Yorkshire Pudding

A spit-roasting recipe adapted for a dripping pan, written when the pudding cooked beneath the joint and caught the fat. The proportions are unusually thin by modern standards, so read the flour quantity carefully before you scale it.

• The batter is very thinFive spoonsful of flour to a quart of milk gives a batter closer to a crepe mix than to modern Yorkshire pudding, which runs about 4 oz (1 cup) flour, 4 eggs and 1/2 pint milk. As written it bakes into a flat, custardy sheet, which is what the recipe intends when it says to cut it into pieces; turning it into the tall, hollow pudding people expect now would mean several times this amount of flour, so weigh rather than guess.
• A quart, and which quartThe quart is the measure of the book's own system, and "spoonsful" most probably means tablespoons; either way the measure is loose enough that weighing the flour is the only way to get a repeatable result.
• Baking under the meatThe pan originally sat under a joint turning on a spit, collecting fat and juices. The modern equivalent is a shallow metal pan with two or three tablespoons of hot beef dripping, set on a shelf below the roast, or roasted on its own once the meat comes out to rest.
• Oven heatFat and batter both need to be very hot: 425-450F. A cool oven gives a leathery, pallid pudding no matter how long it bakes.
• Turning it overFlipping the sheet to brown the second side works with this thin batter in a shallow pan and would not work with a modern risen pudding. Use two fish slices, and only once the underside is set firm.
• The chafing-dish stepWarming and stirring the batter gently before baking helps disperse lumps. A few minutes of whisking and a 30-minute rest at room temperature does much the same job.
• YieldA quart of milk makes a large sheet, enough for eight to ten portions cut square, as the recipe directs.