Hurray – For Yorkshire Puddings!

The first Sunday of Feb (just gone) marked National Yorkshire Pudding day! Nothing cheers up the winter weariness like our all-time favourite comfort food. We will show you how to make Yorkshire puds worth celebrating, as well as tasty treats to serve them with.

Yes, they can be bought ready-made – a lifeline when you’re in a pinch – but homemade Yorkies are a doddle if you know how and well worth the little bit of effort required. Read on and see for yourself.

First recorded in 1737, this delightful baked batter was known as ‘dripping pudding’ (renamed Yorkshire pudding in the legendary Art of Cookery a few years later) and came about as a way to use the fat that dripped from the roasting meat into the dripping pan.

They were served with gravy as a first course to fill up diners before the more expensive meat course. For the poorest, they constituted the whole meal.

While Yorkshire pudding doesn’t have protected status, there are rules. The Royal Society of Chemistry states that to be truly classed as a Yorkshire pudding, the cooked results must stand at least 4 inches tall.

Batter ingredients are few, just flour, eggs, milk and seasoning, but it’s what you do with them that counts. Whisking the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients carefully to banish any lumps is the first important step.

A top chef tip is to make the batter in advance. Resting it in the fridge overnight produces bigger, fluffier puds and who wouldn’t want that?

When cooking Yorkies, the fundamental rule is that the oven and the oil in the tin should be hot, hot, hot for great results. But there is another way. Allow us to blow your mind with news that tremendous puds can also be made in an air fryer.

Traditionally, Yorkshire puddings accompany a joint of roast beef on the Sunday table (try this succulent topside of beef with mustard, effortless in the Cook4Me). But serving with other dinner centrepieces, like this pot roast cider chicken, is completely acceptable in our book.

Roast potatoes are a must and we highly recommend these crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside air fryer roasties. And lets not forget the veg! These honey-roasted parsnips are sure to be a big hit.

To top it off, add the perfect gravy. Check out this ultimate round-up of recipes and tips to make your meal sing.

If Yorkshire pud is the star of your Sunday lunch then why not dial it up to 11? Giant, plate-sized puds that hold the meat, veg and gravy are the way to go.

Of course, Yorkshire pudding isn’t just for Sundays. Toad in the hole is a winner any day of the week, especially when it’s whipped up in the air fryer. Got roast dinner leftovers? Then make this delicious version filled with sausages, roasties, veg and stuffing and drizzled with dirty gravy.

With all these tips to hand, Yorkshire Pudding Day might just turn into a weeklong celebration!