WORLD'S BEST POPOVERS - AND SO EASY!

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Let's call Yorkshire pudding
A fortunate blunder:
It's a sort of popover
That turned and popped under.

Ogden Nash twisted the facts a little bit - though American popovers are relatives of of the English Yorkshire pudding, they are, off course, the offspring, not the origin. Not only that, over time they turned from a savory side dish for lamb into a dessert.

I've tried several popover recipes, they were quite good, but I was never able to make popovers that really "popped over". Compared with the famous popovers at Jordan Pond Restaurant on Mount Desert Island (which, by the way, get a little smaller every year), mine never rose much over the rim of the pan - even the ones I baked from Jordan Pond's own recipe.

Fortunately there are the good people from "Cook's Illustrated", working tirelessly in America's Test Kitchen, trying to come up with THE best version for every imaginable recipe. I gave their popover recipe a shot - and they POPPED! And not only that, the recipe is really one for dummies, you practically can't screw up.

Tea and Popovers at Jordan Pond

WORLD'S BEST POPOVERS (6) (adapted from Cook's Illustrated)

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup/140 g all-purpose flour (or exchange 14 g/5 tsp with whole grain flour, see note below)
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

In a blender, mix eggs and milk until smooth. Add flour, butter, and salt, and continue to blend on high speed until batter is bubbly and smooth, about 1 minute. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Measure 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil into each cup of popover pan. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place pan in oven, and preheat oven to 450ºF.

After batter has rested, stir it and pour into measuring cup with spout. Working quickly, remove pan from oven and divide batter evenly among cups. Bake for 20 minutes without opening oven door.

Lower heat to 350 F and bake until golden brown all over, 15 - 18 minutes more. Gently flip popovers out unto rack and let cool slightly before serving (2 minutes).

Serve with butter and strawberry jam (or other jam).

You can exchange 10% of the white flour (14 g/5 tsp) with whole grain (I like Einkorn) without having to add more liquid or compromising their popping.

Popovers can be prepared in a 12-cup muffin pan (fill only the 10 outer cups), but they will not rise quite as high as in the special popover pan.

Popover batter can be made 1 day ahead and stored in refrigerator, wrapped tightly. Let come to room temperature and stir thoroughly before using.

Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park