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Monday, March 03, 2014

American Pancakes

So the child has requested, "American" pancakes for tomorrow, which I interpret as, "Not crepes." My suspicion is he wants a stack of syrup doused sweets for dinner, rather than the savoury filled crepes we do every year. Fair enough, except that I'm not particularly skilled at the fluffy sort. Where a crepe will fill the pan and come out uniform in shape, fluffy pancakes come out as misshapen blobs in my hands. What's more, they're never really all that fluffy unless I purchase a box of Bisquick, and even then, there's no guarantee of success.

I have buttermilk, and egg whites, and a tin of vegetable shortening-what could possibly go wrong?
(quite a bit, left to my pancake abilities).

I got out the Betty Crocker cookbook, and I'll be making the "Delicate Fluffy Pancakes" which I'm sure, won't be.

Are you making pancakes tomorrow?

7 comments:

  1. Namaste,
    Sorry, no pancakes happening here in Nepal. We are having aloo parathas with yoghurt & Kashmiri pickles for breakfast tomorrow. I stumbled across your delightful blog searching 'the internets' for a lemon & mace cookie recipe. I've been blissfully perusing it for a few days now & vicariously enjoying your vintage ensembles, epicurean adventures, humorous writing style, & the antics of Mr Dannypants. As a former American I also enjoy your rants on US culture (or lack thereof) & 70's Americana.
    Anyhow, nice to meet you & I was wondering if you might have a "kickass" recipe for flapjack? I don't have ready access to many baking ingredients here in Nepal but I am have found a jar of the UK's greatest culinary achievement - 'Lyles Golden Syrup'.
    Toodle pip!

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  2. I wondered why I was getting so much blog traffic from Nepal. Nice to meet you as well.

    My flapjack uses brown sugar along with the golden syrup, which I imagine would be hard to find in Nepal. Try the food section at guardian.co.uk I seem to remember Felicity Cloake doing her" perfect" series with flapjack.

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  3. Frankly, I'd stick with the Bisquick. That's what Mom and Grandma used, and the pancakes were always good. Hubs doesn't care for pancakes, so I never get to make them.
    Mmmm. Syrup.

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  4. Enjoyed the conversation above about flapjack, my kids have just managed to dribble Lyle's golden syrup over the table as they put it on their pancakes!
    Anyway - yes, we had some. I am a lemon juice and sugar fan myself. So tell me the difference between a pancake and a crepe? I thought they were the same thing... Simon makes them, I am better at smaller, thicker Scotch pancakes (drop scones). Lovely. Hope yours were a success! xxx

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  5. I was *this close* to buying the frozen ones you make in a toaster like Eggo waffles.

    I just go ahead and subject my family to whatever I'm making whether they like it or not-you're obviously a more thoughtful person.

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  6. A "crepe" is paper thin, and has no leavening agent- it is poured onto a pan to cook. You know, like the French make. "Pancakes" in the UK are closer to what we call a "Lacy pancake" that is, thinner with less leavening and served with icing sugar and lemon. I tried making those once, and the boys looked at me like I was trying to poison them.

    A "pancake" in the United States is a fluffy griddle bread with both bicarb and baking powder (or sometimes just bicarb and buttermilk) and whipped egg whites-like a really fancy drop scone. There's a baking mix in a box called, Bisquick that people use for pancakes and casseroles that need a biscuit topping. There's typically some melted butter as well, but vegetable shortening is more common, and it does make a softer cake.

    "Flapjack" in the US is another name for a pancake-not the oatmeal/butter/sugar treat.

    Then, there's the Dutch oven baked pancakes (like Toad in the hole without meat).

    If you think that's confusing, try explaining the cider/applejuice/hard cider difference!

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  7. Oh the divisions of our common language, it never ceases to fascinate me! Flapjack is a pancake? A pancake is like bread? Dutch ovens? I thought that was when you fart in bed and then trap someone under the quilt... Yeah, I need to work on that Church Lady image a bit, don't I? And my culinary knowledge. xxx

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