Long ago, it is said (I say again, it is said!!) a party of Yorkshiremen was sitting down to a meal of beef and Yorkshire pudding, when a group of soldiers burst in. The Yorkshiremen fled, leaving their meal to the hungry soldiers. And that is why, the 'experts' say, Yorkshire people like to eat their pudding with gravy as a starter, for they didn't mind losing the beef, but losing the pudding was a disaster.
Now, my response to this is two words; the first is 'bull'. My daughter lives in Yorkshire, and I spent a goodly slice of my working life in the 'broad acres' … and I've never come across this habit. Hey, the 'experts' can't even agree whether the alleged incident took place in the Civil War or the Wars of the Roses!
A more credible explanation is the saying that:
'Who gets most pudding gets most meat'
The principle being that a lot of pudding doesn't leave a lot of room for the meat, either on the plate or in the stomach! This principle seems to be applied at a carvery I sometimes frequent. The first thing they offer you is a Yorkshire pudding the size of a saucer. This, I assume, is so that there isn't room for much of the other stuff on offer. I usually refuse it, for I hold … and I accept I'm in a very small minority here … that Yorkshire pudding is only served with beef.
A few years ago, a whole group of us were sitting down to a beef dinner, when the server came up to apologise that the Yorkshire puddings weren't ready yet. Now, since this took place in Wiltshire, this didn't bother us, and we started the meal anyway. The plates were being cleared away when the Yorkshires arrived.
'What am I to do with these?' wailed the server.
Richard, ever the wit, had an answer:
'Stuff them with cream, coat them with chocolate and call them profiteroles!'
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