flipSunday roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
Sunday roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
Why this dish? Christie loved traditional British cooking, and the Sunday roast was the family institution of good English society — a meal she served at Greenway House, her Devon home, during family gatherings.
A piece of roast beef, rare in the centre, accompanied by puffed and crispy Yorkshire puddings, gravy, and roasted vegetables. The king of the English Sunday table.
On Sundays at Greenway, the roast was sacred. We chose a fine piece of beef, seared it in a hot oven so that it remained pink in the middle — an Englishman who serves his roast too well done would deserve one of my poisons! The secret of Yorkshire pudding is to pour the batter into smoking fat and never open the oven: it must rise on its own, proud and golden. And the gravy, always made with the meat juices, never otherwise.
- •Joint of beef for roasting — a fine piece (meat)
- •Beef dripping — as needed (cooking fat)
- •Flour, eggs, milk — in equal parts (Yorkshire pudding)
- •Turnips, carrots, parsnips — according to the company (roasted vegetables)
- •Salt, pepper, English mustard — to taste (seasoning)
Sunday roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
A piece of roast beef, rare in the centre, accompanied by puffed and crispy Yorkshire puddings, gravy, and roasted vegetables. The king of the English Sunday table.
Why this dish? Christie loved traditional British cooking, and the Sunday roast was the family institution of good English society — a meal she served at Greenway House, her Devon home, during family gatherings.
On Sundays at Greenway, the roast was sacred. We chose a fine piece of beef, seared it in a hot oven so that it remained pink in the middle — an Englishman who serves his roast too well done would deserve one of my poisons! The secret of Yorkshire pudding is to pour the batter into smoking fat and never open the oven: it must rise on its own, proud and golden. And the gravy, always made with the meat juices, never otherwise.
Ingredients (period version)
- Joint of beef for roasting — a fine piece (meat)
- Beef dripping — as needed (cooking fat)
- Flour, eggs, milk — in equal parts (Yorkshire pudding)
- Turnips, carrots, parsnips — according to the company (roasted vegetables)
- Salt, pepper, English mustard — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Beef roast (rib or sirloin) — 1.2 kg (meat)
- Beef fat or neutral oil — 4 tbsp (cooking fat)
- Flour — 140 g (Yorkshire pudding)
- Eggs — 4 (Yorkshire pudding)
- Milk — 200 ml (Yorkshire pudding)
- Carrots and parsnips — 600 g (roasted vegetables)
- English mustard — for serving (condiment)
Method
- Bring the meat to room temperature, season with salt and pepper. Sear at 240 °C for 20 min then lower to 190 °C (allow 15 min per 500 g for rare).
- Prepare Yorkshire pudding batter: whisk flour, eggs and milk, rest for 30 min.
- Heat the fat in the moulds until smoking, pour in the batter and bake for 20-25 min without opening the oven.
- Roast the vegetables around the meat. Rest the roast for 15 min under foil.
- Deglaze the pan with a little stock for gravy, serve with mustard.
How it was made : Yorkshire pudding was traditionally cooked under the spit, in a pan placed to catch the dripping fat from the roasting meat. It was served before the meat, with gravy, to fill up at low cost.
The contemporary twist : Serve each Yorkshire pudding as a little nest filled with slices of beef and a veil of horseradish.
Agatha Christie · Charactorium
