Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding
The British Sunday institution: rib of beef roasted pink, towering Yorkshire puddings from smoking-hot fat, and gravy from the tin.
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 1 h 30 min
- total
- 1 h 55 min
- serves
- 6
- level
- medium
The Sunday roast is Britain’s weekly ceremony, and beef with Yorkshire puddings is its high form. The beef’s job is to be pink and rested; the Yorkshires’ job is to rise like cathedrals, which they do if the batter has rested and the fat is smoking.
The timing trick of every Sunday cook: the beef rests under foil for half an hour anyway, which is exactly a Yorkshire pudding’s baking time. The oven does both without conflict.
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding is one of the world's classic dishes from 67 countries.
method
Whisk the Yorkshire batter (eggs, flour, milk, pinch of salt) until smooth and rest it at least 30 minutes, better overnight.
Rub the beef with oil, mustard powder, salt and pepper. Roast on the onion halves at 220°C (430°F) for 20 minutes, then 170°C (340°F) until the center reads 52°C for medium-rare, about 50 to 60 minutes more.
Rest the beef under foil for 30 minutes; this is non-negotiable and conveniently frees the oven.
Crank the oven to 220°C. Divide the dripping between muffin-tin cups and heat until smoking, 5 full minutes.
Pour the batter into the smoking fat and bake 20 to 25 minutes without opening the door, until tall and bronzed.
Gravy meanwhile: spoon off excess fat from the roasting tin, stir the flour into the juices over heat, then whisk in the stock, scraping up everything. Strain.
Carve thin, serve with the puddings, gravy and the rest of Sunday.
chef's tips
- Rested batter and smoking fat are the two Yorkshire laws; break either and they sulk flat.
- The oven door stays shut for the full pudding bake. Faith is part of the recipe.
- A thermometer beats every timing chart; 52°C pulled, 56°C after resting, is perfect medium-rare.