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Yorkshire Pudding

A baked batter of flour, milk, eggs, and salt, cooked in beef fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Yorkshire Pudding

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Yorkshire Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

  1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.

  2. Gradually add the milk, then add the beaten eggs.

  3. Beat the mixture for 2 minutes until light.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the bottom of a pan with hot fat from roasted beef.

  2. Pour the mixture into the pan, ensuring it's 1 inch deep.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  4. Baste with fat from the roasting meat when well risen.

  5. Cut into squares and serve 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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Flour and milk 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
Forms the batter structure that sets and holds the risen shape.
Eggs
Provide structure and help the batter rise and set in the oven.
Milk
Adds moisture and liquid so the batter can steam and puff.
Beef fat (in the method)
Hot fat in the pan sears the batter's base so it rises quickly and crisps.

The step that matters

Bake in a hot oven without opening the door early. The batter must be very hot before it goes in and the oven must stay hot so steam expands the batter quickly. A cold pan or a sudden drop in heat stops the rise and leaves a flat, dense pudding.

“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.

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