Saturday, January 10, 2009

Popovers

I cook in spasms. That is, I go for awhile where I am enthused about cooking and tackle some unimaginably beyond-my-abilities recipe, am disappointed by it and refuse to enter the kitchen for weeks.

But I'm learning to do simpler recipes. Most recently that has come down to Mark Bitten's column and blog from the New York Times. I also recently discovered that a friend from my bookseller days, J. Godsey, is writing a blog about cooking for one. I found a recipe in her blog for simple popovers. So yesterday I decided to try it. SWMBO has some of those neat silicone muffin tin liners so there was no need to spray the pan. I followed Godsey's instructions carefully but discovered the popovers were crispier than I would have thought they should have been.

SWMBO reminded me that Godsey lives at about sea level in Massachusetts and we are at 5,100 elevation in Arizona. She reminded me that in baking, the elevation can make a difference and adjustments are often required.

So today I tried it again but reduced the oven temperature from 400 degrees to about halfway between that point and 375, and also baked the popovers for only 30 minutes as opposed to 35 in Godsey's recipe.

Voila! They were perfect!



Slice one open, toss in a dab of butter or margarine and a slathering of Trader Joe's Boysenberry jam and it was a little dab of heaven.

(Sorry about the slight blurriness of the second photo. I must have been trembling with hunger and anticipation!)

11 comments:

  1. Nice job Cat. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks....

    Heh, Heh, Heh.

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  2. Aaah, Cat-A, you've got my mouth watering. Your popovers look scrumptious.

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  3. I cannot tell a lie - they were!

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  4. Okay you got me, I've never heard of a popover, never seen a popover, never had a popover, but that may change in the next few days! I found my way here via Granny J's blog. Popovers look like they'd be good with butter and honey!

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  5. AZ (native) = Yes, butter and honey would be perfect. The popovers blow up and are hollow. They're very easy to make. (I mean - I did it, didn't I?)

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  6. HELLS YEAH!! Popovers are the bomb.

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  7. Wow. They look just like in the recipe books. I've never actually tried them. Yum.

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  8. Just follow Ms. Godsey's recipe. Simple is as simple does.

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  9. Now you've got me craving a taste! I had never heard of them, but they sound delish, & so easy.

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  10. Actually they don't have much flavor until you add the jam...or honey...or whatever.

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