloring book that I am pretty sure was prehistoric, that I colored in for years… Now I kick myself thinking about how collectable it would be now).
But for the longest time, us Americans made fun of the Brits. Hell, I made fun of Brits for a long time. Until my dad met and married a wonderful lady from across the pond and I got a whole new extended British family including two step sisters, a new grandma and grandpa and aunts, uncles and cousins that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Now everything British is cool again. Doctor Who has made an awesome resurgence, British TV is taking over America and everyone is accepting and embracing all things British. People really should have taken my cue and did this years ago.
Why? Because… Their traditions are awesome and while everyone says that English food has no taste is smoking crack.
Today I have a proper British dinner on the blog, complete with Yorkshire Puddings!
To start off, you want a good thick roast. You ideally want something a bit larger than the 2.5lb roast I cooked. I didn’t realize it was this small LOL. Oh well, it still made for awesome food.
In a dutch oven, or roaster pan, melt three tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
While it’s melting, season your roast with salt and pepper on both sides. When the butter is melted, place the roast in it to sear. Sear the roast on both sides and then stand it up on the other sides to sear evenly.
Yummmm.
Turn off the heat, place peeled cut up carrots, onion and some garlic in there. Sprinkle on some more salt and pepper. Cover and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 2-3 hours depending on how done you want. Medium Rare would be about 2 hours; well done would be about 3. I cooked my small little roast for 2 1/2 hours and it was perfect. Don’t forget to put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pan before you pop it in. Cover and let it cook until it reaches a roasty goodness that melts in your mouth.
Now onto the Yorkshire Puddings. This is the tricky spot. The recipe will be at the end of the pictorial. Get your ingredients ready! And find your popover pan. Or just a regular non-stick muffin pan will work as well. I just like my fancy pans you don’t use for anything but that one certain thing LOL.
Get your eggs in a bowl. Because you can’t whisk eggs on a plate. Well I guess you could, but it would be really messy.
Now with your silly whisk that really doesn’t serve a purpose other than to look cute and get stuff stuck in it, whisk your eggs.
Sift your flour. We can’t find our regular flour sifter, so we use this fine mesh strainer. It works well!
Plus it looks REALLY cool when you take a picture at the right time.
Mix your flour with your eggs.
Then start mixing your milk in slowly, making sure all the lumps are gone.
And you wind up with this! Now carefully pour your mix into a measuring cup as it will be easier to pour from there than it would be to ladle from the bowl to the pan.
Take the roast out of the oven…
UGH! It looks so damned good. Let it sit while the puddings are cooking. Drain some of the juices off into a bowl…
A little drizzle from the skies of flavor town
Take the drippings and put about a tablespoon each into the tin you’re going to use for the puddings. I forgot to picture that part. Put the pan into the warm oven and let it warm up for about 3 minutes. You’ll hear the sizzle.
Take it out and carefully pour the batter into the pans about 2/3 full.
Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. 20 minutes was about the right time for mine. DO NOT OPEN YOUR OVEN until the timer goes off! It will cause the puddings to fall!!!
You will be rewarded with these gorgeous, airy, yummy little confections that are just begging to be eaten.
I mean, can’t you hear it?! Eaaaat meeeee!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaat meeeeeeee!!!
Plate your roast along with the carrots and onions and drizzle the pan drippings on top of the roast.
Then plate and enjoy! And believe me….
You’ll enjoy it!
Now onto the recipe!
Yorkshire Puddings
1 1/4 c. flour
4 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Beat flour into eggs until smooth and gradually add milk until lump free. Season with salt and pepper.
Place grease into tins. Heat in oven until hot (3 minutes or so).
Pour batter into tins to about 2/3 full. Place into oven for 20-25 minutes. DO NOT OPEN OVEN!!! Serve immediately.
This yields about six good sized Yorkshire Puddings.
PS.... I'd like to credit this recipe to my wonderful Auntie Lorna!
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