Classic Popovers - A Simple 4 Ingredient Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good popovers? ›

The key to perfect popovers is using a popover pan. The cylindrical walls of popover cups are straight rather than angled like those in a regular muffin tin, accentuating their puffy, mushroomed tops by forcing the batter up out of the slim space.

Yorkshire Pudding/ Popovers

Yorkshire Puddings are a staple in England with a Roast Dinner. Here in the US we know them as Popovers which are the same thing as the modern Yorkshire Pudding, except using a different pan.

Cooking fat: Yorkshire pudding is a dripping pudding, meaning that chefs traditionally make it using the meat drippings leftover from cooking a Sunday roast dinner. Meanwhile, popover recipes tend to call for butter instead. Yorkshire pudding batter, therefore, takes on a more savory flavor than popover batter.

Steam is the engine that makes them rise — and rise, and rise! Thus it's important that your popover batter is very thin, signaling there's enough liquid to produce the requisite amount of steam necessary for perfect popping.

Too cold and you won't get the popovers to steam internally quickly enough. But be aware that you shouldn't make it too hot. If your milk and/or butter is hot enough to cook the eggs while mixing, the batter won't rise. Best to use all warm ingredients in the 40-50 degrees celsius (100-120 fahrenheit) range.

There's just one thing that will make the popovers better, and that's time. The batter needs time to rest before baking so that it creates a more tender popover in the end. So, cover the batter and pop it into the refrigerator for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.

What are popovers? Yorkshire puddings are what eventually inspired the towering American popovers. The English colonists tried to recreate Yorkshire pudding by placing the batter into hot butter, which allowed the mixture to puff and crisp up in the oven (via Taste Atlas).

I've never had a Yorkshire pudding, but an American popover is often served empty, not filled, and served with butter and jam or preserves. You break it open and eat it like you eat a croissant, and with a very similar buttery goodness.

Alternatively, crumpet may be related to the Welsh crempog or crempot, a type of pancake; Breton krampouzh and Cornish krampoth for 'pancakes' are etymologically cognate with the Welsh. An etymology from the French language term crompâte, meaning "a paste of fine flour, slightly baked", has also been suggested.

According to The Kitchn, popovers are airy and fluffy in nature—boasting a golden brown exterior like Yorkshire pudding. In fact, this pastry is made with a similar batter of flour, salt, eggs, milk, and butter. Another fun fact—a popover gets its name from the “dramatic rise” caused by the steam.

Is a German pancake the same as a Yorkshire pudding? ›

Dutch babies, popovers, German pancakes, Yorkshire pudding are all the same thing just different names. Technically these are all baked puddings and delicious. Try serving them with my delicious strawberry syrup.

It has been suggested the pudding was given the name “Yorkshire” due to the region's association with coal and the high temperatures this produced that helped to make crispy batter.

Usually, the batter consists of a simple egg, milk, and flour mix but if you add too much flour, the batter will be too dense and your popovers won't have the power to rise.

Note: A traditional popover pan has cups that are taller and narrower than muffins, but a muffin pan is a great alternative. As you can see from my pictures, I decided to use a mini muffin tin which makes the perfect one biter! You could also use a Le Creuset mini cocotte.

Oh, the dilemma that so often stems from baking popovers — those hollowed rolls with a contrasting crunchy, flaky exterior and moist, eggy interior. They are the American relative to the British Yorkshire pudding, an evolution of the latter that disregards the use of beef drippings in the pan (and instead uses butter).

If you don't want your beautiful popovers to collapse, simply use a sharp paring knife and pierce the bottom of the hot popovers to allow steam to escape and place them on a cooling rack. Do not let them cool in the pan, they'll lose their shape.

Remove from oven:

Popovers lose their crunch if they linger in the pan, so turn them out on a wire rack immediately and poke a small opening in the side of each with a paring knife to let the steam escape.

Lightly grease the popover cups, then dust with flour, sugar or grated Parmesan cheese. The batter will cling to the sides and produce better results.