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Savoury Batter Puddings
The foundation of these is the same as for YORKSHIRE PUDDING. To this should be added a salt-spoonful of pepper, and a little grated nutmeg or other spice. Some chopped parsley and thyme will give a very pleasant zest, and, with the addition of a dish of baked or fried onions, a satisfying and cheap meal for children is easily obtained.
This is a variation note rather than a standalone recipe: it assumes you already have the book's Yorkshire pudding batter in front of you. A workable base is 4 oz (about 1 cup) plain flour, a pinch of salt, 2 eggs and ½ pint (1 cup) milk, beaten smooth and left to stand.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon was a small table spoon holding roughly a quarter of a teaspoon. That is the right order of magnitude for pepper in a batter using a cup of flour; more will dominate.
- Oven heat is the hingeBatter puddings rise on steam, so the fat should be very hot and the oven hot before the batter goes in; modern practice for Yorkshire-type batters is around 425-450F. The recipe itself specifies no oven heat. A moderate oven gives a flat, custardy slab rather than a risen one.
- The fatPeriod practice was to pour the batter into hot beef dripping in the tin, or to set the tin beneath roasting meat. Beef dripping gives the traditional flavour and stands the heat well; lard or a neutral oil works, butter does not.
- Rest the batterHalf an hour standing lets the flour hydrate, which is the usual reason given for a better lift. Some cooks prefer to mix the batter the night before and keep it cold, though this is preference rather than settled fact.
- Herbs and spiceChopped parsley and thyme should be fine and dry — wet herbs weep into the batter. Nutmeg here is a savoury seasoning, in the same tradition as nutmeg in sausage or potted meats, and a rasp or two is enough.
- The onions"Baked or fried onions" may mean whole or halved onions cooked slowly until sweet rather than the modern quick-browned sort, though the text does not specify. Onions roasted in their skins at 400F for an hour, then peeled and dressed with a little of the pudding fat, suit the dish well.
- Timing and yieldA batter this size baked in a shallow tin takes about 25-30 minutes; individual tins, 15-20. It serves three or four as the substantial part of a meal with the onions alongside.
- Serve at onceBatter puddings collapse as they cool and turn leathery on standing. Get them from the oven to the table without a pause.
Batter puddings of this kind belong to a long English tradition of stretching a little flour, milk and eggs into a filling course, and savoury versions predate the assumption that a pudding must be sweet. The classic form was baked under roasting meat so that the batter caught the drippings; the county name is traditionally associated with that practice, though why it attached to Yorkshire is not documented. Where there was no roast, the batter itself could be seasoned with pepper, nutmeg and garden herbs to supply the flavour the meat would have given. The recipe frames it as "a satisfying and cheap meal for children", in the manner of Victorian household-economy writing, preoccupied with feeding a family well on flour and a pennyworth of onions. Nutmeg in a savoury batter looks odd now, but savoury spicing with nutmeg and mace was ordinary in British cooking well into the nineteenth century before sweet associations narrowed its use.