February 2nd
The first Sunday in February has been designated Yorkshire Pudding Day. 'Dripping puddings' were made in Yorkshire as early as 1737. The recipe was published in a book called 'The Whole Duty of a Woman' which declared you should use a '...good batter as for pancakes, put in a hot toss pan over the fire, add a bit of butter to fry the bottom a little, then put the pan instead of a dripping pan and under a shoulder of mutton, shake it frequently and it will be light and savoury. When the mutton is done, turn it in a dish and serve hot.'
Ten years later the recipe appeared again in a book by Hannah Glasse, the Prue Leith of her day. The puddings took a while to evolve from flatter, spongier offerings of the time, to the light crispy specimens we know today. The Royal Society of Chemistry once declared that “A Yorkshire pudding isn’t a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall.”
Yorkshire Puddings are a staple of the British Sunday lunch (though my kids happily eat them midweek too). Mostly they are served as part of the trimmings, but in some parts of Yorkshire they are eaten as a separate course prior to the main meat dish. Originally this was for reasons of frugality; the puddings were served with dripping and gravy as a way of filling the diners with less expensive ingredients and thus making the more expensive meat go further.
However you eat yours, Happy Yorkshire Pudding Day.
By Sarah Davey