Possibly the most famous of all English dishes. At one time the French used to call us "Les Rostbifs" - and probably still do out of earshot! This recipe is from an English family and has appeared on their Sunday Dinner table lots of times.

Yorkshire Pudding:

First a little about the Yorkshire Pudding. Different areas of England cook, serve and eat this in totally different ways. No single way is 'right' nor 'wrong'. It depends upon your family tradition and where you live. Originally the Yorkshire Pudding was eaten on its own as a first course with thick gravy. This was to fill your stomach with the cheap Yorkshire Pudding so that you would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course. 
Now Yorkshire Puddings tend to be lighter and crispier and they are served and eaten with the meat course. Irene Proudlock from Cumbria purposely cooks too many Yorkshire Puddings. The extra, uneaten ones are saved until the evening when they have a spoonful of jam dropped into them and her family eat them in the same way as small cakes.
However you serve Yorkshire Pudding there are two essentials to remember when cooking them:
- A HOT oven
- VERY hot fat covering the floor of the cake tin / tray where they are cooked.

Serving:
Some families carve the meat in the kitchen and bring it to the table on pre-warmed plates. Others carve the meat at the table so every one can see.
Roast Beef is best served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings, boiled carrots and boiled peas. Have a gravy boat brimming full of gravy for diners to help themselves to. For special occasions consider making the special gravy on this site.
Now follow with something like APPLE PIE with custard. It will be a strong man that can get up from the table after eating a feast like that! For a family of 4:

Combined method for cooking the Roast Beef and the Yorkshire Pudding:

1. Heat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / gas mark 4.
2. Put the joint of beef into a shallow baking tray or tin.
3. Season the meat to taste with a little salt or a sprinkle of rosemary or a little black pepper
4. Melt half of the beef dripping and pour over the meat and seasoning.
5. Place in the middle of the oven for 70 minutes.
6. After 70 minutes, keep the meet in the oven, but turn up the heat to 220ºC / 425ºF / gas mark 7.
7. Pour the remainder of the beef dripping into a cake baking tray (The type of baking tray used to make small cakes / muffins). Put the tray, with a little bit of dripping in each of the depressions in the tray, into the oven for 3 minutes or until you see the dripping smoke.
8. Remove from the oven and pour 2 tablespoons of the Yorkshire Pudding batter (see below for batter recipe) into each cake depression and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the same oven as the beef.
9. 10 minutes after you have taken out the cooked Yorkshire puddings you can take out the beef. Leave to stand another 10 minutes to allow to cool a little before carving.

To make the Yorkshire Pudding Mixture (Batter):

(This will make about 6 or so puddings).
1. Sift the flour into a large bowl
2. Break the egg into the centre of the heap of flour.
3. Mix the water and the milk together in a jug. Pour the mixture slowly onto the flour and egg. As you start to pour the water/milk slowly beat the mixture together with a whisk. Add the salt and continue to beat. The puddings will be lighter if the batter includes a little air.
4. Once all the ingredients have been beaten together leave to stand, covered by a cloth, for 40 minutes or so.
5. Now you are at 'step 8' in the main cooking method. Your oven should be very hot and your tray for the puddings very hot.