Traditional Yorkshire  Recipes    Edited by Pat Carline     Summer Wine Online

Over the last several years I have made many friends through my involvement with Summer Wine On-line and various Last of the Summer Wine fan groups, and a large number of them are distributed throughout the world, many of them in the USA – and I have discovered something that I find quite amazing – the vast number of fans who not only love LOTSW and the wonderful scenery but want to try the food as well.  In fact, I have this vision of hundreds of family members and friends being treated to tea, with scones, of course – and hundreds of cooks beavering away in their kitchens to feed their families on roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!

  Now I don’t intend that this section should be taken as a definitive guide to ‘eating Yorkshire-style’, especially as many of you will have similar traditional recipes of your own – but if you are entertaining friends or family, and would like to give them a LOTSW tea party, lunch or evening meal, then perhaps you will find a few ideas. It is also worth remembering that until recent years there was a strong tradition of ‘High Tea’ in Yorkshire, as in many other parts of the UK, where cooked dishes are served to be followed with cakes, scones etc, at around 6pm – which saved Mum from having to cook a meal later in the evening!

  Oh, and just one final point, for ALL our readers – please don’t take this too seriously – I know that most of the recipes featured will be just as ‘traditional’ in Birmingham, Glasgow, Swansea and the East End of London – possibly even Vancouver, Little Rock, Sidney and New York – it is irrelevant – the important thing is that you can assure your friends and family that ‘it is just the same as they eat in Summer Wine Country!’ Oh – and don’t worry if you have a different recipe to the ones here – these are mostly the ones that are used by me or by family or friends.

  So - happy cooking and good eating, Pat.

To open our new recipe section I can think of nothing better than the classic Yorkshire Pudding, the ideal accompaniment for roast beef, pork, chicken or even pork chops, sausages or vegetarian nut roasts etc.

 It is difficult to describe to anyone who has never seen one –American author Helene Hanff described it to a fellow New Yorker as ‘A sort of tall, crisp, golden, totally empty waffle – and a taste of heaven’ – I’m not sure of the waffle bit – but the ‘heaven’ I agree with – but it must have good rich gravy!

When I was a child, at my Gran’s and at home, we often had a 7 inch Yorkshire pudding, just with gravy as a ‘starter’, the original reason for this was simple – by the time you had eaten the inexpensive Yorkshire pudding, you didn’t want so much of the much more expensive meat course!

Today this classic is found in restaurants, pubs and cafes, (probably including Ivy’s catering establishment in LOTSW) and in homes everywhere as a dish in it’s own right filled with stew, sausage and onions, minced beef in gravy – or just onion gravy!

Yorkshire Pudding – Serves 4

4 ozs plain/all-purpose flour
A pinch of salt
1 egg
1/2 pint milk & cold water  

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F or gas mark 7 (220 degrees C.)
Sieve the flour & salt into a bowl.
Make a well in the centre and add the egg.

Add half of the liquid, a little at a time, mixing with a balloon whisk from the centre outwards and gradually drawing in the flour.
Whisk until smooth and beat in the remainder of the milk.

Put about 1 teaspoon of dripping, fat or oil into each of 8 patty or muffin tins and put into the top of the oven.

When the oil/fat/dripping is smoking hot, pour in the batter and bake in a hot oven (425F or gas mark 7) for about 20 minutes, until very well risen and a deep golden brown. (The batter should sizzle and seal at the edges if the fat is hot enough – this ensures that the pudding doesn’t stick to the tin and is crisply cooked underneath and round the sides).

Alternatively use 4 x 7inch shallow/sandwich tins, with about 4 teaspoons fat in each and cook for about 25/30 minutes – these bigger ones need to be served on a plate alone and are ideal served filled with stew, sausage casserole, minced beef and onions etc. as a lunch, high tea or supper dish.

And to complete this I had better add Compo’s favourite – Onion Gravy!

            1/2 pound onions, skinned and sliced thinly

            2 tablespoons Fat/oil/dripping

            1heaped + 1 level tablespoons plain/all-purpose flour

            1 pint beef stock, (vegetable stock enriched with yeast extract for vegetarians)

Heat the fat/oil/dripping in a pan until smoking hot then fry the onions quickly until brown, (if some of them get a bit ‘caramelised’ don’t worry – many think this improves the flavour, including myself).

Add the flour, stirring briskly until well blended and lightly brown then start to add the stock – don’t stop stirring!

Bring to the boil for a couple of minutes then reduce to a simmer until the flour is thoroughly cooked – taste a little, you’ll know if it isn’t ready as it will taste floury. Add any additional seasoning at this point – you will know best how much it needs for your tastes.

Incidentally, the ‘Barnsley chop’ which Compo adored is now a double lamb chop, cut across the breast bone, weighing in at about a half pound –but it used to be a 3lb rib cut of mutton, roasted in the oven or on a spit and served as one portion to Royalty – hmm guess that’s what you’d call ‘king-sized’!