How to make perfect Yorkshire Puddings and Toad in the Hole

The way Yorkshire pudding is served is different in different areas, in some places it is customary to serve the full meal inside a large pudding that covers the entire plate. In other areas such as Durham, Yorkshire and Northumberland the pudding is traditionally served as an appetiser before the main course.

The most common way to serve Yorkshire Pudding is with roast meat, usually beef, however my personal favourite is to bake sausages in with the pudding and this is known as Toad in The Hole. The recipe is very simple, the ingredients consist of – Milk, eggs, flour and salt. But how difficult is it to cook perfectly?

The oven needs to be heated to a very high temperature sp that the fat or lard you are using can get very hot before the batter is added. This is where the real secret of a good yorkshire pudding lies.

Any size tin can be used to make Toad in the Hole or Yorkshire puddings. You can use large round or square tins, small round tins or the most common is the large tin. I often find my most succesful efforts are from large square tins.

All of the top celebrity chefs claim to have the “best Yorkshire pudding recipe ever”. I have tried them all – and they don’t! All the recipes are more or less the same. There’s only so much you can do with the basic ingredients. If you add other ingredients then it ceases to be a Yorkshire pudding.

‘Sticking to the basics’ is the best thing to do. Make sure you use the right fat, lard or goose fat give great flavour, vegetable oil will work but don’t use olive oil as it simply does not get hot enough.

First heat the oven to around 230c. I find an electric oven that is controlled by thermostat give the most consistent result as the temperature can be set accurately. Any oven will do the trick though as long as it can get hot enough.

Both my mother and my grandmother have made pudding and Toad in the Hole for many years and the same recipe has been handed down to me. I watched my mother make perfect puddings every time in a gas oven, How she got it right every time I will never know. These days modern ovens make it easy for us!

Click this link to see the number one website for great Toad in the Hole, and Yorkshire pudding recipes!