Jordan Pond House Popovers!

The weather here in Texas has been just like summer in Maine lately… so in celebration (and to remind us of tea on the lawn at Jordan Pond House), I made popovers!

If you’ve never been to Jordan Pond House, by the way, you should definitely put it on your list of things to do. It’s a delightful restaurant that’s actually a part of Acadia National Park — their specialty is tea and popovers on the lawn, overlooking the Bubbles (twin mountains) and serene Jordan Pond. (Last time we were there, we picked blueberries a little ways down from the lawn, and a few loons were calling in the middle of the lake).

One of my fondest Maine memories is sitting out on the lawn on a late summer day, the cool breeze blowing, the clinking of cups and saucers all around, the grass like a soft green carpet underfoot. Jordan Pond is laid out before you, bluer even than the sky, and a few gulls soar high among the white puffy clouds. Just when you think life can’t get any better, a kind waiter brings you a basket of popovers. Huge, light, and absolutely sublime with butter and strawberry jam… it’s heaven on earth. (And if you add a cup of lobster stew, it’s even better.)

We made them again the other night, and they were just as tasty as we remembered. Not all of my attempts have worked; there are a few tricks to making good popovers, so I’ll share them here.

1) Put them on the bottom rack of your oven (with room above for them to expand)
2) Use popover pans
3) Do not open the oven until the baking time is over.

Here’s the recipe I used — it’s right out of the Jordan Pond House Cookbook (which I highly recommend, as it includes recipes for lots of scrumptious dishes like Lobster Stew):

(For 8-12 popovers)

Four eggs
Two cups milk (I used 1 percent)
Two cups flour
One-half teaspoon salt
One-sixth teaspoon baking soda

(The cookbook recommends making the batter a day ahead of time, refrigerating it, and then letting it return to room temperature, but I skipped the day-before thing. I did, however, let it warm up to room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 450. Break eggs into mixing bowl and whip; add milk and blend. Add remaining ingredients and mix until almost smooth — do not overbeat. Fill greased popover pans, muffin tins or custard cups 3/4 full. Bake for 14 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 15 minutes more. (DO NOT OPEN OVEN UNTIL BAKING IS COMPLETE!) They’ll be crispy brown on the outside and moist on the inside at this point; remove them from the pans and serve with butter and strawberry preserves. (Jordan Pond House uses Stonewall brand — I looked in the gift shop.)

Yum. It’s a good thing I just made myself a batch of Bread Machine County Line bread, or I’d be tempted to whip up another batch….