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          Can you make jordan pond-style popovers at home?

          April 3, 2019

          Written by Stephen Ondich

          Popovers are a specialty of the Jordan Pond House Restaurant in Acadia National Park. But, can you make Jordan Pond House quality popovers from home? I enlisted Sadie, my 10 year old daughter, as sous chef. We pulled ingredients and went into the kitchen to find out!

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          Jordan Pond House Restaurant

          Location

          The Jordan Pond House Restaurant is 0 miles from Acadia National Park.

          The Jordan Pond House Restaurant is (not) Acadia Adjacent.↵
           
          It is in Acadia!

          There are many popover recipes available online. However, we found the most authentic one, directly from the Jordan Pond House Restaurant.  You can make Jordan Pond House quality popovers at home.

          Unfortunately, although we made popovers, I cannot in good conscience call them Jordan Pond-style. Read what we did and how it went down below.

          Things You Need to Make Jordan Pond Popovers at Home

          In  this case, we made our popovers from home in California, sadly not Milbridge. 

          To make good popovers at home you need a few things:

          1. An oven (duh!)
          2. A muffin tin
          3. Eggs
          4. Whole milk
          5. Flour
          6. Salt
          7. Baking Powder
          8. Vegetable Oil 
          9. Electric Mixer
          10. Whisk

          Here Are The Steps We Followed to Make the Popovers

          Find the Recipe

          We found what we believe to be the most authentic Jordan Pond House popover recipes online at A Family Feast and Through Her Looking Glass.

          Martha Petha & Allie seems to know what the heck they are doing in the kitchen. Also, they claim to have the recipe directly from the Jordan Pond House Restaurant, itself. 

          There are not a lot of ingredients involved with most of the popover recipes you find online. Thus, the key to making JPH quality popovers is in the execution.

          Follow the Recipe to Make 6 Popovers

          1. Combine all of the following into one mixing bowl: 1 cup of sifted all- purpose flour, one speck of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt
          2. Set that bowl aside
          3. Crack two eggs into a second bowl. Beat the eggs vigorously for 3 minutes until they are consistent light yellow color.
          4. While slowly mixing the eggs  pour in 1/2 cup of milk, while mixing just enough to blend the milk.
          5. Then slowly pour in the dry contents of the flour bowl into the egg bowl while mixing slowly. 
          6. Stop mixing and scrape the sides of the eggs from the bowl.
          7. Add the second 1/2 cup of milk to the eggs.
          8. Beat for two minutes.
          9. Beat vigorously for another 5-7 minutes.
          10. Spray pan with vegetable oil.
          11.  Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
          12. Lower the temperature down to 350 and keep it in the over for another 15 minutes.
          13. Get ready to eat some popovers!

          Here is What Our Popovers Looked Like

          Wait, I don’t want to jump to any hasty conclusions. Here’s a side-by-side. You be the judge.

          Our Popovers Are Not Jordan Pond-style

          OK. So we failed to make Jordan Pond-style popovers. 

          How to Finish the Article

          I have to confess, the recipe sounded so simple that I was not concerned about our popovers not popping over.  All I could think about was how good they were going to taste.

          Back to reality.

          From a content point of view we had a few options:

          1. Re-make the popovers correctly and edit out the first take. Most people would do this but I’m not like most people. I’m lazy. Plus, I’m pretty sure I already used up my share of kitchen time.  Based on the results, Heidi is not exactly itching for me to get back in there.
          2. Go to the local bakery and buy some nice popovers to present as our own creation. I have to confess, this crossed my mind.  In this age of Instagram lifestyle facades, what’s one more social media fabrication?  However, how would I explain this to Sadie?
          3. Show the reality of our popover making experience, good and bad. Since we’re aiming for authenticity, this was the obvious choice. However, I’m pretty sure our use and reference to Martha Petha’s Jordan Pond popover recipe is probably the least appreciated back-link in history of SEO.

          What We Did Wrong.

          For the record (and to cover our butts in seemingly unlikely event of a  defamation lawsuit) Martha Petha’s recipe is fine. I won’t even bring Sadie into this. Dad goofed on the execution.

          Below are our three major  mistakes. In fairness, we may have messed up other things, too. However, based on the online research I did afterwards, these were the likely causes of our failed popovers.

          We mixed half and half with low-fat milk instead of buying whole milk. 

          This lazy shortcut did not help.

          Instead of using an electric mixer, we mixed by hand. 

          We likely over-mixed the ingredients without actually mixing them at the proper speed.

          We opened the oven to check the status of our popovers.

          Apparently, this is a big no-no in the world of popover baking. Open the oven can literally deflate the popovers in a hurry.

           

          What You Should Do To Ensure Your Popovers Are Jordan Pond-style

          1. Start with the right ingredients. Don’t improvise unless you really know what you’re doing around the kitchen.
          2. Follow the recipe and directions with minimal, if any, deviation.
          3. Find a good recipe online. Ideally, from someone who has an accompanying YouTube video. I am a visual learner. If I watch steps, I tend to stay on track. Conversely, when I read, I tend to gloss over or omit details.
          4. Don’t open the oven until the Jordan Pond-style popovers are done!

           

          The Most Important Lesson From Our Popover Attempt

          The most valuable take-away from this father-daughter popover experience is not the resulting popovers. Rather, it’s the time spent together. However, Jordan Pond-style popovers would have been nice.

          Sadie is ten years old. Pretty soon she won’t be as excited to do this kind of stuff with her Dad. I have to take advantage of these father/daughter bonding activities while I can!

          Additionally, there are dozens of high traffic successful popover making articles online. Lots of competition if you want to see how someone nailed it. However,  if anyone searches “popover fail,” guess who is at the top of the results? 

          In the realm of popover making, we are the big fish in a small (Jordan) pond.

           

          Dog eating popover off of plate
          Someone liked our popovers!

          This Post Has 6 Comments

          1. Karen Downs

            19 Apr 2019

            Looks like you need a trip back to the Jordan Pond Restaurant for those popovers!

            1. Stephen

              19 Apr 2019

              HI Karen. Thanks for commenting! I agree. However, I think there’s some sourdough bread in our future first.

          2. Molly Ondich

            23 Apr 2019

            A+ for effort! Better luck next time.

          3. Armanda

            28 Apr 2019

            From what I have been told, the original Jordan Pond popovers are now at the Asticou! Jordan Pond house changed ownership either two or three years ago, and the recipe went with the baker to The Asticou Inn.

            1. Stephen

              29 Apr 2019

              Hi Armanda! I will have to head over to Northeast Harbor and check that out. I wish I could blame our disaster on the recipe but I’m pretty sure the blame rests with the chef! Thanks for commenting!

          Comments are closed.

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