Skip to main content
Main

Yorkshire Pudding

A baked batter made with milk, flour, eggs, baking powder, salt, and beef drippings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Yorkshire Pudding

Why it works: Milk and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Yorkshire Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsAn hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “an hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine milk, flour, baking powder, and salt.

  3. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately, then fold them into the batter.

Assemble

  1. Pour off excess fat from the gravy pan, leaving enough to prevent sticking.

  2. Place the beef on an inverted tin mold in the center of the pan.

  3. Pour the batter around the beef to catch the juices.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden.

  2. Serve hot, cut into squares around the beef.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the risen batter in shape as it bakes.
Eggs
Whites trap air for lift, and yolks add richness and help set the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to help it rise and puff in the oven.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its liquid base for a tender interior.
Beef drippings
Fat in the hot pan helps the batter release and adds browning and flavor to the crust.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites into the batter. Whites hold air that lifts the batter as it bakes. Folding gently keeps that air in, while vigorous stirring deflates it and leaves the pudding flatter and denser.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More yorkshire pudding recipes

with Roast Beef 8with Beef 3 See all 346 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef BrothBeef Broth67 recipes