Weekend Cooking: Yorkshire Pudding

For this week's Weekend Cooking I am sharing a portion of two letters that appear in Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road, a lovely little book that many book lovers would definitely enjoy if they read it. The book is a collection of letters that have traversed the Atlantic Ocean starting when Helene Hanff starts ordering rare and unusual books from Marks & Co that was located at 84 Charing Cross Road and a correspondence begins between the author and the staff of Marks. Incidentally, the building at that address is now a Pizza Hut which seems a little bit wrong really!

There are quite a few discussions about food within the pages of the book, particularly emphasising the difference in the post-war food situation between Britain and America. Here, Cecily shares the recipe for Yorkshire Pudding with Helene.

Yorkshire Pudding seems to me to be a quintessentially British dish. There are lots of other foods that we probably think of in that way, but that does get eaten the world over (an example is fish and chips), but the only times I have eaten Yorkshire Pudding was when I was in the UK or when I ate roast meals at people who have British heritage.

A good yorkshire pudding served up with roast beef, crispy roast potatoes and sweet roasted carrots smothered in lashings in gravy is really delicious! Oh my goodness, I am making myself hungry just thinking about it!

Eastcote

Pinner

Middlesex

20-2-51

Helene my dear -

There are many ways of doing it but Mummy and I think this is the simplest for you to try. Put a cup of flour, an egg, a half cup of milk and a good shake of salt into a large bowl and beat altogether until it is the consistency of thick cream. Put in the frig for several hours. (It's best if you make it in the morning.) When you put your roast in the oven, put in an extra pan to heat. Half an hour before your roast is done, pour a bit of the roast grease into the baking pan, just enough to cover the bottom will do. The pan must be very hot. Now pour the pudding in and the roast and pudding will be ready at the same time.

I don't know quite how to describe it to someone who has never seen it, but a good Yorkshire Pudding will puff up very high and brown and crisp and when you cut into it you will find that it is hollow inside.

Love

Cecily

14 East 95th St.

February 25, 1951

Dear Cecily

Yorkshire Pudding out of this world, we have nothing like it, I had to describe it to somebody as a high, curved, smooth, empty waffle.

Best -

Helene

Before I finish for this week, I just wanted to add that this week I made a Weekend Cooking recipe that someone else put up last weekend. I made the Strawberry Lemonade muffins that were posted by Anita from A Woman, a Wife, a Mom, and they were absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making them again!

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