Yorkshire, largest county in England, in Great Britain and in the United Kingdom; practically a nation, and certainly thought as such by its countrymen.
Yorkshire, land of green and grey, land of thin lipped drizzle, skinny whippets and proud people sound in their history, their principles and their outlook. Yes, I'm a Yorkshireman!
Since going paleo, my beloved Yorkshire Pudding has been off the table since it is made with wheat flour. I have had a go at it with sorghum flour and that worked out pretty well, but sorghum flour is really beyond paleo.
What is more happily fringe paleo, yet this side of the fringe, is cassava flour.
Rethinking the classic Yorkshire Pudding and taking inspiration from Pão de Queijo I wondered whether a wetter version would work out like Yorkshire Pudding - crisp on the outside, stodgy on the inside; starting with a batter and cooking in cupcake trays to make mini-Yorkshire Puddings.
This is practically baking and so ratios are important, although not that important.
Ratio
The ratio is 2 cups of solids to 1 cup of liquid.
The two cups of solids are cassava starch and cheese - one and a half cups of tapioca starch and half a cup of grated cheese. I used sour starch (Yoki brand polvilho azedo) and pecorino cheese. Pecorino is a hard Italian sheep cheese (from pecora, or sheep in Italian) with a good sour, salty tang.
The one cup of liquid is milk and melted butter at one third butter, two thirds milk ratio. I used Yorkshire butter from pastured cows and buttermilk - a fermented milk from the residue of cream that has been churned out to make butter.
You also need one egg.
Simply, combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk together. That's it!
The will make enough batter for 12 portions when poured into cupcake trays, which you need to cook for 15-20 minutes at 200C. That's it!
In the oven, they will puff up. They will also drop once removed from the oven. Extending the cooking time to 20 minutes will have them more puffy, erring on the light side at 15 will have them drop.
Enjoy on their own, served with food, exotic or domestic, in place of traditional Yorkshire Puddings with a Sunday roast or the day after, cooled as a bread for paté or something equally delicious.
Resources
Yorkshire Pudding
Pão de Queijo
Polvilho Azedo
Pecorino
Buttermilk
