Sunday afternoon breaks into evening and I am sitting down to a roast, mum’s roast potatoes, a mandatory double serving of veg and a jug of gravy poured over my crisp, chewy (intentional paradox) Yorkshire Pudding. Memories don’t come any better than that.

I wouldn’t dare to presume that a roast dinner is incomplete without Yorkshire’s finest, but imagine The Oscars without the red carpet, Superman without a cape, Lindsay Lohan without the paparazzi… it just wouldn’t be right, would it?

For generations, chefs and home cooks have argued over what makes the perfect Yorkshire Pudding. Thankfully, the debate can be put to bed now, following the endeavors of John Emsley, a scientist at the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has created the “definitive” recipe and concluded that a Yorkshire Pudding can only be considered a success if it rises to four inches.

I am privileged to share it with you in its original form.

Ready

• 85g of polysaccharide powder, kitchen grade (flour)
• 1g of sodium chloride, NaCl, table grade (½ tsp salt)
• 1 egg (use 2 eggs in areas of higher altitude)
• 230cm3 reduced-lipid bovine lactate (230ml milk)
• 20cm3 H2O (20ml water)
• 1-2 tbs of beef dripping

Set

• Large bowl
• Hand-held electric or balloon whisk
• Yorkshire Pudding tin

Go

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle.
3. Add the egg.
4. Whisk until the two are combined.
5. Mix the milk and water together. Add the mixture until the batter has a smooth and thin consistency.
6. Stir in the salt and leave the mixture to stand for ten minutes at room temperature.
7. Distribute the beef dripping across the Yorkshire Pudding tin and place it in the oven until the fat starts to smoke.
8. Stir the batter just before pouring it into the tin. Cook until the Puddings have risen to 4 inches (around 10 to 15 minutes).

What you should know

If you don’t have a Yorkshire Pudding tin (the kind of thing you might cook muffins in), you can use a single roasting pan to produce a big, single pudding which you slice and serve. Some folk even prefer it this way.

Resist the temptation to make mini Puddings with a small sliver of rare roast beef and a dollop of horse-radish sauce as a canapé. It’s poncy.