Christmas dinner is considered by many to be the best meal of the year and yet when it comes to deciding what this meal should consist of people’s opinions often differ.
For some there will never be a centre piece that can replace the turkey, although often there are additional meats included such as roast ham, beef or pork, alongside roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts, pigs in blankets, bread sauce and stuffing. And of course, there are those who are vegetarian or vegan and prefer a nut roast.
Then there’s the Yorkshire pudding. For some a must-have on Christmas day while for other more traditionalists it seems a Yorkshire pudding should go nowhere near a Christmas dinner.
To understand the origins of the Yorkshire pudding Christmas dinner debate we need to turn the clock back to the time when the original pudding was first created.
Prior to being given the prefix of Yorkshire in 1747 in the bestselling cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple by English cookery writer Hannah Glasse, a Yorkshire Pudding was simply known as a “batter” or “dripping pudding”.
The original serving of the Yorkshire pudding was as an appetiser to a main meal, usually with gravy. This was because it would fill you up, meaning you wouldn’t eat as much meat, which was expensive. It was originally cooked in northern England over a fire with the meat roasting above it. The fats and juices from the meat would drip into the pudding and provide flavor and color.
Traditionally, the word “pudding” referred to homely and rustic desserts that were commonly eaten by the lower classes. These could be either sweet or salty. Pudding dishes are mainly made with flour and have a cake-like consistency. Other savory puddings include – steak and kidney pudding and suet pudding.
The Yorkshire Pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour and milk or water. It has become a common British side dish which is versatile and can be served in many different ways – although mainly recognized as an accompaniment to a roast dinner. Yorkshire puddings were originally made by tipping the batter into the fat around the roasting meat, but progressed over the years to be given their own square dish.
The smaller circular puddings we are more familiar with today date back to Hannah Glasse’s original recipe, in which spoonfuls of batter were dropped into fat surrounding the meat – and often referred to as Yorkshire puffs.
It has been suggested the pudding was given the name “Yorkshire” due to the region’s association with coal and the high temperatures this produced that helped to make crispy batter.
When you look at the individual ingredients that make up a Yorkshire pudding they are quite healthy. But the way they are cooked is another matter.
Eggs, for example, are considered one of the most nutritious foods on the planet and contain protein, vitamin B2, B6, B12, zinc, iron and selenium. Milk is also nutrient rich in both protein and fat along with calcium. While flour can provide you with micronutrients. For example one cup of flour includes one gram of thiamin (vitamin B1), which is 85% of your recommended daily intake.
Traditionally Yorkshire Puddings are cooked in fat or dripping. A small amount of fat is essential in our diets as it’s a source of essential fatty acids, which the body cannot make itself. But too much fat can lead to weight gain.
Vegetable oils such as sunflower can also be used as they reach very high temperatures. There has also been debate as to whether olive oil can be used, however as long as it’s a good quality, true olive oil it’s fine.
As well as being a roast dinner side dish, these humble puddings are ideal for a cheap and filling family supper. The batter can be turned into puffy pizza bases, fluffy wraps and impressive toad in the holes.
It would also appear that Yorkshire pudding style dishes are now eaten all over the world. Japan serves them with anything from cheese to jam and with soup. The popover is the US version of the Yorkshire pudding, which dates back to 1850. While Germany and the Netherlands make Dutch Babies which is a flat Yorkshire pudding with berries and sugar on top.
Back to the original debate then – should we or should we not have a Yorkie with our Christmas Dinner? If you are a strict traditionalist, then technically you should steer clear. It’s unlikely that Yorkshire puddings were included in the first traditional Christmas dinners because they had not yet been invented. Though it should also be noted that neither would one have expected to see pigs in blankets on an early Christmas dinner plate. Despite often being considered a Christmas staple, they’ve only been around since the 1950s.
So I would say, why not include the Yorkshire pudding, food trends are always changing and modernizing. Indeed, Christmas dinner dates back to medieval times and has been evolving ever since.
You could even dress these puddings up for the Christmas table – Yorkshire Pudding canapes anyone? While any left over batter could also be used to make a toad in the hole with turkey and gravy – or even topped with cranberries and ice cream – it is Christmas after all.
Hazel Flight is Program Lead Nutrition and Health, Edge Hill University.
The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.
© The Conversation
26 Comments
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Mr Kipling
Yorkshire pudding for Christmas dinner?
Exceedingly bad idea.
And Turkey is not traditional...
Goose is.
Elvis is here
I made Yorkshire pud once for Christmas here and it went down a treat. I also do mean stuffing!!!!
I would beg to say that it has become a common English side dish. It is not that common in the other territories associated with Britain. Semantics aside it is exceedingly good and our English cousins should be thanked.
wallace
Yorkshire Pudding is for roast beef only.
proxy
A traditional English Christmas was to get stinking drunk for a few days.
falseflagsteve
A well cooked Yorkshire Pud is a splendid thing, however I do not make one to accompany my Christmas dinner, never have and never will,I’ll have you know.
Glad to see a mention of nutrition for a change. Indeed eggs are a wonderful food, I consume around 30 a week, excellent sauce of protein for a physical chap such as myself who ensures he will never attain a beastly dad bod.
wallace
It takes time to make Yorkshire Pudding and time most don't have when cooking the traditional Christmas dinner.
The royal family eats the same every year. Turkey, gravy, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, Christmas pud.
cleo
Christmas dinner is the most luxurious, calorie-laden forgit-da-diet meal of the year. Eat what you want, traditional or not.
We go with chestnut and mushroom paté en croute, roast potatoes, glacé carrots, brussels sprouts (if I can find any - the ones from the allotment won't be ready this year :( ), veggie gravy, stuffing balls, mince pies, Christmas pud with cream. Trifle if there are kids around.
Anyone who's still hungry can top up with veggie sausage rolls and homemade stollen.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Peace on Earth, goodwill to all JT posters and mods.
Mr Kipling
Turkeys came from the Americas so hardly traditional unless traditional starts in the late 1700's.
cleo..... For sprouts try Gyomu super.... frozen but cheap and quite good.
cleo
Thanks, Mr. Kipling. I'm sure they have them at Costco if I had the time to get there (our nearest is a 3-hour round-trip), it's the getting there....
wallace
cleo
Frozen Brussels Sprouts
冷凍芽キャベツ 500g 【冷凍】/(1袋)
Brand: デリカ マルシェ(Delica Marche)
¥1,480 Tax included (¥3 / g)
Amazon
arrive by 24th
BT
This sounds delicious and getting hungry just reading this now!!!
And yes...Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!
Matt
Yes, Goose is the traditional meat in the UK at Christmas time as it is this time that the birds are migrating from Europe to Canada I believe, so they were easy to hunt while sitting about at the sides of lakes etc.
Turkeys are a purely US thing that due to the cheapness (I guess) of farming them they have also become popular among British people and Europeans in general. And yes, it is traditional to get blind drunk and insult the family at Christmas in the UK haha.
Mr Kipling
Wallace....
500gm of Belgian sprouts are about ¥230 at gyomu super. Darn inflation, they were ¥140 a few months ago.
wallace
Mr Kippling
yes but if like cleo the nearest Gyomu is a three-hour drive.
Mr Kipling
Wallace...
Cleo said Costco was 3 hours.
And anyone living that far away from civilization should be growing their own veg! :)
cleo
lol
Costco, the new Mecca of civilization!
What has the world come to…..
Never thought of looking on Amazon for frozen stuff. Many thanks!
Doing me best with the home-grown veg, but the veg don’t always do as they’re told.
Ah_so
If you read Dickens' Christmas Carol (1843) (or just watch the excellent Muppets version), in the future, the Cratchett's are settling down to a Goose, without Tiny Tim. But on waking on Christmas morning, he orders a turkey for the Cratchetts. So while Goose is traditional, Turkey has been making its way onto the scene for nearly 200 years and have as much heritage as Christmas trees, and Christmas crackers.
Fun fact: guinea fowl were historically bred in Turkey and were popularly known as "Turkey birds"...so when a bird resembling a guinea fowl was found in North America, there could be only one name for it.
Ah_so
I'm sure that the Scots have learned to deep-fry Yorkshire Pudding - it's certainly something I would like to try.
Luddite
We always have Yorkshire puddings with our Christmas dinner.
albaleo
Sure, but we dip them in batter first. :-)
Joking aside, we have a regular fight in our house about whether to have Yorkshire puddings at Christmas. I never had them at Christmas as a kid and my parents are from the north of England. But my wife, from Osaka, insists we have them.
SapperJon
Never buy frozen mass produced Yorkshire puddings they taste of nothing. I make a couple of batches at home and then freeze them ready for popping in the oven for a few minutes to heat up and get a crispy crust but while still having a soggy bottom. Obviously they are called Yorkshire puddings as they have a heavenly taste and as everybody know Yorkshire is Gods own county.
TokyoOldMan
What's the purpose of this article ? To knock something that some people eat for a Xmas dinner ? Trying to tell us them we're all wrong ? Another Woke-ism .... these days, in the UK you'll be lucky to get nice food over Xmas - that's assuming the local Food bank is open.
wallace
Is it only genuine Yorkshire Pud if made in Yorkshire? Like Camembert, Champagne, Parma Ham, or Cornish Pasties.
Mr Kipling
Good point! Maybe we should call it "Yorkshire style pudding"?
But what is a Yorkshire man or woman cooks pudding outside of Yorkshire?
wallace
Yorkshire Pudding pre-dates America in the early 1700's. Then it was called Dripping Pudding.