Wednesday 10 March 2010

Failing flat

Yesterday was a salad day. CJBS had a single remaining tin of fish left from his points, so that seemed to make for a good excuse to fill up on raw vegetables. I had the leftover curried rice, which was excellent cold.
Today has been cold, with an uncomfortable wind blowing in from the Irish Sea, so something warming and filling seems to work. I'm making sausages and mash, with onion gravy and steamed broccoli.

I was going to make sausages in gravy in a big Yorkshire pudding. This was the plan, but as I've said before, I simply can't make Yorkshire puddings. They never, no matter what I do, rise. I've made the batter with real egg and dried egg and vegan dried egg. I've added bicarb and not added it. I've made the batter slowly by hand and quickly by handbeater. I've made it with extra liquid and less liquid. I've made it from scratch and out of a packet.

So here's the flat, burnt, unrisen waste of an ounce of fat. And, if you've got a tip for making Yorkshire pudding (US: "popovers", in a piece of information I've just discovered), please let me know! (Especially Tanya who never fails at puddings and also writes the hysterical Gypsy Creams blog).
Meanwhile I've peeled the potatoes, boiled them and will shortly run them through my ricer, so all is not lost!

4 comments:

peezedtee said...

You have to be born in Yorkshire to make Yorkshire pudding.

Unknown said...

Very, very hot fat/oil is the secret of getting them to rise.

angygraham said...

You are doomed. There is no way that you can make a risen Yorkshire pudding. Its a genetic glich on your mothers side.

Tanya Jones said...

Well, seeing as you plugged Gypsy Creams...
175g plain flour
Two eggs (I usually get large eggs, because I'm greedy)
Some milk

I use a hand whisk to mix the flour and eggs, adding milk as I go until some sort of emulsion is formed, then finish it off with the electric whisk. I then smear the pudding pan with sunflower oil and pour the mixture in. Then in at 200c (I have a fan-assisted oven) it goes, until it's cooked.

It's always worked for me: sometimes a bit *too* well, with one Toad in the Hole threatening to take over the oven.