Recipe: raise your Sunday roast game with the ultimate Yorkshire pudding

Yorkshire puddings can be daunting for home cooks - but not any more thanks to this fail-safe recipe

We all love a Sunday roast. But what really elevates it from good to great is a top notch Yorkshire pudding.

Dating back to the mid-18th century as a cheap and filling appetiser served before the pricier main meat dish of beef or mutton, they’ve now become a Sunday staple alongside our meat, roast potatoes and veg.

There are even rules; in 2008 the Royal Society of Chemistry declared that a Yorkshire pudding isn’t a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall.

But though the dish seems simple, using a batter with just three ingredients, Yorkshire puddings can still be daunting for home cooks. What if they won’t rise?

Thankfully, Manchester chef and supper club host Iain Devine – aka the Drunken Butcher – has shared with us his recipe for the ultimate, fail-safe Yorkies.

https://twitter.com/drunkenbutcher/status/1484211336062058504

His top tips – including using equal quantities by volume, and an empty wine bottle – are guaranteed to produce perfect Yorkshire puddings every time, and take your Sunday lunch to the next level.

And shopping for all the ingredients you’ll need for your Sunday roast couldn’t be easier thanks to the excellent news that Prime members in Manchester can now experience a new Click & Collect service when shopping ‘Morrisons on Amazon’.

Available at selected Morrisons stores across Greater Manchester, the Click & Collect service means you can order all the ingredients you need in a few clicks, and then get your groceries in minutes without even leaving your car – as soon as an hour from ordering.

Just click the button below to start shopping.

Ultimate Yorkshire puddings

Ingredients

One egg per person

Plain flour

Milk

(You will need equal quantities of eggs, flour and milk by volume – see instructions below)

Pinch of salt

Sunflower oil – and a little beef dripping or other animal fat too, if you like

Instructions

Make the batter ideally the night before, but as early as you can.

Use one egg per person (please use the good ones!), and break them into a glass.

Take two more glasses the same size, and match this with the same amount of both plain flour and milk, each in a glass. Equal quantities by volume is the key here.

Put the eggs and flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt and whisk until smooth, then add the milk and whisk again.

Decant this into a jug or an empty wine bottle, cover or replace the cork/top, and put it in the fridge.

When you put the oven on for your roast, put a deep muffin tray in to get really hot. If you use a shallow tray you won’t be able to get as much batter in and they won’t rise as much.

The oven should be between 180C and 200C.

45 minutes before you want the Yorkshires to be ready, take the tray out of the oven and put a splash of sunflower oil in each hole – you can add some animal fat too, if you like, for extra flavour.

Return the tray for 15 minutes so the fats are super hot.

Take the batter mix out of the fridge and shake it up so it’s completely mixed again (this is why I prefer to use a wine bottle).

Take the tray out and, working quickly, pour the batter into the holes until it’s a bit short of the top.

Put the tray back in the top of the oven. Remember that they’ll need room to rise. It’s not a bad idea to put an oven tray under them to catch any drips of oil that may spill over, it will save on cleaning the oven.

Leave them well alone for 15 minutes, and after that turn them round so they cook evenly, as nearly all ovens have hot spots.

After about 20 minutes cooking, start to check on them regularly.

Once the Yorkshire puddings have fully risen and have a nice brown crust, then remove them and serve.

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