Best Recipe for Yorkshire Pudding

Like every other person in Yorkshire, we reckon that our mam made the best Yorkies in the Country.

So to find out if you agree, we'll share our mother's recipe and secret tips for a succesful Yorkshire Pudding.

Quantities shown below makes about a dozen small ones (or one big one for toad-in-the-hole).  You'll need:

Cup of plain flour (Note to Australians - you'll need to use low protein flour because your wheat is too high in protein to make good Yorkies).

1 Egg (note - two eggs will give your puddings more "rise" if you like them that way)

1/2 cup of full fat milk

1/2 cup tap water

Salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon is a good idea).

Lard for cooking (about 1/2 teaspoon per Yorkshire Pudding).

Making the pudding mixture

Mix the water and milk

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and add the salt

Put a hole in the top of the flour with your finger

Break an egg (or two) into the hole in the flour and then start to add the milk/water liquid

Mix with a fork and keep adding the water/mix liquid until you have a smooth batter.

Place the pudding mixture in the fridge and allow to chill for about an hour.

Meanwhile, turn on your oven and heat to a high temperature (+240 - 250 °C is good).

Instructions for cooking

Place a 1/2 teaspoon of lard into each cake-hole of your non-stick baking tin (or about a tablespoon of lard into a large flat baking tray) if you want one large Pudding.

Place your baking tray into your very hot oven and allow to heat-up for about 5- to 10-minutes.

Get your batter mixture from the fridge in readiness for the next step.

When the lard is smoking hot, quickly remove the tray from the oven and add a sufficient amount of cold batter to fill each cake-hole to about a 1/2-inch depth.

For some reason known only to the Angels who gave Yorkshire folk these puddings; it works best with scalding hot oil and icy-cold batter!

Quickly get the baking tin back in the oven and shut the door.

Allow the pudding mixture to cook for about 10- to 15-minutes.

Have a very quick peak at progress after about ten minutes.

If your Yorkshire's are risen and look golden brown on the outside - they're done and you can bring them out.

If not yet ready, give them 5-more minutes in the hot oven.

Surving Suggestions

As children back in the 1960s, we used to get Yorkshire Puddings as a starter, a main course and a pudding!  How versatile is that.

As a starter, they're great served with beef-gravy poured-over and with a "Yorkshire salad" on top of very thinly chopped lettuce and finely chopped spring onions mixed together in  brown vinegar.

As part of a main course, simply serve them with any roast meat and vegetables with meat-gravy.  Roast beef is best, but they go handsomely with roast lamb, roast chicken or roast pork.

As a sweet-pudding ("afters" around here), serve them like a profiterol - full of whipped cream inside and with strawberry jam on the outside.

In all cases, your children will come to love you forever!

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