A batter of eggs, milk and plain flour poured into scorching-hot beef dripping and blasted in a fierce oven until it erupts into a crisp, hollow, impossibly dramatic golden crown. Yorkshire pudding is England's greatest wheat achievement: a food that is simultaneously nothing (four simple ingredients) and everything (the centrepiece of the Sunday roast, the vessel for gravy, the pride of every English cook).
Origin: Yorkshire, England
From the journey of Wheat.
The first printed recipe for "dripping pudding" appears in Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery (1747), though the technique of cooking batter beneath roasting meat to catch the drippings is older. The name "Yorkshire Pudding" was established in a 1737 cookery pamphlet. Before ovens were common in working-class homes, the batter was cooked in a pan directly under the joint as it turned on a spit; the original purpose was to feed the household cheaply before the expensive meat. The Yorkshire Pudding Club debates whether individual puddings or one large one is correct. Both camps are passionate.
Mapping Culinary History
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To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.
Journey Point Map Key