Why do my Yorkshire puddings not rise?

A Yorkshire pudding is a steam-raised batter. It puffs because water in the batter turns to steam faster than the structure can set. Everything that goes wrong is a version of not enough heat.

Safety

Step by step

1. Use equal volumes of egg, flour and milk.The classic ratio — measure the eggs in a jug and match with flour and milk. It gives a batter thin enough to climb the tin.
2. Make the batter thin.Single cream consistency, pourable. A thick batter cannot climb, and it is the most common reason for a flat, dense pudding.
3. Rest the batter.Thirty minutes minimum, several hours or overnight in the fridge if you can. It hydrates the flour and relaxes the gluten, and rested batter rises noticeably higher.
4. Use a proper tin.Heavy metal, deep individual cups. Thin flimsy tins do not hold enough heat, and silicone moulds barely work at all — they insulate exactly where you want conduction.
5. Get the fat smoking.A teaspoon of beef dripping, lard or a high-smoke-point oil per cup, in the oven at 220 to 230°C until it is visibly smoking. This is not optional.
6. Pour the batter in fast.Fill each cup about half full, working quickly so the fat stays hot. It should sizzle violently the moment it hits.
7. Get it back in immediately.Every second the tin is out, the fat cools. Have the batter in a jug beside the oven before you open the door.
8. Do not open the oven.For at least twenty minutes. The puddings are held up by steam pressure until the structure sets, and cold air collapses them irreversibly.
9. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.Until deep golden brown and firm. Pale puddings collapse as they cool because the walls have not set.
10. Take the batter out of the fridge in advance if it was chilled.Some bakers swear by fridge-cold batter into hot fat; others by room temperature. Both work, but a rested batter matters more than its temperature.

Tips

• Smoking fat. If it is not smoking, they will not rise.
• Thin batter climbs; thick batter sits. Aim for single cream.
• Do not open the door. Use the oven light.

Common mistakes

• Pouring batter into warm rather than smoking fat — The batter needs to start converting to steam the instant it lands. Warm fat lets it settle and begin cooking from the bottom, so it sets into a flat dense disc before any steam builds.
• Opening the oven to look after ten minutes — The pudding is a shell held up by internal steam pressure until the walls set. A rush of cold air drops that pressure and they collapse, and unlike a cake they do not come back.

If it doesn't work

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