Sieve the flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl and add the eggs. Beat really well until the mixture hangs from the whisk in long elastic strings with no sign of any lumps.   Mix the milk and water together and gradually add to the mixture, whisking until smooth.   Transfer the batter to a jug, cover and leave in a cool place for at least 15 minutes, or up to 6 hours.   Refrigerate if keeping longer than half an hour, bring back to room temperature before using (around 30 minutes), and whisk well.

Preheat the oven to 220C fan.

To cook the puddings, use either beef dripping or lard. Add a tsp of fat to each segment of a 12 hole deep muffin tin.   Place the tin on the top shelf of the oven and heat for 15 minutes until the fat is smoking hot – this is very important.

Put on oven gloves and remove the tin carefully from the oven – it will be scorching hot! Working quickly, pour the batter into each hole of the muffin tin.   The batter will immediately cling to the sides and start rising.   If it doesn’t, your fat isn’t hot enough so stop, tip out the batter and reheat the tin and fat until smoking hot.

Return the tin to the oven and cook for about 20 minutes until well risen. Then, turn the oven down to 150C fan.   Turn the yorkshire puddings upside down in the muffin tin, or tip them out into a roasting tin and return to the oven to cook for another 10 minutes, allowing them to dry out and firm up.

They are best eaten immediately.