Lady Aga

For more years than I care to remember, along with many, many other British people I struggled to make the perfect Yorkshire Pudding. A classic British accompaniment to roast beef, traditionally served for Sunday lunch, with all the family, but delicious served with any cooked meat. We British tend to copy other people’s recipes for this dish, believing that they have the secret to a perfectly risen pudding. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that.

The reasons are we all have a slightly different heat in our ovens; we all use slightly different egg sizes, different flour and so on.

Just by luck I happened to be chatting away to a taxi driver coming home one day from work whose previous job was a chef.

He gave me his version of the illusive pudding. I tried it. It worked. That was 15 years ago.

I’ve since cooked it in every oven available to man, including Aga cookers with no heat dials. It never fails.
The secret is simple: just make sure all the ingredients measure the same, there’s no weighing involved.

Set the oven to its highest heat.
Put 1 tsp of oil into each bun hole (4 bun holes for this recipe)
When oven has reached its highest temperature, pop the bun tin in the oven on the highest shelf to heat up.

Meanwhile make the batter.

1 Egg

Plain (all purpose flour)

Semi skimmed milk

4 tsp Olive oil

Using a small cup, break the egg into it.
Take note of where it comes up to in the cup.
Mark the outside of the cup if it helps.
Tip the egg into a mixing bowl.
Now pour the milk up to the same “egg line”.
Tip into the mixing bowl.
Do the same procedure with the flour.

Whisk all three ingredients on fast speed with electric whisk or mixer.
Pour 4 equal amounts into a hot pudding or muffin tin.
Bake for 15-20 minutes in a hot oven on the top shelf

(the highest temperature your oven has)
Make sure you leave room in the oven for the puddings to rise.

Puddings should be well risen, light, fluffy and crispy round the edges.