Cooped up at home during California's Shelter in Place order, I've returned to one of my favorite activities - BAKING. I was further encouraged by Margaux Laskey's article in today's New York Times Food section: "Amid the uncertainty, head to the kitchen and bake."
Last week I tried scones because I missed my weekly ration from Babette café in the Berkeley Art Museum. Babette's makes the best scones ever and I indulge about two mornings a week. Now they're closed along with the museum and I'm on my own. Patrick the owner had told me that they used Julia Child's recipe but I never thought of baking them myself. Now I decided to try my hand at both Julia's and Marion Cunningham's recipes, and a third called Mrs. McNab's scones from Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads. All three were dismal flops and I can't wait for Babette to reopen.
Next I decided to try popovers. Long ago my mother baked them in glass custard cups and they were delicious. More recently we enjoyed the superb complementary starters at Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco's financial district. In fact, both the popovers and the scrumptious fried chicken make this Dean's choice for his birthday dinners in June.
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| You only get one |
I was vaguely aware that there was an unopened Chicago Metallic popover pan in my baking cupboard. I remembered buying it at Sur la Table when I worked there at least twenty years ago. This forced vacation seemed the perfect time to unwrap it and put it to use. The pan was pristine and the recipe on the back looked foolproof, but I was wary after my failures with the scones.
My popovers rose and popped like gangbusters but Dean suggested that they bake slightly longer and that they would profit from a bit of sugar. This weekend I'll try them again.
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| My almost perfect popovers |
Here's the recipe
1 Chicago Metallic 6 cup Popover Pan
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 even pieces
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Oil or spray (with nonstick vegetable oil spray) popover pan.
Preheat oven to 400' and set rack in middle of oven.
Preheat popover pan in oven about 2 minutes.
Blend flour, salt, eggs, milk and melted butter until mixture is the consistency of heavy cream, about 1 to 2 minutes. This can be mixed in a food processor, blender, electric mixer, or with a hand mixer.
The batter can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
Batter should be used at room temperature.
(Note from Chris: The way I learned to make Yorkshire pudding in England, was never to over mix the batter. It's okay to be a little lumpy - otherwise it will be too heavy and not light and crispy. Also to let the batter sit in the fridge several hours before cooking.)
(Note from Chris: The way I learned to make Yorkshire pudding in England, was never to over mix the batter. It's okay to be a little lumpy - otherwise it will be too heavy and not light and crispy. Also to let the batter sit in the fridge several hours before cooking.)
Place 1 small piece of butter in each cup and place back in preheated oven until butter is bubbly, about 1 minute.
Fill each cup half full with Batter and bake 20 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 300' and continue baking 20 minutes.
Makes 6 popovers
Popovers are best right from the oven.
Serve with butter, jams, or other sweet or savory spreads.
We had no trouble polishing off all six popovers with jam and butter
