Yorkshire pudding help.

[SusannaQueen]

I've been making Yorkshire puddings since I was 10 (I'm 52 now), always flawless until this year. Suddenly they are turning out like little cakes, no idea where I'm going wrong. I've always used the Dairy Cookbook recipe, plain flour. I use olive oil or butter not dripping - but I've done that for years without problem.
Where am I going wrong, wise ones?

Oven thermostat?

Oven needs a look at. Seal perishing, thermostat on the blink etc.

Have you changed your oven?

That's an interesting consensus . I've had the oven 9yrs, it's a fan although doesn't heat evenly and just recently I've found food is drying out but not browning, meat has been cooking in the right amount of time though.
I hadn't made a connection.

Thanks, glad I asked now! I even cooked them using Italian flour today as I was convinced the flour must be the problem!

Ps Dairy Book of Home Cookery New edition for the 90's?

This is a bit off-topic, but do you find that no-one's Yorkshire is quite like anyone else's?

@FlibbertyGiblets I have a '67, one from the 70s and I think a 92. The 70s one is my go-to, new enough to be metric (I have no tolerance for imperial) but old enough to have all the basic traditional recipes.

@upinaballoon

Yes, but I think everyone has a different take on the recipe. My father in law uses dripping (which I'm not a fan of), my mum adds worcestershire sauce instead of salt. My gran used to sprinkle salt on the top or make it with marmalade as a pudding.

[quote SusannaQueen]@FlibbertyGiblets I have a '67, one from the 70s and I think a 92. The 70s one is my go-to, new enough to be metric (I have no tolerance for imperial) but old enough to have all the basic traditional recipes.[/quote]
Lovely collection you have there!

I’d guess the oven as well but the only time in recent years I’ve made crap yorkshires was when I tried gluten free flour. They were rubbish. Have you tried a different flour?

Have you tried a different flour?

I've tried flour from three different countries! My first thought was bugger, I've used self raising by accident, I've tried local flour, English organic and some Italian which I picked up during lockdown when flour was in short supply.
But I think the answer is going to be the oven. I'm going to stay at my Mum's in a few weeks, I'll try using her oven.

Lovely collection you have there!

Whenever there's a thread on go-to cookbooks the Dairy cookbooks always come out on top, alongside the Be-Ro one.

Could it be the tray you are cooking them in. I only mention as I found if I used a shallower tray they wouldn’t rise and May as well of been pancakes/buns. I now use a muffin tin (my Yorkshire nan always did!) and they are perfect every time.

[quote SusannaQueen]@upinaballoon

Yes, but I think everyone has a different take on the recipe. My father in law uses dripping (which I'm not a fan of), my mum adds worcestershire sauce instead of salt. My gran used to sprinkle salt on the top or make it with marmalade as a pudding.[/quote]
Oh, I never thought about putting Worcester sauce in. I know about eating it as a pudding with golden syrup but not with marmalade. Did your gran stir a bit of marmalade into the raw batter, or spread it on the top when it was cooked?

The oil need to be piping hot. 5 mins @ 220 and 10 mins 150, do not open the oven!

I use muffin tray too . Always perfect

We put a sprinkling of this smoke dust in - amazing stuff!!

www.amazon.co.uk/Smoke-Dust-Purpose-Seasoning-Succulent/dp/B06WW7Y61F/ref=asc_df_B06WW7Y61F/?hvlocphy=9046327&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310771828449&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-464878602134&hvrand=6529444233608720998

@SusannaQueen

Lovely collection you have there!

Whenever there's a thread on go-to cookbooks the Dairy cookbooks always come out on top, alongside the Be-Ro one.

We call our dairy cookbook the bible (my children got confused when they were younger and we called it that 🤣). Love it has everything in it!

.....and the Be-Ro book has coffee kisses in it, but I think Yorkshire puds are there as well.

I do mine in the top oven, not the fan oven, the fan flattens mine, rise much more impressively in the top oven

I make them in work for a pub's sunday lunches. You need to sieve the mixture to remove any lumps of flour. Also prepare 2 days before you need them and put in fridge

Put mixture in fridge i mean

It will be your oven.

But olive oil is not good for high temperature cooking, like you need for Yorkshire puddings, it’s got a low smoke point which degrades any benefit you might get nutritionally from it if you heat it to a high temperature. If it gets smoky it can also cause problems with flavour and theoretically some say it could be harmful (not read the studies personally, please add pinch of salt)

Vegetable oil or sunflower oil is better if you don’t use dripping.

I love this thread, it's so cosy. I second the notion batter a day old is better and smoking hot vegetable oil. My oven is rubbish temp wise so I wack it up to 200c for the yorkies.

*It will be your oven.

But olive oil is not good for high temperature cooking, like you need for Yorkshire puddings, it’s got a low smoke point which degrades any benefit you might get nutritionally from it if you heat it to a high temperature. If it gets smoky it can also cause problems with flavour and theoretically some say it could be harmful (not read the studies personally, please add pinch of salt)

Vegetable oil or sunflower oil is better if you don’t use dripping*

All this^^

OP if you're a Yorkshire Pud veteran you must know that the fat needs to be very, very hot when you pour the batter in. If the oven is hot enough to get the fat hot enough at the start, I'd be pretty confident it's hot enough to puff them up properly. Are your roast potatoes also off the boil at the moment? Excuse the terrible pun.