The eating customs of the poor from all over the world were intended to fill stomachs with little cost.
Yorkshire pudding is one of England’s answers to this culinary problem.
Although we think of pudding as a dessert, Yorkshire pudding is quite different.
It can be eaten as a dessert with the addition of toppings, but it is a savory dish that really shines when it is eaten with meat.
The recipe is similar to pancakes, but the batter is cooked in an oven.
Traditionally, the batter would be showered with the drippings of a leg of mutton.
Today it is more often cooked with the fat from roast beef.
Cooked properly, it rises in airy majesty out of its pan and spills over the sides.
A popular variation on Yorkshire pudding is toad in the hole, which is made by roasting sausages in the Yorkshire pudding batter.
Known as “drippings pudding” since the Middle Ages, Yorkshire pudding got its current name from Hannah Glasse, an eighteenth-century cook from northern England who included the formula in a popular book of recipes.
