on popovers (or "people are nice")

My mother, who is part Irish/British, makes the best popovers. I refuse to hear any arguments to the contrary. She got the recipe from a British friend while both families were stationed in Japan (my dad was in the Air Force).

This British friend didn't have the recipe written down. She'd simply seen others in her family make it and had memorized the ingredients and steps and what the batter should look like. Ingredient amounts were fudged since what mattered is that the batter was the right consistency. This makes for a fussy recipe. Popovers are aptly named because properly made, they expand a great deal while baking and look as though they've popped out of the the muffin tin or popover tray or ramekin. Lots of people have lots of ideas for how to make the "perfect" popover - they should be tall and puffy and a little crisp and crackly on the outside and slightly doughy and steaming on the inside. If you scroll past the tips in this link, you'll see pictures of what I'm talking about.

My mother has tweaked her friend's recipe over the years. She swears they come out better in a new muffin tin rather than a seasoned one. She never bothered with the special pan or ramekins or using every other space in the muffin tin. And she just knows when the batter is perfect. Overall, I think it's her British/Irish roots that gave her The Knack for making perfect popovers.

Two of the ingredients in popovers are milk and flour. I developed a milk allergy when I was a teenager. Mom successfully tweaked the recipe yet again to make them with soy milk. In my early 20s, I developed a gluten allergy. Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye, and barley that makes dough sticky and elastic and the resulting product chewy when eaten. Just as some people have digestive systems that can't process lactose in milk products, others can't process gluten in baked goods or in other products that use it as a thickener, like gravy.

I've conducted many culinary experiments with gluten-free flour, and the one thing I cannot get right is popovers. No matter what I do with different amounts of eggs, butter, soy milk, salt, and baking soda, I just can't get the blasted things to rise properly. Recently, it occurred to me to e-mail the people who make the gluten-free flour that I use to see if they had any ideas. The same day I sent my query to them, I got this nice e-mail back:

Good morning Cate!

Well, first let me thank you for your interest in our products! Unfortunately, Pamela doesn’t have a recipe formulated for a popover; however, I spoke with her about what she would recommend, and she’s going to experiment in her “kitchen” with some different recipes and see which one works best. She’s toiling away even as we speak, so as soon as she has a finite recipe to give me, I’ll send it on over to you.

Again, thank you Cate, and I hope you have a great day!

Warmest regards,
Megan Warlick
Customer Service--Pamela's Products

Talk about customer service!

I am totally plugging Pamela's because not only are they nice people, but they make great stuff (and no, I'm not getting money or anything from them in exchange for the praise). I use their baking mix to make muffins or scones with blueberries or raspberries on Sunday mornings (until recently, that is - I've had to cut down on the carbs and up the protein and vegetables and fruit so I can fit into a bridesmaid's dress for Gwen's wedding this weekend; I will be back to the Sunday morning ritual soon though). The shortbread is my favorite of the cookies, I love dunking the biscotti in my tea, and don't even get me started about the brownie mixes!

I can't wait to hear if Pamela figures it out.