Everyone’s got their favourite element of a Sunday roast. For some it’s the main event itself, the meat. For others it’s the perfectly crispy roast potatoes. But for a large proportion of the population, it’s undeniably the Yorkshire pudding. The perfect vessel for soaking up rich gravy, and an easy partner to succulent meat or crunchy vegetables, the Yorkshire pudding is the MVP of a Sunday roast because it ties everything together so well.
In fact, that’s one of the reasons that they were first ‘invented’, hundreds of years ago, as a way of making the most of the delicious flavours of a roasted meat, without wasting anything.
Origin & History of the Yorkshire Pudding
Back in the 1700s, people were very frugal. Meat was expensive, and in order to make the most of the meal, people wanted to find a way to ensure it filled them up. They also wanted to – understandably – make the most of the delicious juices produced when cooking the meat. So ‘dripping pudding’ was born.
Originally a batter pudding that was cooked underneath the roasting meat to catch its juices, it became flavoured and coloured by the fat running off the spit. Served as a starter before the main event, there was even a saying that the more pudding you ate, the more meat you could have.
While the concept of a Yorkshire pudding did originate in the north of England, it was only when the food writer Hannah Glasse first penned the recipe in her 1747 book, ‘The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple’ that it got its name, in order to differentiate it from other batter puddings being made in England at the time.
Why Are Yorkshire Puddings Called Puddings?
You might be wondering why it’s called a ‘pudding’. The reason is that centuries ago, a pudding was savoury, rather than sweet – just look at black and white puddings, a staple of an English or Irish breakfast, for proof.
One curious part of the evolution of the Yorkshire pudding is how it’s come to be served differently in different parts of the country. In the south and the Midlands, it’s only to be eaten with roast beef, as it was originally. Meanwhile, in the north, it’s come to be a beloved part of every roast dinner, no matter what the meat. Then there’s ‘toad in the hole,’ a dish that incorporates sausages into the batter too and is served with an onion gravy.
Global Variations & Tips for Homemade Yorkshire Puddings
Of course, today the Yorkshire pudding is a quintessentially British foodstuff, but other countries do have similar takes. In the Netherlands, for example, they have pannekoeken, which are served with chicken, mushrooms and leeks, while in the US, they have a modified version – made with butter, instead of beef drippings – called a popover.
Chances are, you’ve tried to recreate a Yorkshire pudding at home and perhaps had mixed results. That’s because despite it being such a deceptively simple recipe – equal parts eggs and flour, with equal parts milk and water – you need the heated oil in the baking tray to be as hot as possible, otherwise they simply won’t rise and you won’t get that delicious mix of fluffiness and crispiness.
Yorkshire Puddings at Cubitt House: A True Sunday Icon
Some restaurants today serve their Yorkshires as a starter, as originally intended, while others serve theirs supersized, with the roast dinner inside it. At Cubitt House, we take our roast dinners very seriously, so it’s no surprise that ours are made from scratch using the traditional recipe and to a standard size. Perfectly risen, fluffy and crispy, they are best when doused in our rich house gravy and served with a healthy mouthful of succulent roast beef.
Book for Sunday lunch at one of our Cubitt House pubs today to try our iconic Yorkshire Puddings for yourself.
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