Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Sun 15 Jan 2006 09:46:51p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Alexis?
>
> > Anyone had good luck with silicone muffin pans? I received some
> > recently, and I've only used them a few times -- but I'm not having any
> > luck getting anything in them to rise. My guess is that the silicone
> > "gives" too easily to allow enough support for the batters. Any
> > suggestions? I've made muffins from a basic tried-and-true blueberry
> > muffin recipe, and tonight I made popovers (to go with the potato corn
> > chowder). This is the first time ever I've not had my popovers "pop".
> >
> > Recipe I used for the popovers:
> >
> > 1 cup flour
> > 1 cup milk
> > 3 cups eggs
> > dash of salt.
> >
> > fill cold, greased muffin tins (I've always used muffin tins instead of
> > a popover pan and never had problems before) half-full. Put in a cold
> > oven and turn to 450 degrees. Bake, without opening the oven door at
> > all, for 30 minutes.
> >
> > Like I said, this is the first time they haven't worked. The only
> > difference is the pan. So, if there's anyone here who uses and likes
> > their silicon muffin pans, I'd love to hear what you do with them!
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Alexis.
>
> Alexis, popovers and Yorkshire puddings usually require a very hot
> preheated pan that will hold the heat and give an instant push to the
> batter. This is impossible with the new silicone pans.
>
> I've never tried your method, but I suspect that the silicone pans cannot
> themselves sustain a hot enough temperature to produce the rising afforded
> by metal.

Thanks, Wayne.

Yes, it's three eggs, not three cups of egg (sorry for the typo). I've
never made a Yorkshire pudding, but I make popovers (with the
chilled-pan method) several time per month.

The timer went off on the silicone batch just a minute before I sent
the original post. Because I figured I had nothing to lose, I kept the
popovers in the oven while I was posting and let them bake for an
additional 10 minutes (it seemed like a long additional time -- a full
third of the original baking time, I know). Lo and behold, at the end
of the additional ten minutes I had *popped* popovers! They were
somewhat more dense than the usual metal-pan ones, but they tasted just
as rich and were perfect with the soup.

However, I think I'll go back to metal for these. Muffin tins have
always worked just fine. I know the reasons behind using the dedicated
popover tins, but honestly, I'd rather not have a separate dish to
store. I much prefer to use something I already have -- single-purpose
items, especially those used so infrequently, take up (IMO) more space
than they're worth.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll try using additional flour on
the edges next time just to see what happens. These popovers did slip
right out -- I didn't have to press the cups from the bottom.

Alexis.