New Meal Monday: Popovers "a la Fritz"

I grew up in a family that loves racing sailboats, and for several years when I was a kid we would travel to a regatta in Pewaukee that my dad would sail in.  Several of the families in the area would open up their homes and host the many sailors that were coming from out of town, and for several years we had the pleasure of staying with the Ruf family.  I was pretty young when we’d stay there, but I have some fond memories our time staying at their home, and in particular I remember that Fritz Ruf introduced me to popovers.  He shared his recipe with us, and we’ve used it in my family ever since.  My mom still has the original recipe card (that’s probably about 25 years old) that’s titled “Pop-overs ala Fritz”

Part of the beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity.  I’ve researched a variety of other popover recipes, and there’s lots of ingredients you could add in an effort to add flavors, but I’m not convinced they make for better popovers.  Sometimes, less is more and I think with these popovers that’s the case.  If you haven’t made popovers there’s a couple things to take note of.  First, don’t preheat the oven, put them in the oven cold, then start it up.  Second, don’t open the oven door till you’re ready to take them out.  This shouldn’t be an issue if you have an oven with a window and a light; we don’t which means we really need to trust the timer (for about 4 years I thought our oven light was out, till one day I realized the light worked fine there was just no window...Clearly I'm very observant...)
This recipe can either make 12 small popovers or 6 large popovers.  You could use a popover pan, or custard cups to make six large, or you could use a "small popover pan" or a muffin pan works great!

Here's what you'll need:

  • 3 Eggs
  • 1 Cup of Milk
  • 1 Cup of Flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt

    Here's what you do:
  1. Generously grease your pan and let sit.
  2. Break eggs into bowl, add milk, flour & salt and mix with whisk. Mix well but don't worry to much about the lumps.
  3. Fill pan or cups. If your making smaller popovers in a muffin tin fill them 3/4, if you're making larger using popover pan or custard cups, fill 1/2 way.
  4. Put the pan in the COLD oven. Set oven to 450 and turn on.  
  5. Bake for smaller popovers for 25 min, larger popovers 30.

We like to serve our popovers with scrambled eggs (maybe with some cheddar and green onions mixed in) and maple syrup.