It has often been said that the U.S. and U.K. are 2 countries separated by a common language.
I learned early on, encouraged be embarrassing mistakes, never to assume I knew what a Brit was talking about.
An example: US calls the accessory that fastens around one’s waist and holds things like money a ‘fanny pack’. In British English the word ‘fanny’ is an extremely vulgar term used to describe a certain part of the female anatomy. They refer to the same accessory as a ‘bum bag’ which makes us Americans wonder what type of bag the vagrant had.
I, of course, was overheard using the term ‘fanny pack’ at a very proper ‘luncheon’ causing some of the very proper ladies to have ‘the vapors’. By mutual consent I was not included again.
I made Yorkshire pudding for years in the U.S. – in a baking dish, using the drippings from a standing beef rib roast. When my British friend said she was making Yorkshire pudding that was what I expected. She didn’t use beef drippings or anything similar and made them in a muffin pan.
She made popovers.
I call this a Yorkshire Pudding Pie but you could also call it a Popover Pie.
Language is flexible like that…..
Click here to Pin Yorkshire Pudding Pie
PrintYorkshire Pudding Pie
The key to good Yorkshire pudding batter or popover batter (it’s the same) is to NOT over mix it. Some lumps are the the sign that it’s just right.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Savory Pie
Ingredients
- 8oz (240gr) sausages, sliced 1/3″ (1cm) thick
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 1 rib celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8oz (240gr) frozen, chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese, (2oz, 60gr)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (8oz, 240ml) milk
- 1 cup (4.8oz, 135gr) flour
- pinch nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbs olive oil, plus more for baking dish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, pepper, celery, garlic and sauté until tender.
- Add sausage and brown.
- When done remove from heat.
- Add spinach, oregano, and mix thoroughly.
- In medium bowl lightly beat eggs with wire whisk.
- Add milk, flour, salt and nutmeg.
- Beat lightly to just combine; a few lumps are okay – over-beating is not.
- Lightly oil a 10-inch quiche dish or other glass baking dish.
- Pour in the batter mixture.
- Spoon meat/spinach mixture over top to within 1 inch of sides of dish.
- Sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake at 425F (215C) for 30 minutes or until edges puff up and are golden brown.
- Cut into wedges and serve.
Notes
You could use bulk sausage or ground beef, breaking it up as it browns.
The nutmeg is optional but is a nice addition to batters and gratins.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 recipe
- Calories: 1018
- Sugar: 10.4 g
- Sodium: 1640.2 mg
- Fat: 62.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 22.9 g
- Trans Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 68.8 g
- Fiber: 6.6 g
- Protein: 46.1 g
- Cholesterol: 312.3 mg
Keywords: yorkshire pudding pie, popover pie
I have 2 pet peeves with professional and / or TV chefs.
They can be summed up easily: They like to over-complicate simple preparations.
The first is risotto. To listen to some chefs on the cooking shows one would have to go to culinary school to make risotto, and then accept the fact that it has to be finished with a ton of butter to make it creamy. Both ideas are absolutely wrong. The creaminess comes from the broth, the type of rice, and knowing enough not to cook it dry. The difficulty is supposedly from the need to stir constantly and pay extremely close attention. Do you really think chefs in busy restaurants are ‘stirring constantly’? Pay attention and stir it from time to time….. but relax. It’s easy.
The second is popovers or Yorkshire pudding. I’ve seen discussions as to whether you should use a blender or a stand mixer. Should you leave it rest an hour? 2 hours? Overnight? What if a lump is spotted? Does it need to be thrown out and made again?
I remember listening to a chef on his own show on the Food Network saying he had never managed to make a decent popover, stating all of the above misconceptions. This was a chef saying that he couldn’t make something I started making as a child !
My recipe, which I’ve been making forever, comes from an old Betty Crocker cook book. The recipe was very clear about the need to avoid over mixing – there should be at least a few lumps in the batter. And never make it ahead. Whisk it up just before using and make sure your oven is on so you don’t have to wait.
No wonder people new to cooking find it such a challenge.
I’m done.
Try the pudding pie – it’s easy and flexible.
I would say that your British friend did not learn to make Yorkshire pudding from her mother, but from a TV chef in the 90s. What you make fits my understanding of what a Yorkshire pudding is and how you make it. They are a sadly commercialised product now. Of course, I’m Australian, so my opinion doesn’t count any more than yours does.
You’re right about the opinion counting…. Popovers are very popular as a bread in the U.S. – but not heard of in England. I make them to have with soup. The Yorkshire pudding goes with the beef roast.
My dad’s mom, who was ‘veddy briddish’ made Yorkshire Pudding very close to the recipe Gordon Ramsey uses. She was born in 1884 and learned from her mother who…you get the idea. I’ve never made it. I would watch her whip it up at the last minute and pour it into those hot, cast iron muffin pans and the sizzle was a little scary for me. Then again, I was probably 4 or 5 when I first saw her make it. Since I have a pretty non-adventurous husband when it comes to trying new things, I’ve just never made them. But hers were awesome for having almost no ingredients!
The batter is so easy to whisk up – and doing the popover version doesn’t require a hot pan…. just a muffin tin. Perfect for last minute bread with a bowl of soup.
My recipe handed down via my mother who learn’t it from her mother-in-law who was Suffolk born and bred is very much like what you make. Originally my mother made it in a pie dish but in my teens she acquired some muffin tins and sometimes used those. I prefer the pie dish version. The recipe travelled to Southern Africa and has gone back to England with my daughter.
I don’t remember where I found the recipe initially, but I just used a flattish baking dish. Now I use a quiche dish – when I find a proper roast to make it with.
My mother made Yorkshire pudding most Sundays…in one casserole dish, never individual serves. She whisked by hand. I have never attempted one…it looked too fiddly.
But it’s so easy! Not suitable for one, however…. or even two lol
It couldn’t be easier! just make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Except the oil/butter that is preheated in the pan….
Mum always made Yorkshire puddings in muffin tins – she used her mother’s recipe (which was probably my grandmother’s recipe, which was probably my great grandmother’s…). We loved having as much of the crispy edges as possible. I make Yorkshire puddings in small pyrex bowls placed on a rimmed cookie sheet – I preheat the bowls with butter and olive oil because we never roast beef any more. As a child, I only ever once was at a dinner where a Yorkshire pudding made in the roasting pan was served. It was beautiful. But because I was a child, I was given one of the inside pieces that were completely uncrispy. Very unsatisfying
But. Relatively recently, we have been making “Dutch babies” in a cast iron frying pan. The batter is essentially the same as Yorkshire pudding batter. There is plenty of crispiness.
(Your Yorkshire Pudding “Pie” looks delicious. But, but, but, where is the pastry? 😉 )
I don’t do pastry…. Remember? lol
Ha!! I did forget. Or perhaps I thought you had finally come around. (My sister is like you and imagines that she cannot make pastry, even though Mum taught us how. She said that she made GREAT pastry using hot water instead of the cold water that Mum told us to use. I believe she used the Epicurious “hot water pastry dough” recipe.)
Or perhaps my sister was following the Great British Chefs method of making hot water pastry. (Do you need me to ask her so you too can make stellar pastry?)
I neglected to add my own modest complaint: You cannot call your Yorkshire Pudding Pie a Popover Pie. Unless you are making it in a 3 inch pudding dish. Because Popovers are always small.
(Mum actually called our Yorkshire puddings “popovers” – it was Dad who insisted on calling them Yorkshire puddings. Hmmm. Did he call them that because HIS father was originally from Lancashire?? Which is darn close to Yorkshire…. And. If that was the case, why didn’t we call them Lancashire puddings?)
… I’ll stop now.
Still, all names aside, it is an easy batter to make and why do some chefs want to make it so complicated? Popovers with soup – last minute idea as long as you have the patience to let them bake (and get crispy).
~And isn’t a British ‘pudding’ normally sweet and served at the end? It’s all very confusing
Yes. Entirely confusing. English is such an inadequate language that way.
And doubly yes, it’s an insanely easy batter to make and equally easy to bake!