Why are my Yorkshire puddings shit?

[WhatIsTheCharge]

As the title says.

When my mum makes Yorkshire puddings, they puff up just right, crispy and brown on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Just perfect yorkies.

I use the exact same recipe - I weigh everything with digital scales every time. Use the same type of fat in the tin, cook at the same temperature, never open the oven door once they are in…..and mine are just shit. They either don’t puff up at all or they puff up the wrong way and come out like cupcakes 🤨
What am I doing wrong?!

Apparently it's all to do with the amount and temperature of the oil. I have the same problem as you though. 1 in 10 attempts come out perfect.
Hopefully someone will come on here and tell us, lol.

Is the oil hot enough? Have you asked your mum?

Your oil needs to be really really really hot before you put the mix in. Even better if you can put your mix in the fridge for a bit before adding to the tin. The cold mix hitting the hot oil will help the reaction.

Different ovens also make a difference. When we moved house, it took me ages to get my yorkies back to not being shit again. Nothing had changed except the oven but I tinkered with the recipe a bit and eventually hit one that worked with my oven.

Today, my oven was at 450°F, I used lard, the melted lard was smoking and I’d put the batter in the fridge for an hour before cooking.

There must be some sorcery to it that my mum hasn’t shared with me 🤨🤨😂

I always let the batter stand on the side for an hour, which was how my gran did it. Mine work most of the time, but my oven is a bit rubbish, so there's the occasional fail.
Tinker with your recipe, there's no point using the same recipe every time if it fails everytime.

Stop putting the batter in the fridge. Unless you make the batter the day before.

Are you putting the puddings in the top of the oven?

Check the tin your mum uses, that can make a difference.

Put an extra egg into the mix to give it more lift and let it stand on the countertop, ie, don't fridge it.

Always works for me.

You will get plenty of different ideas here i think. Oil needs to be hot, mix room temp and ideally made an hour before, and try putting the tin in so thats hot too.

Someone did an experiment and discovered oil temp made no difference… something did make the difference (I think its how long you let the batter stand) anyway it’s on YouTube.

My late uncle was a chef and the best thing he ever told me was 8 eggs per pint of milk. He said the amount of flour is so much less important than the egg to milk ratio. I do half a pint of milk so that’s 4 eggs and I start with 100g of flour then add more depending on just the feel of the batter and I’ve never had a Yorkshire failure after that, even without really measuring the flour.

ETA: I just use oil rather than fat or lard etc, I use both ceramic and Pyrex dishes rather than metal but the oil always goes in to heat beforehand. I don’t think it’s ever been smoking before batter goes in but it’s still hot. I’ve never refrigerated the batter. And don’t open the door while they’re cooking.

Controversial view in the UK
It's not just your Yorkshire puddings that are shit Op, they all are (although perhaps you have to have grown up here to appreciate them)!

I've no idea who ever came up with the idea... "Oooh, we've got some tender roast beef, roast spuds, some delicious vegetables and gravy. What's it missing? I know- some deep fried batter!"

<Slinks off the thread>

Sounds like your oil isn't hot enough. You want it smoking when the batter hits, literally sizzling straight away. If it just sits there quietly, it'll never puff properly

The BBC good food recipe has been pretty foolproof for me! You could compare your recipe to that and see if there are any significant discrepancies?

Oil needs to be perilously hot and you have to be pretty swift in getting the batter in as you don’t want to lose the heat from the oven or oil. It tends to be a 2 man operation in our house.

Ive also trained myself to always give them one extra minute - avoids them puffing up beautifully and then deflating the minute they come out of the oven.

The one thing that seems to have helped me is using a muffin tin. Really really hot oil and ratio of milk and eggs is really important. Let it stand for 1-2 hours ( I usually make it first thing and it stands for ages out of the fridge). Also never open the door, if they think they are done, I always give another couple minutes before I check.

As you are doing exactly what your mum does, my guess is that your oven doesn’t reach the temperature it is set at. I think that can happen as oven thermometers are sold. (I dont mean the ones you stick in meat). They stand on a shelf or hang from a rack.

I don’t pre heat my oil and mine turn out fine

Metal tin and make sure it’s not too clean! I never put it in the dishwasher, you want it to be seasoned from the oil, just a good enough handwash is just right.

OP, you want a good centimetre of oil/lard in the bottom of each hole. Recipes for yorkshires vary tremendously - my DH likes Jamie Oliver’s best. I don’t care for Yorkshire puddings, but those I make are always very popular (and huge). And like an other poster, I make the batter fairly early and leave it standing on the side until I need it.

I was surprised by how many eggs you need to make good Yorkies, I had been just using my pancake batter recipe but it needs at least twice as many eggs. Once I got my head round that they work every single time

Just to check that you are using plain flour? Agree with others check oven temperature.

I can't actually help here, as I don't use a recipe. I just mix flour eggs and water until I get the consistency I want.
But one thing I always do is leave the batter in the fridge for an hour before I put it in the oven.

A few things could be the problem here:

1 What pan are you using? It really does need to be metal rather than silicon or whatever. The heavier and more old fashioned, the better! this is not the time for lightweight modern pans! And to that end, it's worth heating the pan before you put the oil in then heating again. I usually put the pan in when I turn the oven on then add the oil 5 minutes later and heat that for another 5 minutes or so.

2 Are you using fan or regular oven? To my suprise, mine always come out better in a traditional oven vs a fan oven.

3 Your oven is set at a high temperature but is it REALLY at that temperature? Have you stuck an oven thermometer in to check?

4 On that note - my sister's mistake is that she opens the oven dorr, then leave sit open while she adds the batter. What madness this is. The heat will escape. OPen oven, grab hot pan, close oven, fill tray, quickly put it back in.

5 You say you use the exact recipe, but there is an art to this as well. Different brands of flour or different sized eggs etc will change things and with experience you learn to think, "mmm, that lookss a bit runny, I should add another egg or more flour" or whatever. I often do mine dairy free and I know that means I need to add a tiny bit of baking powder, for example.

Make sure you have atleast half centimetre of oil in each hole, get it nice and hot, i actually make my batter while the oil is heating (its generally a last minute s*it i forgot to buy yorkshire puds lol) straight in with batter and pop it in the oven, i don’t time mine and my oven light went years ago so i do need to open the door to check them (this has never made them sink) but good rule to know if they are done- is if they are done they won’t stick to the tray should just pop out, always come out big and light xx