Back in the good old days of DINKdom (double income, no kids), we would occasionally think nothing of having lunch at Neiman Marcus, the shopping playground for the Main Line philly wealthy consumer class out at the famous King of Prussia Mall. Actually the lunches were reasonable even for low feeding DINKS on the food chain like us, and so we were hooked by the Neiman custom of offering a free giant popover with strawberry butter and a little sip of chicken consommé as appetizers. We were so enamored of the popovers that we were moved to actually buy the Neiman Marcus Cookbook. We were probably not the only ones motivated by this dish, since the book jacket has a full color enticing photo of one of their trademark popovers with a big hunk of strawberry butter sitting on top, pitching itself on the basis of this addictive pastry. Buying this not inexpensive book was an extravagance considering we only made the popover recipe, which was a long involved process requiring the batter to rest for an hour before baking. Also unnecessary years later now that a web search will turn up the recipe anyway. But the early adoption allowed by the book purchase prior to web access was worth it.
After years of loyalty to the Neiman Marcus recipe, Ani reached out to the internet to find Alton Brown's "basic popover" recipe. Very simple, no waiting, a long list of rave reviews in user feedback. Although the Food Network has churned out a lot of high profile food personalities, Alton was one of the originals and still unique with his infectious blend of nerdy food science, humor and useful straight talk about "Good Eats." We remain dedicated fans, and this recipe confirms our faith in Alton. A quick and painless preparation and the results seem indistinguishable from the Neiman Marcus version. One on-line recipe reviewer suggested using a Vitamix for increasing the air intake of the batter, so we used our very old Vitamix to whip up the batter. [Eventually replaced by a newer model with clear plastic container.]
Standard popover pans come with 4 large or 6 medium cups to bake the batter. We have two of the 4 large cup pans. For some reason Ani had both out and put batter in two of each. No matter, just a bit more stuff to wash afterwards. This basic recipe will make 4 large or 6 medium popovers. We were usually doing the 2/3 Neiman Marcus batch (8 large popovers) to fit our pans, but for fewer people without leftovers, compare the minimal 1/3 Neiman recipe with Alton Brown's. Since eggs are not easily divided (as opposed to separating the yolk and white), the recipes do not allow a one-to-one comparison. Fractional amounts are provided since as is well know, Americans are a bit weak on fractions...okay, it's also convenient for those who want to actually try the Neiman Marcus recipe in our preferred batch size. From now on we'll be doing Alton's recipe though.
Much later Ani spotted the small popover pan configuration at Home Goods and snapped it up, which requires the 1 1/2 cup flour recipe (add 50 percent to the left column if you can handle kitchen arithmetic). As we age smaller is better, and this is the right size.
| alton brown: | x1.5 | || | 1/3 | 1/2 | 2/3 | Neiman Marcus: |
| 1 c all purpose flour | 1.5 | || | 1 1/3 c | 2 c | 2 2/3 c | 4 c all purpose flour |
| 1 c whole milk, room temp (we used fat free) | 1.5 | || | 1 1/6 c | 1 3/4 c | 2 2/3 c | 3 1/2 c warm milk |
| 2 large eggs, room temp | 3 | || | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 large eggs, room temp |
| 1 1/2 t kosher salt (1 t is enough!) | 2.25 | || | 1/2 t | 3/4 t | 1 t | 1 1/2 t salt |
| || | 1/3 t | 1/2 t | 2/3 t | 1 t baking powder | ||
| 1 T unsalted butter, melted, cooled | 1.5 | || | ||||
| 1 t unsalted butter, room temp (we used cooking spray) | 1.5 | || | cooking spray | |||
| makes 4 large (6 medium) popovers | 12 | || | 4 large | 6 large | 8 large | 12 large popovers |
We were big fans of ATK in the old days, but are glad Chris jumped ship to create Milkstreet to explore international cuisine. We still catch ATK on weekends on public TV, and trust their work. Ani switched to their recipe sometime over the past few years, and says it is really true: foolproof. We have both the large 6 unit large popover pan and the 12 unit small popover pan, and normally rightsize these pastries to the small size. The same recipe works with both pans, same quantities. They do suggest actually weighing the flour for perfect results, but that was one step too much for ani. Bread flour is essential here though, don't skimp on that. We bought that large Pyrex glass liquid measuring cup especially for this purpose.