At Christmas my mother produced a full-blown traditional roast beef dinner with gravy, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, carrots, and a billowing pan of golden brown Yorkshire pudding cooked in the roasting fat and juices. She seasoned the beef liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper, and covered it with onion slices held on with toothpicks. The roast came out with crisp beef-flavored onions and onion-flavored fat for the pudding. The pudding was irresistible—light, crisp, starchy, fatty, meaty—and I would have been happy to forego the rest of dinner to have the entire pan to myself.
Yorkshire pudding is a traditional dish that originated in northern England when wheat flour came into common use in the first half of the 1700s. Cooks would stir up a batter of eggs, flour, and milk, and pour it into in the large, shallow roasting pan of very hot beef dripping. Traditionally it was served before the roast with gravy to blunt the appetite so the roast would go farther. Popovers, a close cousin, evolved in the American colonies. The batter often has a small amount of sugar and fat, and is baked in individual muffin tins.
A few notes for a successful pudding: The batter must hit a hot pan so that it puffs up quickly. Heat the baking pan in a very hot oven (450 degrees) for 10 minutes before adding the fat or oil, and heat again for another few minutes until the fat starts smoking. Don’t use butter unless it is clarified—at that heat it will burn black and acrid. The batter should sizzle emphatically when you pour it into the pan. Refrain from opening the oven until the end of the cooking time, or your pudding may collapse and emerge leaden and stodgy. Time the cooking of the rest of the meal so that you can bring the pudding to the table hot and glorious straight from the oven. If you have to wait, it will hold for a few minutes in the oven with the heat turned off.
While traditional Yorkshire pudding is made in the roasting pan and cut into squares, individual puddings can be made using muffin tins—the heavier and more seasoned the better. If the notion of eating beef fat horrifies you, substitute plain vegetable oil. For a pretty and elegant variation, add chopped chives and ground black pepper or other herbs to the batter. Lift the pudding from the pan right away, leaving behind the excess oil. Serve individual puddings wrapped in a clean napkin. If serving from the roasting pan, pour off the excess oil before serving.
Yorkshire Pudding
This recipe has a higher proportion of egg, which makes for a puffier pudding. Use a 9 x 13 x 2-inch, heavy baking pan, or a 12-inch cast iron skillet, or heavy muffin tins. If using standard 12-cup muffin tins, prepare nine cups and fill with batter a little more than half-way.
1 ¼ cups flour (5 oz.)
¼ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons finely sliced chives (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Fat or oil: about ½ to cup for the pan or 1 tablespoon per muffin tin
Put the flour and salt into a bowl and add the eggs. Whisk until combined, then add the milk a little at time, whisking to make a smooth batter. Set aside for at least half an hour.
Heat the oven to 450°F. Put the pan or a muffin tin (set on a heavy baking pan if desired) in the oven for 10 minutes until very hot. Add the fat to the pan or muffin tins (and return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until a drop of batter dropped in the oil sizzles. Stir the batter a few times, and quickly pour into the prepared pan or tins. Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Turn down the oven to 350°F and bake for 10 minutes longer until puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Cut into squares or remove from the tins and serve immediately.
Dates for Holiday Events:
November 23: Tree Lighting, Charles Town, 6 pm.
December 1: Christmas Parade, Charles Town, 2 pm. (rooftop appearance by Santa at 1:45 pm.)
December 9: Parade of Horses, Charles Town, 2 pm.
First Bite Review: Carriage House Café
On November 3 Shepherdstown welcomed a new restaurant in town, the Carriage House Café. Located on 107 South Princess Street, the café occupies a historic building where horse-drawn carriages were once built.
Café owners Bob Myers and Charly Svoboda decided the location would be perfect for a comfortable, relaxed art-filled space where customers can enjoy a good cup of coffee and a light snack. During the summer, they replaced the sidewalk in front of the restaurant with brick, painted the interior walls in soft grays, and left the old wooden ceiling and beams exposed. A tall counter sporting a painted faux stone wall motif facing the front shields the food preparation station.
The handwritten menu on a white board lists a soup of the day, coffees, teas, beverages, and sweets and several standard sandwiches made to order (chicken salad, roast beef, ham) with choices of breads and served with potato chips and bread and butter pickles.
Myers installed a cappuccino machine at the takeout station, where you can fix your own coffee to go. He is proud to serve free-trade, custom-roasted brewed coffee, and plans to offer 200 flavors of coffee, rotated seasonally. Brewed coffee will be stored in vacuum air-pots for a maximum of two hours to maintain a high standard of freshness. I only wish he would get rid of the “mini-moos,” shelf-stable individual creamers—which taste awful—and offer fresh milk and cream.
Plans are underway to establish an artist-of-the-month exhibit, to begin in late November with a kick-off reception, and to offer musical entertainment like acoustic jazz, and other mellow music. “Artists need to be promoted, and I hope to help people by displaying their work” Myers remarked. “I love the flute, and hope to have some flute performances.” Still pending are a beer and wine license and a wi-fi system for patrons to use while they dine or drink coffee. The website, which is still in formation, will list events and menu items.
Unpretentious in every way, the Carriage House Café is a low-key and pleasant place to go for a fresh cup of coffee and a sweet, or soup and a simple sandwich.
The Carriage House, 107 South Princess St., Shepherdstown; (304) 433-1858; www.107carriagehousecafe.com. Open Monday–Friday 6 am–8 pm, Saturday and Sunday 9 am–6 pm.
