I love it when serious chemists put their mind to solving seemingly mundane challenges: in this case how to make the perfect Yorkshire pudding.
But the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has done just that, and also decreed that a Yorkshire pudding is not a Yorkshire pudding unless it is at least four inches tall.
Chemical scientist and author John Emsley, of Yorkshire, went further, and invoked the North-South divide when he said, “You can always tell from the look and taste if the cook has the right touch and it is almost pitiful to observe the stuff that comes from some southern ovens – flat, pale and soggy much of the time.”
The RSC has published its recipe and method for the perfect Yorkshire pud…[click continue reading for the recipe and method]…
The Royal Society of Chemistry Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Tablespoon and a half of plain flour
Content from our partners
1 egg
Half milk, half water to make a thin batter
Half a teaspoon of salt.
Method
Put flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle, add the egg, stir until the two are combined then start gradually adding the milk and water combining as you go.
Add the liquid until the batter is a smooth and thin consistency.
Stir in half teaspoon of salt and leave to stand for 10 minutes
Put beef dripping into Yorkshire pudding tins or into one large tin but don’t use too much fat.
Put into hot oven until the fat starts to smoke.
Give the batter a final stir and pour into the tin or tins.
Place in hot oven until well risen – should take 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve
But before you get carried away, the RSC issued a caveat. After interest in the puds at the RSC was spurred by a Brit living in Colorado who kept seeing his attempts fall flat, the RSC said it is, “Now checking with fellow scientists to see if cooking the famed dish in a mountain climate would lead to pressure problems.” Read more at the RSC’s site here.
