Steak and Parmesan Yorkshire Pudding

Those who were communicating with me whilst I was at work that day would have known that I was getting a huge craving for steak and Yorkshire pudding. I'm actually not very sure as to which order to post the recipes but I guess I'll start with the Yorkshire puddings first because the batter has to be made prior and chilled before use.


*Parmesan Yorkshire Pudding*

Yorkshire pudding was originally served in England as a poor man's food because it was essentially a filler. It would normally be served with a generous pour of gravy before the roast was carved. It is essentially a savory pudding although other dessert variants which involve golden syrup are quite popular as well. Since this is my first "baked/non-meat" recipe, I thought it befitting to let a savory parmesean Yorkshire pudding have the maiden honor.

Ingredients:
1. Plain flour
2. Milk
3. Eggs
4. Salt
5. Beef dripping
6. Grated parmesan

Method:
1. Beef dripping
a. Buy some beef drippings or even better, freshly make your own

b. Beef dripping is actually the fat from a roast which has dripped down to the tray below but since I wasn't roasting meat today I requested some beef fat from my friendly butcher. The people at Butcher House were generous enough to give me some raw fat

c. Fry the beef fat till a good amount of oil is released and the initial pieces of fat become brown crisps (these are extremely tasty to snack on)
d. Pour the oil into a bowl and keep aside to cool for later

2. Making the Batter

a. Mix equal amounts of milk into plain flour i.e. one cup of milk to one cup of plain flour, and stir consistently
b. You may blend or machine mix this but I prefer the old fashion method of hand-whisking it
c. Add a very small pinch of salt and two medium sized eggs to every cup of milk and flour used, whisk till smooth
d. Hand-whisking actually prevents you from overbeating the eggs
e. Mix in grated parmesean
f. Cover batter in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes

3. Baking those Puddings

a. Place about one teaspoon of beef dripping into each cupcake orifice and smear it about
b. Bake the fat at about 220degC till it starts to "smoke" (usually after about five minutes)
c. Remove the tray from the oven and using a 1/3 cup, pour one scoop into each orifice
d. You should have enough batter for five cupcake sized Yorkshire puddings
e. Immediately place back into the oven and bake (still at 220degC) till golden brown (usually takes about 20 minutes)

f. This stuff rises heaps so it's really quite fun

g. Look at how much it has risen once it's ready! I swear I didn't pop in any magic blue diamonds to get this effect haha.


*Steaks*

Nothing really much to talk about, a good steak basically requires a good cut and a good source of heat.

Ingredients:

1. Steak - this is a closer look at the 6 week aged USDA Black Angus ribeyes that I picked up from Butcher House. Each one is about an inch thick and weighs about 435g
2. Salt and pepper

Method:
1. Heat up your steak cooking pan/stone/wok/etc

2. Cook one side first

3. Flip it only once
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste


*Steak and Parmesan Yorkshire Pudding*

The main reason why I included parmesan in my Yorkshire pudding was since I wasn't making a roast, I didn't have a good gravy to go with it, but I still wanted to give it a nice flavor. I'm actually not really fond of getting my Yorkshire puddings soggily drowned in gravy and prefer them straight, crisp on the outside and fluffy and chewy within.

I guess you could pimp up your Yorkshire pudding with more condiments such as bacon bits and cream, grilled mushrooms etc. But I wanted to dine hardcore tonight, no frilly pretty bits, just a man and his meat. Besides, just look at those golden brown and perfectly crisp Yorkshire puddings, are you sure you want to adulterate it with anything else?

As I was feeling abit of a bloodlust that night, I decided to deviate from my usual medium-rare finish and had my steak done rare plus instead.

The other steak was still done to the usual medium.

Serve both dishes hot! This is especially important for the Yorkshire puddings as they tend to go limp after awhile when cooled.

D

*This post is the second of two to be dedicated to Cin for my unco-ness =P*