Yorkshire Pudding, one of our favorites of all English puddings, 'fires' in the heat and photo above, a lamb roast.
Nowadays, everybody bakes this dish in the oven and serves it as an accompaniment to roast beef.
In the eighteenth century it was always toasted under the fire and was usually served with mutton. Before the batter was put under the roast, it was cooked over the fire in a pan.
The secret of getting the pudding to rise and become light, was to turn it over once or twice and gently toss it in the pan.
It is much richer than a modern Yorkshire pudding because it absorbs the gravy as the meat cooks.
The earliest known recipe (see below) is called Dripping Pudding and dates from 1737.
It is found in a cookery compilation called The Whole Duty of a Woman.
This monumental work was one of the sources used by Hannah Glasse, whose The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy (London: 1747) is the first book to call it Yorkshire Pudding.
Some other Georgian authors tell us to put a little ginger in the mix.
As roasting in front of the range became rarer, the Yorkshire Pudding ended up being 'baked' in the oven with the joint, a case of the baby being thrown out with the bathwater.
As has already been explained, slices of plum pudding were also 'fired' or toasted under beef roast and there were other puddings that were cooked in this way.
In Georgian Scotland for instance, a pudding prepared from mashed potato, chopped onion, spices and eggs was baked in a dish under the spit.
The radiant heat created by a good roasting fire is remarkably powerful at this low angle and can cook a pudding almost as efficiently as an oven.
Dripping Pudding
Make a good Batter as for Pancakes, put it in a hot Toss-pan over the Fire with a Bit of Butter to fry the bottom a little, then put the Pan and Batter under a Shoulder of Mutton instead of a Dripping-pan, frequently shaking it by the Handle and it will be light and savoury, - and fit to take up when your Mutton is enough; then turn it in a Dish, and serve it hot.
From Anon, The Whole Duty of a Woman (London: 1737)
