Happy Belated Pancake Day

I’m back. Miss me?

I’m going to pretend you said yes.

The day job has been busier than usual of late, and life has thrown one or two curves my way, so I haven’t been able to post anything for a while. Also, I haven’t really cooked anything of note lately. Sometimes, you just come home, make your damned dinner, watch a bit of TV, and go to bed. Nothing interesting, culinarily or otherwise.

And really, there’s nothing too interesting here, either, but I’m trying to be seasonal. As I write this, it is a few days after Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in English—Julia was right; a lot of these things sound better in French), also known as Carnival. It's the last blowout feast before the privations of Lent begin on Ash Wednesday, and I’ve always rather liked the fact that we humans took a holy day dedicated to austerity and elected to precede it with a full-blown bacchanal.

In England, this particular day was known as Shrove Tuesday, derived from the verb to shrive: to present oneself for confession and absolution. Doesn’t quite have the festive ring of "Carnival," does it? However, the more colloquial UK name for this holiday is Pancake Day, which is why we’re here. So while most of us in the US associate Mardi Gras with the foods of New Orleans—gumbo, red beans and rice, etouffée, King cake, and the like—in the UK, they make pancakes.

Typically, I am told, English pancakes are rather like French crêpes—thin, often spread with or rolled with a sweet or savory filling. But as I’m not in the UK (if only), I’m making American pancakes.

(‘MURICA! F*CK YEAH!)

My guess is that most of you are already well aware of how to make pancakes, but you never know. And if you’ve been getting by using pancake mixes, give the scratch ones a try. They are barely more effort than the mix, and are significantly better tasting. Plus they do not require you to purchase a package that is still festooned with a grotesque racial stereotype despite the fact that it is now 2013. See this film for more details. 

I was going to provide a link to the Cook’s Illustrated pancake recipe, as it’s one that I have used for years. However, Mr. Kimball locks all of his recipes behind a pay wall. Therefore, I’ve substituted this one from Serious Eats—it’s very similar, but the techniques are simpler. The CI people always have you doing extra, unnecessary fillips in their quest for “perfection”; who wants to whip egg whites to make pancakes? Anyway, to my jaded palate, the SE version tastes just as good. The full recipe can be found at the end of this post. 

I tend to keep my starches relatively straightforward, but if you wanted to jazz your pancakes up a bit, you could add vanilla, citrus zest, berries, nuts, whatever. You could even take them in a savory direction by cutting the sugar and adding scallions and black pepper, for a kind of variation on Russian blini.

All right, here we go. Btw, I’m only making a half recipe here, should my ingredients strike you as rather meager-looking.

In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients, i.e., flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Whisk them about a bit to mix them thoroughly and to aerate the flour a bit. You can use half all-purpose flour and half whole-wheat flour if you want to try to pretend this is healthy.

In a measuring cup or in a second mixing bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and melted butter.

Btw, if you don’t have buttermilk on hand (and who does?), you can fake it: for every cup of buttermilk your recipe calls for, mix one cup milk with one tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Let stand at room temperature for five minutes, and you’re good to go.

Back to our pancakes. Dump the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk until just combined.

I should note at this point that a lot of pancake recipes tell you that it’s OK if your batter is somewhat lumpy. Some will warn you that over-mixing the batter will ruin your pancakes by activating the gluten in the flour and making the resultant pancakes tough. These people need to calm down. I don’t recommend mixing it for half an hour or something, but I’ve been whisking pancake batter for several decades now and have yet to produce anything tough. Besides, you really have to work to make something with this much butter taste bad.

Heat a pan over medium heat. A non-stick skillet works quite well here, as does a griddle, or a cast-iron skillet. You’ll want to grease the pan lightly before you cook the cakes. If you’re still trying to pretend that this operation is nutritionally sound, you can use non-stick spray. If you’ve decided to embrace the decadence, you can use bacon fat. Canola oil works too.

Pour a bit of batter into the pan. Normally I would make several at a time, but because taking pictures slows me down at the stove, I’m just doing one here.

When bubbles start to appear on the surface of your cakes (after a minute or two), it’s time to flip them. Cook them for another minute or two on the other side.

Pretty, is it not? If you’re making them for a crowd, you can keep them warm in a 200F oven while you cook more batches.

My guess is you know the drill by now, but just in case: these are traditionally served with butter and maple syrup. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra money on real maple syrup. Trust me on this: once you’ve gone maple, you never go back. Or something like that. And of course, if you want the full diner/pancake house experience, you can serve some bacon, sausage or ham alongside.

Happy Lent, y’all.

From J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, SeriousEats:

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups buttermilk

Butter or oil for the griddle

Procedures

1.     Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in large bowl. Whisk to combine. In separate bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Slowly drizzle in butter while whisking. Add buttermilk and whisk until homogenous.

2.     Heat griddle or large non-stick skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk until just combined (there should still be plenty of lumps). Add a small amount of butter or oil to the griddle and spread with a paper towel until no visible butter or oil remains.

3.     Ladle pancake batter onto griddle in four 1/4-cup portions. Cook undisturbed until edges of pancakes begin to set and bubbles start to break the top surface, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Carefully flip the pancakes with a thin, flexible spatula and cook on second side until golden brown and completely set, about 2 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately or keep warm no a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet in a warm oven while you cook the three remaining batches