Popovers, Revisited After Many Years (No TWD – I’m Out of Town)

And here we have our last participant in my New Year’s Day dinner, which included prime rib, and iceberg lettuce wedges with blue cheese dressing.  According, to Master Chow, the Best Meal that I have Ever Made.

We will now have a moment of silence as I look at my feet and kick the dirt.  Modestly.

OK, let’s move along.  I realized that it had been years and years since I had made popovers for my now-honorable husband, my then-honorable boyfriend.  When I was thinking of what to serve with New Year’s dinner, popovers came to mind.  Of course, since I have but one oven, making them for dinner would require a bit of juggling, but juggle I did.

I didn’t have the time to dig out my old popover recipe (where IS it?), but I found one over at Epicurious that I tweaked a bit.  Long ago I discovered that the key to popovers is not so much the recipe, but the technique.  Let the batter sit at room temperature for a while, and preheat the empty pan in the oven before you fill it.  That’s about it.  Oh, and you need a hot oven.  So, basically, I ignored about half the instructions in the recipe, and had excellent results, I must say.

The recipe made 5 large popovers.  I stuck the leftovers in a plastic zip top bag, and we ate them the next morning for breakfast.  Were they as great as they had been fresh out of the oven?  No, but they were still tasty and had a slightly chewy texture that I liked.

So, without further ado, you will find the popover recipe after the jump.  If you want to jazz them up a bit, you can always add a bit of your favorite herb or spice to the mixture.  Recipe after the jump. . . .

Classic Popovers
Adapted from a January 1996 Gourmet recipe

This makes about 5 large popovers

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (not kosher salt)

Set one of the oven racks to the lower third of the oven.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Generously grease six 2/3-cup popover tins, and place the tin in the oven to preheat for about 8-10 minutes, right before you are going to use the batter.

In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, and water.  Add the butter in a stream, whisking. Add the flour and salt, and whisk mixture until combined well but still slightly lumpy, just like you would with pancake batter.  Do not overmix. Divide batter among the tin (be careful, the tin will be HOT) and place in lower third of oven.  If you have an empty spot in your tin, fill it halfway with water – this will help prevent the pan from warping.

Immediately lower the oven temperature to 400°F.   Bake for about 25 minutes.  Cut a slit about 1/2 inch long on top of each popover with a small sharp knife, or poke with a bamboo skewer, and bake about 10 minutes more, or until the popovers are puffed and a deep golden brown.  You don’t want to overbake them, but you don’t want to underbake them, either, or the middle will be raw.  The baking process could take up to 45 minutes, depending on your oven, so be sure to keep an eye on them.  Serve hot, either plain or with some butter and jam.  Yum.