The day before you cook:

• Whisk together the eggs, milk, water, salt, and flour for the puddings. 
  • To make sure the batter is extra smooth and well incorporated, use an immersion blender to mix the batter. 

• Place the batter, covered, in your refrigerator overnight. 
• Check your oven’s accuracy:
  • Set up your Square DOT’s air probe in your oven using a grate clip or a balled-up piece of foil. Start preheating your oven to 450°F (232°C).
  • Set your Square DOT’s averaging channel to 450°F (232°C) and allow the oven to come up to temp. (Make sure the averaging function is turned on.) 
  • When the alarm sounds, indicating that the temperature has been reached and averaging has begun, note the time. (This preheat time will probably be much longer than you expect. And the oven may say it is preheated before the probe does. Trust the probe, not the oven!
  • 15 minutes later, look at the average displayed on the thermometer. 
  • Note the difference between the reading and your set temp. You can shut your oven down now. Tomorrow, when you preheat your oven, you can adjust the set temp to compensate for the difference. 

On the day of your cook:

• Take the container of egg batter out of the refrigerator and start preheating the oven to the temperature you calculated using the offset from your Square DOT—450°F (232°C) if your oven was spot on, lower if it ran hot, higher if it ran cool. 
• When the oven is properly heated, divide the tallow between the wells of a 24-well muffin tin (or use a 12-well muffin tin and work in two batches). Place the tin in the oven and preheat the fat until it is just starting to smoke. Remove the pan, carefully, from the oven. 
• Divide the batter between the wells, filling them a little less than half-full. the batter should sizzle in the fat. (You may have a little extra batter.)
• Place the filled pan back in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes. 
• Make the gravy:
  • Put the stock in a small saucepan and heat it over medium-high heat until just simmering. 
  • Meanwhile, make a roux by melting the butter in a wide sauté pan and whisking in the flour, then cooking it over medium heat until just turning blonde. 
  • Carefully pour and whisk the stock into the roux and return to a simmer. Season with salt, pepper, and the brandy. Bring to a brief boil, then keep warm on the stove. 
• When the puddings have risen (high) and are brown and crisp on the edges, remove them from the oven.

• Serve the puddings with the gravy, garnished with chopped chives. 
• Make another batch of batter for tomorrow! (Well, you’ll want to, anyhow.)