Perfect Popovers

I love Gordan Ramsey and his "Kitchen Nightmares" show. Recently I saw one of the episodes where he turned around a failing restaurant with "real" gravy and Yorkshire pudding. Since then, I have been obsessed with popovers. The fact that steam is what makes them rise amazes me every time I make them, or shall I say...attempt to make them!

The only difference that I can see between Yorkshire pudding and popovers are that popovers are individual and Yorkshire pudding is cooked in the pan with the roast beef drippings (or roast beast, as I like to call it) in one big pudding. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think that is pretty much the only difference.

This is about my fifth time making popovers. They are a little tricky but I finally think I have it figured out. Here are the secrets that you always wanted to know about popovers!

1. Make sure the flour and milk are exactly a cup. Don't "eyeball" it on this one! You cannot think that because the liquid creates steam, then more liquid will make them rise even higher!(like I did, hee hee!)
2. Don't overgrease the pan! This was my mistake the first four and a half times. As you can see in the picture, on the right hand side I was more liberal (I poured it) with the oil than I should have been. Brush the cups with oil and don't overdo it.
3. The milk and eggs need to be room temperature before you add it to the flour mixture.
4. Don't overbeat! I mixed it lightly and there were flour clumps in the mixture. That's ok.
5. The eggs should be 1/4 of a cup. If they are a little less, add some milk until you get to 1/4 of a cup per egg.

So without further ado, here is the recipe for popovers. Don't worry, if they don't turn out, they are still yummy! We have never had a popover go to waste in our house!

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Brush your popover pan with oil. Put the pan in the oven while it is preheating. You want your pan to be hot! Mix flour and salt together in one bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together in another bowl. If the milk and eggs came right out of the frig, stick them in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make them room temperature. Mix the milk mixture with the flour mixture. Don't overbeat. There can be some lumps. Pull the hot pan out of the oven and fill the cups halfway. Put the popovers in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Don't peek! If you need to see what is happening, turn your oven light on. After 15 minutes, turn your oven back down to 375 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Serve immediately.