A Rave About Cooking

I took four years of Home Economics in high school, and if I’m not mistaken, I got A’s every grading period, despite having caught a dish towel on fire not once, but twice. Somehow I managed to douse the flames before the teacher noticed.

FYI: Using a towel for a pot holder isn’t a good idea.

This Christmas it became clear that I still retain my talent for kitchen combustion.

You see, I decided to make an extra effort with dinner and include two traditional English side dishes rarely seen this side of the Atlantic, bread sauce and Yorkshire pudding.

The bread sauce came off without a hitch, despite having to make it from scratch rather than a packet (as is common in the UK), and having to translate the recipe’s English ingredients and measurements to American ingredients and measurements.

Yes, the bread sauce was perfect — savory and creamy.
The puddings were another story.

I’d made Yorkshire puddings once before, and vaguely remembered them being similar to popovers, but I couldn’t find the recipe I had used. Eventually, I found another online and followed the instructions exactly. (If you’re not familiar with the dish, it’s made from sort of an eggy batter that’s poured into hot oil [drippings], and then baked. Usually served with some kind of roast.)

Anyway, the puddings raised beautifully and looked delicious. The only problem was the oven was smoking like a bonfire made with damp wood. What a stench! Oil had overflowed onto the bottom of the oven.

Amazingly, the puddings tasted great. In fact, they were so good, I heated one up the next day in the toaster oven and ate it with jam.

Then, I put in another.
It went up in flames.

from Nigella’s How to Eat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today I looked in the oven. Clearly it would have to be cleaned, or everything would come out tasting of burnt oil.
With a sigh, I reluctantly hit the buttons to start the self-cleaning process.

More smoke — lots of it — billowing up through the stove and all around the house. More malodorous, eye-burning smell.

It was twenty-something degrees but we opened the windows anyway. Sprayed Febreze. Burnt candles. Lit the fireplace. The house still stinks.

I don’t think I’ll make individual Yorkshire puddings again, but I might try a big one in my cast iron skillet.

It would be like Dutch Baby we had for breakfast. Here’s a link to that recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/Dutch-Baby-74146. Dutch Babies are good because you can make the batter ahead of time and then just bake it in the morning. And they look like you fussed more than you did.

We put fresh raspberries on ours; it was really good.
More importantly, it didn’t set anything on fire.