• 6 eggs

  • 2½ cups milk

  • ½ tsp salt

  • 2½ cups flour
    [Flour must have enough gluten (the protein that makes flour elastic) to do the job. Flour vendors tailor their flour regionally so that "all-purpose" flour sold in biscuit-baking areas like the Southern states has less gluten than that sold elsewhere, but they don’t disclose this on the package. This deceitful practice probably spoils thousands of popovers (and probably thousands of biscuits in the North) every year. Purchase "bread" flour, marketed for bread machines and the home bread maker. This makes a huge difference. You can also purchase pure gluten and add it to the flour as directed. I learned about this from Etznab’s recipe.]

  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

  • ca 1 Tbsp butter, cut into 12 equal pieces

  1. Set rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 450°F
    [Baking times and temperatures: Different sources say different things. The recipe that came with the popover pans purchased at Jordan Pond House, Acadia National Park, says bake at 400° for 20 minutes, then at 300° for 20 minutes. Most others say bake at 450° first, then at 350°, but their ingredients are also slightly different. I find the higher temperature helps. In fact, now that I have a convection oven, I still bake at 450° and they’re better than ever, but for the second phase I reduce the temperature to 325° to make sure the insides are done enough.]
     (regular or convection).] Note that it will take a while to reach this temperature, so don’t put it off too long.

  2. Warm milk by giving it two or three 30-second shots in the microwave, stirring in between (not sure this is necessary, but most cookbooks say ingredients should be at room temperature).

  3. Blend flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until mixture is the consistency of heavy cream, about 1 to 2 minutes. I use a large whisk in a wide bowl, but any method will do the job. The batter can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator but should be used at room temperature.

  4. Transfer the batter to a pitcher large enough to hold all of it
    [Don’t let the heat out! It’s important to minimize the time the oven door is open so the temperature doesn’t drop too much, hence the pitcher and the quick flicking of the frozen butter pieces.]
    .

  5. Place the tiny pieces of butter (one for each popover) on a saucer and put in the freezer until ready
    [ovendoor]
    .

  6. Grease popover pans; I use butter, having found that vegetable oil tends to fry the bottoms.

  7. Preheat popover pans in oven about 2 minutes.

  8. Get the saucer of butter pieces from the freezer and make sure they’re not sticking to the saucer. Then open the oven, quickly flick 1 small piece of butter into each cup
    [ovendoor]
     and slide the pans back into the oven until the butter is bubbly, less than a minute.

  9. Fill
    [ovendoor]
     each cup half full
    [Quantity: With my typical-sized popover pans I find the recipe makes enough batter for a baker’s dozen. Don’t be tempted to go back and overfill the cups; besides keeping the oven open way too long, it will make the bottoms too thick. Instead, have an extra custard cup ready just in case. On the other hand, if your cups are large and you have one or more empty, fill them halfway with water to keep the pan from overheating and burning the other popovers (thanks again, Etznab!).]
     with batter and bake 15 minutes.

  10. Without opening oven, reduce temperature to 350°F
    [timeandtemp]
     (325°F for convection) and continue baking 15 minutes.

  11. Check for doneness (browned, hollow-sounding when thumped; don’t poke with a toothpick!) and bake another 5 minutes or so if needed.

Makes 1 dozen popovers
[quantity]
.

Popovers are best right from the oven.

Serve with jam or other sweet or savory spreads. We generally make a brunch of it, complete with sausages, cheeses and mimosas. Or you could serve them in the afternoon with ice cream and chocolate sauce as Jordan Pond House does.