Popovers

In Mom’s drawer, I found several recipes she had either marked, printed or scribbled out, for popovers. I found even more versions in her email. It appears she was on a quest for the perfect popover. I don’t remember her ever baking these and I wondered why she was on such an extensive search for the recipe. I asked her sister, Gail, and my mom first learned to make popovers in her Home Economic class at Cammack Junior High (back in the day, Home Ec class was serious business). Apparently, on her first lesson, they came out great and she made them for her mom and sister at home. They were a hit! 

Popovers are similar to a Yorkshire pudding, a light hollow roll made from an egg batter. The secret of a popover is the crispy outside and the tender, airy, hollow center created by the pocket of steam formed inside while baking. The steam makes the batter “pop over” the signature shape. Sound simple enough, right? So, I wondered why she had so many different versions of recipes and little notes on how to make the perfect popover. How many different ways could you make a popover? Turns out, more than I could ever know. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of popover recipes and tips out there, and whole pages dedicated the perfection of them and to how to avoid the pitfalls and perils of the pauperized popover. Now, I was intrigued. I went on a search of my own to find the perfect popover recipe.  

After going through a ton of different recipes, including mom’s, other recipe books and online, I settled on this combination of ingredients.

The Recipe

Makes 12 popovers

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk – room temperature

3 eggs – room temperature

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt 

The ingredients are fairly simple, but the real trick to form the magic spell of the popover comes in the baking process. Therefore, we move onto:

The Bake

As many versions of the actual recipe for popovers, there are just as many hints and tips to follow to ensure a good popover, the top contenders being:

Popover Pan

Using a genuine popover pan gives you a huge advantage. Although you can use a muffin pan or even custard cups or ramekins, the pan was designed for popovers and will give you the best chance for a tall and fluffy rise. 

Shiny, New Popover Pan from USA Pan! 

Preheat the Pan, or Not

This is a bit of a controversy in the popover world. Some swear you have to heat the pan, others say it doesn't matter. If you chose to heat the pan, preheat about 2 minutes at the highest temperature you will start at (we will get to that). Make sure it is well-greased, but careful not to heat your pan too long or you will burn your butter or oil.

Ingredients warming up in the wings

All Ingredients at Room Temperature

This is pretty crucial chemistry-wise. Make sure your eggs and milk are at room temperature, and your melted butter isn’t hot. 

Mixing the Batter

It’s important to make sure your batter is light and airy.  If you are mixing by hand, a wire whisk does the best for incorporating the ingredients together and making sure you get the batter nice and bubbly and airy. I read that some people use a blender for a quick 30 seconds to a minute or a fast spin with the electric mixer, but you have to be careful not to over mix or they will not rise properly.

Do Not Peek!

Popovers Popping Over!

If anything, this is most important rule for successful popovers. DO NOT PEEK! Opening the oven door to check to see if your popovers are popping over may cause them to poop out. The sudden change in temperature interrupts the steam and rising process. Resist the urge. Grab the timer, set it and walk away. You can flip on the light and squint (as I did several times) but don’t open that door!

Start High and End Low, or Stay the Course

Not every popover lover agreed, but I found that many recipes call for reducing the temperature part way through during the bake. This helps avoid the tops to over brown and helps the popover to settle in. Others say one temp straight through to the end.

As you can see, for every rule, there’s another to break it. These are the rules and baking process I followed for the:

First Batch

Popover Pan

Preheat pan (I went for 2 minutes)

Wire whisk by hand

No peeking

Baked at same temperature throughout 

Preheated well-greased pan in 425 degree oven for two minutes. Whisked all ingredients together until bubbly and light. Poured batter in cups. Bake at 425 degrees for exactly 30 minutes. No peeking! 

These are the rules and baking process I followed for the:

Second Batch

Popover Pan

Preheat pan (I went for 2 minutes)

Wire whisk by hand

No peeking

Preheated well-greased pan at 450 degrees for 2 minutes. Whisked all ingredients together until bubbly and light. Poured batter into cups only 1/2 full. Placed a cookie sheet on the top rack of the oven to protect the tops of the popovers from over browning. Baked at 450 for 20 minutes then reduced temperature to 350 for 10 minutes. No peeking! 

The Results

First batch:

I have one popover pan. After filled the cups and put it the oven, I realized, quite some time later, that I had poured the entire bowl of batter into the 6 cups. The recipe is for 12 popovers. Oops. 

This resulted in JUMBO POPOVERS!

At least you can't say that my batter didn't popover. They popped, and then some! However, they looked amazing though, and you could certainly make the jumbo version. 

The issue I ran into was that the outside of the popovers were crispy and golden, but the insides were just underdone enough that they felt almost raw to me. There are folks who like this texture, but I found it too sushi-like for me. The inside not baking could have been the baking process, as I did the same lower temperature throughout, which some say is the way to go, others, it's a no go.

Because of the inside issue and the mammoth size, I decided to try my hand at a second batch. 

For this method, they came out quite nice, and human-sized. The insides were perfectly baked, with the smooth, eggy airy center. So good.

However, I admit, the outsides were a little darker than I (or I’m sure Paul Hollywood would) prefer. This could be due to the fact that my 90s apartment wall oven is smaller than the average oven and can overheat without warning. Next time I will play with the times a little more. Maybe 450 for 15 and 350 for 15. Maybe I could get away with 350 for 30 minutes if they were a regular size. 

Just a little too far on the crispy side.

What should you do? What I learned from studying and making popovers is the reason a perfect recipe has been sought for over a hundred years. There is no perfect recipe. Most everyone will have to adjust for all the little idiosyncrasies that come with baking – your pan, your oven, if the moon is in the seventh house… Baking is chemistry, and with all experiments, you never know what is going to cause change, so get out there and do some science!

I now totally understand why my mom was seeking the perfect popover. These are DELICIOUS!

Crispy outside, tender inside and feel very elegant and indulgent. If you get everything right, they come out light, fluffy and delicious. They are a different and impressive dish to bring to the table. Watching them popover is fun too. They really do popover and grow in front of your eyes! 

This recipe is for plain popovers, but you could make them sweet or savory. You could add cinnamon and sugar, or herbs and garlic, or cheese (Just note, you may have to play with the consistency a bit. If the batter is too heavy, it won’t pop). You can eat them plain, with butter or jam for breakfast or afternoon tea. They would make great dinner rolls for a dinner with a gravy. You can stuff them with a variety of fillings, from chicken salad to falafel. I had two for breakfast stuffed with scrambled eggs and mushrooms. Um, WOW. 

Thanks mom for the suggestion. I’m definitely making these again!