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Pancakes!


sherribabee

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My dad was the champion pancake maker of all time. When my sister was in nursing school, often some of her room mates would show up on Sunday morning and dad would have to make stacks and stacks. His favorite recipes almost always contained buttermilk. He also favored a buckwheat variety. I don't have a recipe but I will bet they were just your basic stuff. Dad never got too "cute" with his pancakes... no whipped egg white or anything like that. I think his real secret was his griddle. It was a big electric griddle, made of heavy aluminum with a thermostat. It gave him even and controllable heat. (I wonder where that thing is?)

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Buttermilk, buckwheat.

Never served with syrups etc but rather wit caramelized onions, peppers, chiles etc.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Almost always make buckwheat or cornmeal pancakes... If 'regular' pancakes, buttlermilk with fresh blueberries...

I may be in the minority, but I like my pancakes more on the thin side; nice and browned. One reason I make cornmeal pancakes a lot (they tend toward this style).

Oh---and softened good quality butter and real maple syrup go a long way towards making a 'good pancake' experience (if your're eating them sweet).

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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I have pancake problems. I like buttermilk pancakes. But I only have to make them for myself and my wife, and I only do it occasionally (on weekends, sometimes). So I use dry buttermilk powder, so I don't end up tossing most of a carton of butttermilk. But the consistency is wrong--too thin, and the batter is too runny. Anybody else use this stuff? Have better results?

The other problem I have is controlling the heat on my pan. I make the first few, which come out all right, and I give them to my wife, then the next ones in burn almost instantly.

It's pretty frustrating--I consider myself a pretty good home cook, I've made fairly complicated meals, but a simple brekkie is a problem.

Oh, and of course real maple syrup only. I also have this great blueberry syrup from Maine that I like.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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My husband makes such good pancakes, and uses the recipe from an original Joy of Cooking. He uses buttermilk some of the time. I love them because they turn out light, and like cake.

I don't do pancakes. That is, I don't cook them. On them I love just butter and maple syrup and sometimes powdered sugar. We eat pancakes for dessert sometimes!

Life is short; eat the cheese course first.

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I have pancake problems. I like buttermilk pancakes. But I only have to make them for myself and my wife, and I only do it occasionally (on weekends, sometimes). So I use dry buttermilk powder, so I don't end up tossing most of a carton of butttermilk. But the consistency is wrong--too thin, and the batter is too runny. Anybody else use this stuff? Have better results?

The other problem I have is controlling the heat on my pan. I make the first few, which come out all right, and I give them to my wife, then the next ones in burn almost instantly.

It's pretty frustrating--I consider myself a pretty good home cook, I've made fairly complicated meals, but a simple brekkie is a problem.

Oh, and of course real maple syrup only. I also have this great blueberry syrup from Maine that I like.

The pan gets hotter as time passes. I always have to turn the heat down a notch or two after the first few pancakes.

Buttermilk pancakes are my favorite. I've kept buttermilk in my fridge for as long as two months :shock: and it never seems to go bad. It doesn't SMELL bad, anyway. My mother says that buttermilk NEVER goes bad. That has to be an exaggeration but she says it only gets thicker over time, but is still good. She will even drink it with chunks in it. It doesn't make her sick. She's not one of those super-thrifty people. She's also fastidious about cleaning and germs; she's a nurse. Go figure!

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Ah, pancakes. Haven't made them since the kids left home. We ate them a lot in those days -- at least three or four times a week. Did try out lots of things in order to avoid boredom.

Some things I used to do:

Sourdough pancakes. When we lived in Alaska. That was a favorite for years. Served with just-picked blueberries was best.

Buttermilk. Ditto the folks that said that. Always good.

Buckwheat. Yum.

And 7-Up. The kids liked that. Did make them sorta light and fluffy.

We also preferred our pancakes on the thin side. One of my kids called them "tirepatches."

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Sour cream. The "Bridge Creek Heavenly Hots" in Marion Cunningham's "Breakfast Book" are unbelievably light and with butter and grade b maple syrup (my preference) you simply can't get enough of them. I sometimes take a tip from DuPar's restaurants and serve them with two pitchers: one of the warm syrup and the other of melted butter.

As Marion says, heavenly.

Bridge Creek was a great little restaurant on Shattuck in North Berkeley, just south of Chez Panisse. Fantastic breakfast spot. Anyone know why they went under?

kit

"I'm bringing pastry back"

Weebl

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Yes. Buckwheat and buttermilk give the most robust and interesting flavours.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Moopheus... I share your frustration with actually cooking the pancakes. I gave it up because with a cast iron pan on the stove I just can't control the temperature successfully. I also can't cook enough at one time. The only time I would attempt it is if I had enough folks for breakfast to make it worth the trouble. That thermostatically controlled griddle that my dad had was great. I often helped him with the pancakes and I never had a problem. You could pour out and cook eight perfect pancakes in no time. I am just hoping that the griddle on my new range works sort of like that.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I like a tender crumb in my pancakes, so I use buttermilk (or yogurt thinned with water if I don't have buttermilk) and self-rising flour. The soft wheat in the S/R flour makes as tender a pancake as any I've ever had, and I've had a lot of them.

I use S/R flour for exactly three things: biscuits, pancakes, and fruit cobblers, and it's great for all of them.

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Over the past 10 years or so I've been making my own pancakes from scratch. I've tried everything from buttermilk to buckwheat and had a lot of success as well as many failures.

Then, a few months ago I discovered Hungry Jack's Buttermilk Pancake mix. It's one of those just-add-water types of deals. I had tried a bunch of those before and was adamantly against them. But this said "NEW" on the box so I had to try it. Man! They were great! They were actually some of the best pancakes I've made. I don't what they did, but this mix makes a perfect, standard buttermilk pancake every time.

I now sometimes substitue a spooonful or two of the mix, for some cornmeal. I'm a big fan of cornmeal pancakes and just a little spoonful gives a nice texture and flavor. I feel bad that I don't make them from scratch anymore but I'm so happy with this mix and its so damn convenient, that I just don't see the need to - unless I want something special.

I cook my pancakes on a griddle that is built in to my stove. Lucky me.

Of course, real maple syrup only.

~WBC

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I cook my pancakes on a griddle that is built in to my stove. Lucky me.

Tell me please about your built in griddle. I am getting the GE Monogram with a griddle and am hoping for the best but I haven't found a friend with one to get any first hand experience.

I so want a good griddle... pancakes, quesadillas, french toast, fried cheese, grillled cheese, fish in mojo de ajo... You get the picture.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Every July, we pick at least two pails of blueberries at The Cabin and freeze them in ice cream pails. So, we have blueberry pancakes all year round.

Buttermilk. I also always include cornflour -- if I would use 1 cup of flour, I reduce by 2 tablepoons and put in 2 (or more) tablespoons of cornmeal). The latter is key for texture.

Works just as well for plain without blueberries pancakes.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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A tip I learned from Fine Cooking Magazine a while ago-after making the batter, be sure to let it rest at least 5 minutes before startingto make the pancakes. It does seem to make a difference in improving the texture.

I also use buttermilk, stored in the fridge for amazingly long time after the pull date with no adverse effects. At least none yet. :wink:

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