Yorkshire Pudding & Popovers are the Same

A few weeks ago, before the worst part of my sickness (feeling much better now!), I decided to make a fairly ambitious meal. At least considered ambitious since I started to work again. I had a bottom-round roast in the freezer for far too long so I went through my cookbooks (yes, I researched the old-school way) and, once again, my dear Jamie Oliver came to the rescue. His book Jamie’s Food Revolution had a complete dinner plan, simply described: roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Yum-O. Although I didn’t know it was the same thing, I had always wanted to make popovers. My good friend Google quickly taught me that Yorkshire pudding is simple the British equivalent of popovers. The more you know…

I made the whole shebang and it turned out to be a really good meal. The beef was a little undercooked for my taste but my husband loved it. I wasn’t patient enough to make the perfect gravy but the flavor was still good. And then…the best part of my meal…I knew there was a reason I was fascinated by popovers, even though I had never tried them before. They were delicious. So very delicious. I cannot wait to make them again. They were light and the gravy, although thin, was the perfect flavor combination.

The next day, I still had a ton of leftover roast beef, gravy and two popovers. I placed the Yorkshire pudding in a baking dish and baked them for 10 minutes at 350F. Then, I pan fried the asparagus with butter and garlic. In the same pan, I reheated the sliced beef with some of the gravy. The gravy that went in the pan thickened to a perfect gravy consistency (it was almost as liquid as beef broth when I first threw it in) so I figured I must have done something good there. The result of this leftover meal actually turned out better than the original in my opinion.

So here are the two lessons I learned while making this dish: 1) Jamie Oliver is always there to save the day, 2) I must make popovers regularly from now on.