Hi, folks, and welcome back to Cèpage et Cuisine, Brian’s and Mary’s wine and food blog. Today is a bit of Thanksgiving redux and a preview of festive holiday dishes to come.
Anyone who has read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens or read about traditional winter and Christmas dishes of 18th and 19th century England has heard of Yorkshire pudding. Mary and I confess we knew nothing about it until we made it recently as part of our Thanksgiving celebration. Even at that, the recipe was called popovers. We didn’t realize it was actually Yorkshire pudding until we did more research. Gosh, we thought it was some kind of pudding for dessert! But it’s only the batter that’s like a pudding!
Yorkshire pudding was a way of making use of the drippings of roasted meat. The hot fat, the hot pan, and a batter not unlike pancake batter combine to produce a bread-like muffin that is traditionally served with savory, hearty meals. According to Wikipedia, one of the first recipes, called “A Dripping Pudding,” was published in 1737 in a book called The Whole Duty of a Woman. Enough said about that and I’m not touching it with a ten-foot pole!
Today we use handy-dandy nonstick muffin pans, the fat is butter or oil, and we have fan-driven convection ovens, but the results are still delicious and complement a traditional holiday meal. We got the idea for our dish from an article by Mark Bittman, a food writer for the New York Times. Credit due where credit is deserved, I always say.
The dish is easy, interesting, and different from the usual brown ‘n serve rolls in the little paper box. Our granddaughter loved our creation! The ingredients are probably already in your kitchen as you read this post ... butter, eggs, milk, sugar, salt, flour, and herbs.
Well, here's how easy it is. Melt a little butter in the muffin pan while you make the batter, which takes only a couple of minutes. Beat the eggs, milk, a little melted butter, sugar, and salt together. Beat in the flour and herbs to a smooth batter. Take the muffin pan with melted butter in each cup out of the oven and pour a quarter cup of batter into each cup. Bake for 15-20 minutes at a preheated 425 degrees, then reduce to 350 degrees for 15 more minutes without opening the oven door. It’s really interesting to watch them “pop over.” Remove from the pan immediately and serve hot. They don’t stay poofy and light very long. Here's a series of photos from our experience.
We used whole wheat flour, but regular all purpose flour is fine. Fresh herbs are best and thyme is a good choice. If you use dried herbs, use a smaller quantity.
Here's the batter just after it is put into the oven. The photo was taken through the glass in the oven door. Don't open the door while cooking!
They really do pop over! It is interesting to watch. Now here's the finished product again as it went to the Thanksgiving table.
The recipe isn’t hard to find and there’s a great video by Mark Bittman at www.nytimes.com . You can also post a comment here at the blog and I’ll be glad to email the recipe to you. You’ll feel so….Dickensian. Don't worry ... your email address won't appear on the blog.
That’s our post for today. Let’s have a great holiday season, appreciating each other, great food, fine wine, friends and family, and all our blessings. Keep checking back for more posts at Cèpage et Cuisine. We’d love to hear your comments and ideas. Let us know about your wine and food enjoyment for the holidays. Until then,
Cheers,
Brian♥Mary
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