Wesley CookFollow

Date Collected

Fall 11-4-2018

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Christine D. Hamilton

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Christine D. Hamilton is a mother of seven. At 66 years-old, she is a grandmother and great grandmother to many grandchildren. Christine immigrated from England when she was still an infant, eventually settling in Provo, Utah. Her British heritage is a subject of great pride to Christine, which she shares with her family through cooking British cuisine. Christine is my grandmother from my maternal side of the family.

Context

I interviewed Christine in her cozy home in Logan. She was sitting in her office working on adding to her family history work. Decorating her office are the various objects from England she has collected over the years. When asked about yorkshire pudding, she smiled and informed me she finally printed off a recipe. She then printed off a copy and handed it to me. Yorkshire puddings are a fluffy egg based pastry. They are inexpensive, and are often served with gravy. Hailing from England, yorkshire puddings are a common food that are enjoyed by all regardless of social status. In my family, yorkshire puddings are often eaten with Sunday dinners. They pair well with beef, poultry, and pork gravies. In addition to Sunday dinners, yorkshire puddings are always served at Thanksgiving. My Grandmother, Christine D. Hamilton, is the origin of the custom in my family. Christine taught her daughter (my mother) who then taught me. The passing on of this custom is mirrored among families of British origin.

Text

If you go. Gosh many generations, maybe 200 or 300 years ago, in England especially, yorkshires have been a part of their diner menu. It has been around for a long time. It is basically an English staple that goes with any main meal. Kind of across the social divide, not just the aristocracy, but just regular people loved yorkshire puddings! It is a very simple combination of… eggs mixed with salt to begin with, and then milk and flower added in. That is basically what it is. And to a consistency to where uh it rises in the oven and uh it really pops, it is baked in a muffin tin. It raises above the tin line. It is really just a fun thing to watch because they end up really big, and then kind of lose the balloon I guess effect and it goes down a bit, but then they are served with gravy. And so, My Mom and Dad being born in England and raised in England. That is one of the English dishes they brought from England. So, we had that all the time we grew up. People did not know what yorkshire puddings were if they weren’t form England. We grew to love yorkshire puddings! They went with all the holiday diner and Sunday meal. As we grew up, and I raised my kids, I loved to make yorkshire puddings. I kind of figure out, my mom didn’t have a recipe either. It depends on the consisted of the batter. You just mix it until it is super super good. You the then add it to a muffin tin you grease with Crisco or flower. Then you got to watch them puff up. Anyways, that is kind of how it became a tradition with my kids. They loved them. They love to poke a hole in the yorkshires and fill them with gravy.

Texture

As Christine reminisced about her childhood, she was visibly excited. She was slow and deliberate in telling about her tradition, as her memory is starting slip as she gets older. Her tone was very soft spoken, but that is normal for her regardless of topic. Yorkshire pudding is a very light fluffy dish. However, a lot of attention goes into making it. A slight shift in the ratio of ingredients can ruin yorkshire puddings. The difficulty of the dish means that it is usually only eaten on special occasions.

Course

English 2210-001

Instructor

Lynne S. McNeil

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G1: Groups/Social Customs

EAD Number

3.1.7.33.1.5

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Additional Files

Recipe.jpg (288 kB)

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