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Puffs
Mrs. Wren.
Two eggs beaten separately, two cups milk, two cups of flour, butter the size of a walnut; drop into hot irons and bake quickly.
This is a popover batter in all but name, and the whole thing hinges on heat: the irons must be scorching before the batter goes in, and the oven must not be opened while they rise.
- "Hot irons"Most likely the cast-iron gem pans of the period, heated empty in the oven before being greased and filled about two-thirds full. A modern popover pan or a heavy muffin tin works; the preheated metal is what drives the initial burst of steam.
- "Bake quickly"The recipe gives no temperature; a hot oven, roughly 425-450F, matches the instruction. Many modern recipes lower the heat toward the end of baking so the interiors dry out without the shells scorching.
- Butter the size of a walnutUsually reckoned at roughly 1 ounce, about 2 tablespoons. The recipe does not say how it is added; in a batter of this kind it would most plausibly be melted or worked in rather than dotted on top.
- Eggs beaten separatelyThe usual reading is that the yolks go in with the milk and flour and the whipped whites are folded in last. Many modern popover recipes simply beat everything smooth; the folded whites here should give a somewhat lighter, less hollow interior.
- Add saltThe recipe gives none, as many nineteenth-century batters do not. About half a teaspoon for this quantity, unless you are using salted butter.
- Batter consistencyTwo cups milk to two cups flour plus two eggs gives a pourable batter, though heavier than a modern popover batter. Letting it rest 20-30 minutes helps the flour hydrate.
- Don't open the doorSteam does the lifting. Opening the oven in the first 15 minutes collapses them, and they will not come back.
- Yield and servingAbout 10-12 puffs in a standard muffin tin, fewer in a deep popover pan. Serve immediately, split and buttered, with jam or syrup; they deflate within minutes of leaving the oven.
Puffs of this kind sit in a long line of egg-and-milk batters baked in fiercely hot metal, the same principle as English Yorkshire pudding and the American popover, which is by tradition associated with New England kitchens. The vessel is the giveaway: "hot irons" means the heavy cast-iron gem pans used in households with a stove and a closed oven rather than an open hearth, and the batter is a plain one -- flour, milk, two eggs and a scrap of butter -- which is why it turns up so often in books meant for ordinary families. The Home Cook Book was compiled from recipes donated by named contributors and sold in aid of charity, and the attribution to "Mrs. Wren" is typical of the form: no measurements more precise than a walnut of butter.