ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

ChefSteps

If you have never made popovers before, you’re missing out on something quite extraordinary. They puff up like a blousy dress blown up by the wind. The crust is crisp, with a snap on the teeth. The inside is soft, almost creamy, like custard. These are savory Sunday roast and rich gravy food. Popovers came across the ocean with British citizens settling into the new America. No one knows when Yorkshire puddings—a batter of milk, eggs, and flour—were first puffed up in an oven. However, the first mention of them in a British cookbook is 1747. Traditionally, Yorkshire puddings were cooked in beef fat, the drippings from the roast made for the family. (It’s hard to remember now, but beef used to be truly expensive, so making starchy, custardy bread rolls filled out the meal so people didn’t eat as much meat.) When people began making them in America, they changed the recipe based on the ingredients they had at hand. By 1876, popovers were showing up in American cookbooks. Now, we can use any fat we want to make these custardy creations. These really are a bit of magic. When you make a thin popover batter—not quite as thin as crepes or as thick as pancake batter—in the oven, the eggs in the batter coagulate and release steam, which pushes the batter upward, like a soufflé. At the same time, the proteins in the batter—from eggs, milk, and flour—brown as they hit the edge of the hot pan and the air in the oven. It’s the same Maillard reaction that browns a steak in a hot skillet. So the final popover has a hollow custardy center—perfect for dipping into gravy or filling with meat—and a crisp crust. Popovers fit into the category of our favorite kind of food: they take little time to make, you can put together the batter the day before the dinner you want to make, and the final result is truly impressive.You’re going to make people happy with popovers.