Sunday roast problem

The secret is to use a muffin tin as the extra height will make the puddings rise, also a very hot oven and get the fat in the tins piping hot before you put the batter in.

Use plain flour in the batter. Have he oven at a fairly high temperature, I use 200 and heat the oil and the cooking pan until it’s smoking, then put the batter in. I]gave this tip to a local restaurant who had a problem with their Yorkers and it really does work. Mind you I can’t roast potatoes to save my life but my Yorkies are a dream

DanniRae

My mum used to make the best roast beef dinner ever!
But I was a lazy daughter and never helped her so don't have any of her skills to share. (But in my defence she never expected me to help with any chores. She used to say "You'll have it all to do yourself one day!")

Better than one of my neighbours who wanted to help in the kitchen but was told 'I am raising you not to be a cook, but to be someone who employs a cook'.
Didn't work - I think de-valuing any skill is rather rude; now my neighbour asks me for advice. And our education / professional standing is about the same anyway!

If you keep on doing the same you will get the same result. Try something different! There are good suggestions above.

My mum used to make the best roast beef dinner ever!
But I was a lazy daughter and never helped her so don't have any of her skills to share. (But in my defence she never expected me to help with any chores. She used to say "You'll have it all to do yourself one day!")

My mother used to pour the batter into the roasting tin after the joint was cooked. It was delicious.

I love auntie Bessies! I hate stodgy pudding, and I love crunchy well risen ones, they suit me and my lack of ability to make decent ones very well.

As Nannarose says YPuds are a gift of the kitchen goddess.
However Mary Berry's recipe works most times in my electric fan oven. Cooking in a gas oven produced much more varied results,

Has anyone else notice the huge difference between Sago's 'wonderful' recipe and Springychicken's 'never fail'?
The proportion of flour to egg is way, way different. One is approximately 50g flour / egg, the other is about 50g flour to 3 eggs.
Ginny says get the fat very hot, rubysong says she puts them in cold.
My mother always cooked hers in a slow oven, nearly everyone else says hot oven.
Truly, this is not a science - the result is completely in the gift of the kitchen goddess.

MerylStreep

I’m just puzzled at someone having a roast dinner at 12.00.

Not us but everyone around us eat their Dinner at 12 o'clock Sunday and throughout the week. The farmers are often on their way back to work when we have our lunch, they have been up since 6 a.m.
As to the yorkshires I would say have you changed your flour? My mother who was a chef always said that some flours did not work in the same way as others, or was your power down this happened to us every Sunday where we used to live and cooked with gas.

Thank you everyone for your feedback !

I had always added liquid to flour in a bowl, but once watched Jamie Oliver do the opposite, flour into liquid as Springychicken does. They were my best ever effort!

My mother's recipe NEVER fails.

Crack three large eggs into a jug.
Add a pinch of salt and two very heaped tablespoons of plain flour.
Add a good slug of cold water (not milk) and mix roughly with a fork.
Start beating with the same fork when the flour is incorporated enough that you aren't going to have flour flying everywhere.

Continue beating for a minute or so, adding more water if the batter is too thick. Don't be concerned if there are flour lumps in the mixture, they will disappear during cooking.

Heat a knob of lard or dripping (or even chicken fat from a previous roast) in each compartment of the pan (I use deep-sided bun tins), until hot. Brush the fat up the sides with a silicon pastry brush. Pop the pan back in the oven for another thirty seconds and give the batter one more quick beat with the fork.

Pour batter (lumps and all) into the bun tin and bake for about 30 mins, about 200℃ (or 180 - 190 fan).

NEVER use SR flour. White bread flour is fine to use if you don't have plain.

I always let the batter stand too.

I made 12 wonderful “Yorkies” to go with our pot roast this evening, 200gm plain flour, 4 eggs, 300ml milk and seasoning, let the batter stand for as long as possible.
Pour into very hot oil, and put in 180 degree oven or top oven Aga.
????

I know this goes against what seems like common sense but I put cold mixture into a cold, greased silicone 6 hole 'tin'. Then it goes into a hot oven and they always rise really well. Give it a try.

Lunch at noon would be right for me as I am an early riser. If the family comes for a meal it is always at that time. I find that the harder I try the worse my Yorkshires turn out. Guess quantities, beat and pour them in to very hot oil and they are fine. Measure carefully and allow to rest for visitors and they are rubbish!
Good luck next time.

I use lard in muffin tins for individual puds.
I think the most important thing is having the fat very hot soot sizes as the mixture is poured in and keep the temperature high.

Nothing wrong with eating your roast lunch at 12.00 !

I use plain flour with baking powder and not self raising .
I sieve it .

I add a tiny bit of horseradish and English mustard to the eggs , which I've whipped up to a froth I pour the mix into very hot , but not smoking oil .

I don't like Aunt Bessie's .

I'm hopeless at Yorkshire puddings too!
I like them but DH doesn't so I very rarely make them now.

Nannarose

I have absolutely no answer. I just wanted to bond with another flat pudding maker. Both grandmothers and mother made fantastic puds, and I am no slouch as a cook generally.
But the kitchen goddess deserts me whenever the words 'Yorkshire Pudding' are uttered. I have strayed from my mum & gm's recipe to try to get an answer, and have tried just about every trick I have ever come across. I shall monitor this thread in case of new ones.
And no, I daren't try Aunt Bessie's. Every ancestress ever would come to haunt me!

And aunt Bessie’s are awful crunch filled with air

was the oil not hot enough?

Yes henetha that has lways puzzled me too! Has anyone got the answer?

Mine are very often flat, or sink as soon as I take them out.
Recently I have used extra eggs, which seems to work.

It puzzles me why they rise better with plain flour than with self raising.