elrap

Rocks, thank you! It's not only what I was hoping to hear, it's what I wanted to hear!

The galette sounds like a great idea, thank you! I've never had them, but they sound blini-like, and I do have some buckwheat flour to give the recipe a try. Thanks also for reminding me about the Magic of Fire. I've never seen the book but William Rubel has a great web site I've visited occasionally. I'll look there again. There's an odd French-Canadian buckwheat pancake called a plourde, I think, which this also brings to mind.

Chers amis; Last weekend I saw and purchased (for $35 at a swap meet in Maine) an enormous if slightly thin cast iron griddle. This thing, I thought, would be perfect for making socca over the fire in our fire pit, while waiting for the wood to devolve into coals. I have the chick pea flour and the recipes - but they all call for a very hot oven, followed by a quick stint under a broiler. I have a VERY dim recollection (its been 25 years or more) that authentic Nice street socca is cooked on a griddle over a fire in some type of steel drum, but I could be well beyond wrong. I'm hoping someone here's been to Nice recently and watched socca being made and can help me - is the batter poured out onto a griddle, cooked on one side only and served up in wedges, as I more or less remember? Is it turned with something like a spatula, and browned on both sides? Is it, in fact, baked and/or broiled rather than griddled? Au secours! Merci, and if anyone has any other things to do with a hot fire and a thin 21" griddle. your suggestions are most welcome. --L. Rap