The popover
Poor Amanda, who is expecting something quintessentially American is faced with something all British. A popover is simple a Yorkshire pudding made small and without meat.
I was having a problem with them for a while. I asked British food groups how they made theirs. I tried all the things they said. I still intermittently had problems. So, I dragged out my two really old American cookbooks and checked their recipes side by side. One, the one I had been using, said to mix the ingredients and beat them for 2 minutes. The other said to beat them only until they were smooth and that overbeating them would reduce volume.
Lightbulb. I did it the easy way and the above is what I got.
Popovers
1 cup flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Preheat the oven to 450°F or 220°C with the baking dishes inside.
Mix together and beat with a beater just until smooth. Allow to rest a few minutes then ladle into heated forms already in the oven with a generous amount of fat melted in them. What you see is individual soufflé dishes. Popovers are usually cooked to the point you see here, then stabbed to the very heart and left in the oven with the heat turned off to dry out a bit. I am far too impatient for that.
When I make a big one for Yorkshire pudding I use an iron frying pan preheated and with quite a lot of fat melted into it. It will puff, puff, slip and slide while you watch… what fun! The pudd is eaten as soon as it is big and brown.
12 comments April 2nd, 2008
