Whether you’re in the ‘Yorkshire puddings belong with beef’ camp, or you’re a staunch believer that no Sunday lunch would be complete without them, it's a major disappointment when your Yorkie’s fall flat.
So ahead of Christmas day (argue what you will about that), we want you to know the best ways to get the roast dinner staple as perfect as possible.
The foodies at Lockhart catering lifted the lid on common mistakes that home cooks make.
There are several reasons why your results are more pancake than crispy pud.
This includes lumpy batter, uneven Yorkie heights and mixture that's too dense.
So are the most likely culprits of Yorkshire pudding failure and how to adjust your recipe to fix them.
1. If your Yorkshires are too dense, or too soft, add water to the recipe
Generally, Yorkshire puddings are made up of equal parts of flour, eggs and milk. However, if your results are too dense, or don’t hold their shape, then try swapping out some of the milk for water.
Substituting up to half of the milk in your recipe will result in lighter, crispy Yorkshire puddings.
This can also be affected by the amount of eggs that you are using – for six servings you should use around four eggs. Ensure that the components are in equal parts as without enough egg there will be insufficient air folded into the mixture to get a good rise.
2. Your puddings have pockets of flour or are lumpy
If this is the case, you haven't whisked your mixture thoroughly enough. Ensure that the batter has a consistency close to single cream and use an electric mixer to get every last lump out.
If you are still finding lumps, whisk again after you have let it rest or run it through a sieve or metal strainer.
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3. Your Yorkshires don’t rise in the oven and come out like disks
Firstly, make sure your oil or fat is smoking hot. If you’re roasting meat in the oven then try putting your pudding trays in while you’re making the batter mixture. That way they’ll have more than long enough to get hot.
Secondly, your batter mix has to be cold before pouring it into the hot oil.
The combination of cold batter with hot oil is what makes the puddings rise.
Try chilling the mix in the fridge for 15-30 minutes before pouring into the oven. Your batter should sizzle when it hits the fat.
While Yorkshire puddings are traditionally made with beef fat, dripping, you can easily make a vegetarian version with rapeseed or vegetable oil. Never use olive oil or butter, they can’t reach a high enough temperature before burning.
4. Your puddings are heavy and don’t rise to a good height
You may be overfilling your Yorkshire pudding tin.
Make sure you don’t fill them more than a third of the depth of the tin.
This rule stands for both individually portioned and giant Yorkshires.
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5. They start to rise but then collapse
This is usually caused by cold air getting to the puddings.
If they start to look successful do not be tempted to open the oven door to check on them as you need to keep the batter as hot as possible. If you really need to open the door – make it quick.
Unfortunately, if you have a convection oven the fans used to circulate the air may also be harming your puddings. If possible use a setting which doesn’t use fans as they can stop the batter climbing the tin.
Use these tips to help your Yorkshire puddings reach lofty heights and you’ll impress your dining party – whether you’re making beef or not.
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