The Most Versatile Batter Recipe

Batter gets a bad name in cooking. People think that it’s full of fat with very few nutrients.

OK, so if you eat a big load of batter every day you’re not going to look like a supermodel, but every once in a while, cooking with batter is a great, cheap, filling meal for all the family.

The good thing about this really versatile batter recipe is that you probably have the ingredients in your cupboard all the time, so you can quickly whip up a tasty meal without having to buy anything extra. Here are some ideas for delicious ways to turn every day ingredients into something wonderful, thanks to the joys of batter!

The Basic Batter Recipe

To make a light, tasty batter you need eggs, milk and flour. There is no point buying packets of pancake mixture from the supermarket – it’s just full of flour and powdered egg and you have to add milk in anyway.

Some recipe books will tell you to measure out everything. This means that your simple supper has become a large pile of washing up. If you follow this recipe, which is more about how the mixture looks, rather than exact measurements, you will find that you can soon make it with your eyes closed!

Start by taking a measuring jug – the larger the better. Put in two fresh eggs and double the volume of eggs in flour – self raising is best, but use whatever you have at home. Mix them together, adding in a pinch of salt. You can mix it with a fork. You may find that it takes a bit of elbow grease – what you’re doing is working the gluten in the flour, so you’ll be left with an elastic mixture after a few minutes.

Next, you need to add in some milk – ideally semi skimmed for the taste/calorie balance, but skimmed or whole milk will work well too. Add in a good glug and give it a mix – you wont’ get any lumps this way as you’ve already worked the flour. Keep adding milk and mixing until you get a batter the consistency of double cream – a thick pouring batter.

Now you have your versatile basic batter mix, here are some ideas for what to do with it!

Yorkshire Puddings

Everybody loves Yorkshire puddings – roast beef just isn’t the same without them. You can either make individual ones or one big one that gets cut up before serving.

For individual ones, put cooking oil or goose fat into each well of a bun tin, muffin tin or lasagne type dish and put in into a hot oven to heat up. After a few minutes the fat will be hot, so carefully take the tray out of the oven, quickly shut the door and carefully pour your batter into each well. Put it back into the oven and cook for twenty minutes until risen and golden – don’t open the door or they will fall flat.

Crepes

A crepe or pancake is a great cupboard standby as you can fill them with anything. Lemon juice and sugar is a simple idea, or try orange juice and sugar for a change. All manner of leftovers are great in a crepe, too – try pieces of roast chicken, with a little béchamel sauce, or some leeks sweated in a little butter.

To make a crepe, heat some butter in a large frying pan until just smoking, then pour in some of your batter. Swirl it round the pan to cover – you may want to thin your batter just a little with some extra milk.

After it has cooked for about one minute, flip it over and then put your filling in the centre, flattening it a bit so the filling heats up. After another minute or so, fold in each side so that you create a little ‘envelope’ with your filing inside. Served with a little dressed salad, this is a really balanced light lunch.