Is there a bigger staple of a Sunday roast than the hallowed Yorkshire pudding? Okay maybe the meat and roast potatoes, but the Yorkshire pudding reigns supreme as one of England’s few impressive national dishes. The side dish was famously devised by cooks in the north of England, who made use of newly-available wheat flour by mixing it with beef dripping fat to cook a batter pudding as the meat roasted, with the first recipe published in 1737.
Most adroit home cooks are a dab hand at making Yorkshire puddings, with a mix of plain flour, eggs, milk and oil or beef fat serving up a tray of Yorkshires in less than half an hour. For the rest of us, who maybe have less time or less skill in the kitchen, Aunt Bessie’s brand of ready-made Yorkshire puddings has been on the supermarket shelves since 1995, taking over the recipe of William Jackson Group’s frozen Yorkshire puddings for Butlin’s holiday camp from the 1970s.
But Britain’s supermarkets are not easily outmanoeuvred by brands and the likes of M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Lidl have risen to the challenge with their own home-brand Yorkshires, which look every bit like the real thing. This week, I’ll take a bite out of each to see which one wins the day.
Lidl 6 Deluxe Yorkshire Puddings – £1.99
Lidl’s 6 Deluxe Yorkshire Puddings come in a smart black bag, and upon removing them – I’m pleased to say they’re greased to perfection. I like everything about their size and shape, big enough to be robust without being monstrous, beautifully browned on top with a nice dumpy dip in the middle. And after cooking them, they taste beautiful – crisp on the outside and doughy on the inside. The closest thing to home-made perfection. 5/5.
Auntie Bessie’s Yorkshire puddings – £2.50
Generations of Butlins holidaymakers fed on William’s Jackson’s Yorkshire puddings while dining at holiday camps up and down the country, until Aunt Bessie’s acquired the patent and launched a supermarket product in 1995. I’ve heard that in Yorkshire, the tradition is to add an extra egg to the recipe and beat the mixture to make a great risen shell and Aunt Bessie’s looks VERY well risen. But the dough inside is lacking. A bit too hard and crunchy for my tastes. 3/5.
Marks & Spencer Yorkshire puddings – £2
Marks & Spencer’s Yorkshires are a medium-sized range, slightly smaller than Lidl and Sainsbury’s but way bigger than Aunt Bessie’s or Waitrose. They are big, fluffy Yorkshire puddings with a nice doughy substance in their centre, and they’re a gorgeous golden hue, nicely browned at the top and around the rim. They taste exactly as Yorkshires should, a worthy addition to your Sunday roast. 4/5.
Waitrose 12 Yorkshire puddings – £1.50
I wonder if the big hearty world of Yorkshire puddings is just a bit unsophisticated for dainty Waitrose, which has tried to bend the classic dish to its will with this sort of savoury version of French fancies. These quaint little pastries are too small and light to fill the role of Yorkshires on a dinner plate, I imagine them being drowned by gravy or accidentally swallowed with the nearest floret of broccoli. They taste okay but are too small, subtle and understated. 2/5.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Yorkshire puddings – £2.50
Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Yorkshire puddings might best be summed up as big, limping, flaccid pastries that look like a bride’s wedding dress gone horrible wrong. Visually, they’re a dead-ringer for M&S Yorkshire puddings, only done with less success. Big, flapping and creased in all the wrong places (the poor bride) and a taste that’s entirely forgettable, it’s a disappointing offering. 1/5.
And the winner is…
Lidl! The budget supermarket hands down won the day against its rivals and the fearsome Aunt Bessie’s with the best ready-made Yorkshires on the market. These tasted so good, as close to my mother’s own lovingly-made Yorkshire passed down the generations. A dependable last minute cheat if you’re making a Sunday dinner in a hurry!
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