When I lived in England and North Americans (i.e. Americans from the U.S.A. AND Canadians) chatted about 'pancakes', the only thing I could see in front of my eyes were 3ft high piles of what looked like Scotch pancakes (but bigger), lurching skywards in front of gigantic people in check shirts holding a gigantic pot of maple-flavoured syrup in one hand and a gigantic fork in the other. Certain head-pictures also involved bacon sticking out of the pile and endless cups of burnt pisswater masquerading as coffee, served either black or with cream, poured into a too-thick china mug whilst John Cougar Mellencamp (American version) or early Bryan Adams (English Canada) or Roch Voisine* (French Canada) played in the background. Then I moved to Canada and still the pancakes kept coming. Canadians would talk about them a lot like they were really great, and say things like "I would like a big pile of pancakes right now!"; I would go out for "brunch" with Canadians (including my husband) and they would eat them and say things like, Oh man that's awesome, wow, just what I needed. I did not understand, because when I tried these pancakes of which they spoke they were heavy and tiring, and after one I wanted a little lie down and a cold piece of toast and Marmite.
But now I am applying for my permanent residency, and in September I will start to apply for Canadian citizenship (after which I will be British AND Canadian). I have got used to many North American/Canadian cooking things so far, including the notion of frosting (at its best, just whipped ganache - do NOT get me started; it is quite delicious) and the extraordinary simplicity of cooking with cup and spoon measures. At the beginning I was very sneery about this and thought it was over-simple and whatnot, but in fact is it just, well, easier, and I find baking 100 times more straightforward with cups and spoons than I do with scales. (Incidentally does anyone know where cup measures came from? Was it just Americans realising that cocking about with scales was unnecessarily complicated?)
But I digress: the point is that if I am going to live here for a while, be married to a Canadian, spend time with Canadians (including at breakfast and/or brunch), it is a good idea to get used to some of their food things (although I draw the line at Kraft dinner). A secret and private project recently has therefore been to get very good at (American) pancakes. (For Canadian readers: if you ask for a pancake in England you will get a crêpe.)
So far I have been bloody rubbish at it. Pan too hot, strange recipes, forgetting am not making English pancakes, etc etc. But I have persevered and can now tell you that I have found what I think is a truly excellent recipe: authentic (i.e., American), foolproof, and best of all not awful and heavy. It is from Cook's Illustrated - which is I suppose a posher version of the Good Housekeeping Institute but for cooking stuff only - in that they test recipes to destruction. It is absolutely brilliant for all those things that I think of as 'American' food (cupcakes, cookies, BBQ stuff, blah blah) and worth every penny of the $34-odd subscription I pay for the online archive. Anyway that huge big-up allows me to not feel guilty about copying their recipe for pancakes, which I reproduce word-for-word here (and the lemon thing deffo works and is ace):
Cook's Illustrated Light and Fluffy Pancakes
This batter serves four perfectly for a light weekday breakfast. You may want to double the recipe for weekend pancake making, when appetites are larger. If you happen to be using salted butter or buttermilk, you may want to cut back a bit on the salt. If you don’t have any buttermilk, mix three-quarters cup of room temperature milk with one tablespoon of lemon juice and let it stand for five minutes. Substitute this “clabbered milk” for the three-quarters cup of buttermilk and one-quarter cup of milk in this recipe. Since this milk mixture is not as thick as buttermilk, the batter and resulting pancakes will not be as thick.
Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk (plus an extra tablespoon or so if batter is too thick)
1 large egg , separated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
vegetable oil (for brushing griddle)
Instructions
1. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Pour buttermilk and milk into 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Whisk in egg white; mix yolk with melted butter, then stir into milk mixture. Dump wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once; whisk until just mixed.
2. Meanwhile, heat griddle or large skillet over strong medium-high heat. Brush griddle generously with oil. When water splashed on surface confidently sizzles, pour batter, about 1/4 cup at a time, onto griddle, making sure not to overcrowd. When pancake bottoms are brown and top surface starts to bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, flip cakes and cook until remaining side has browned, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Re-oil the skillet and repeat for the next batch of pancakes.
Pathologist pancake-cooking tips: "Here is what I do. I heat the pan to a medium heat, like 5, with the butter or oil and then wipe it out so there is only a little bit left. Then I turn down the heat to 1 or 2 and make the first pancake. It is always a disaster so expect to throw it away, but after that it is always perfect."
I watch him eat pancakes like David Attenborough watching the feeding habits of the cercopithecinae, and he treats them like he would toast (puts jam, honey, peanut butter, cheese on them) but also does that thing that English people expect North Americans to do, i.e. puts maple syrup on them. Not maple flavoured syrup; real maple syrup - the stuff you make by tapping maple sap and boiling it and boiling it until it is syrup. And here I am going to go off on one again: I hated what I thought was maple syrup, but was in fact maple-flavoured corn syrup. The real stuff is ace and now I know about it a bit more I use it all the time where you might use brown sugar or honey: salad dressings, cakes, on pancakes, with yoghurt, in porridge, etc etc. They use it a lot at Ottolenghi (like in this recipe, which is fucking amazing and was one of our wedding cakes), which to me is like a Royal Warrant, but from someone who I think is good.
Anyway. That's quite enough of that. I was going to start on chocolate chips, but all this talk of pancakes and syrup has made me remember that I was supposed to be at the gym 3 hours ago, so off I go.
Oh, and if anyone wants some real maple syrup, chosen for you by a genuine French-Canadian, born in the place where 75% of the world's maple syrup is produced, owner of maple trees and enthusiastic consumer himself, tell me what you would do with it if we sent it to you. If we like your reason, we will send you some.
Pip "and STRETCH one-two-three" pip
NWM
*"Moi! je le trouve sexy avec sa chemise de bûcheron, car moi-même j'en suis une bûcheronne et moi j'aime Roch Voisine", says one of the comments on YouTube ("Me! I find him sexy in his lumberjack shirt, because I myself am a lady lumberjack and me, I love Roch Voisine").
As I was watching the clip my 'husband', the French-Canadian veterinary research histopathologist, sang along in a comedy style, interspersed with cries of "look at his smug smile!", topped off with a reminder that we once saw Roch Voisine (who is very small) at Bureau En Gros in Boisbriand buying paperclips.
37 comments:
That recipe looks useful -- I will have a go. I now have dual-nationality as well. Fortunately, I didn't have to learn to like Marmite in order to become British (which is just as well, or I would have had to leave).
ooooh, brill! I have been wanting to try making proper "american" pancakes for a while now, since my friend came back from Canada raving about them. As for maple syrup, i would love some... I would add it to pretty much everything - like korma currys, salads (with mustard and olive oil) biscuits when baking, pouring down my fiances throat to get him to shush when im trying to watch something.... Oh and adding it to boiling water and lemon for virgin hot toddys... what Cant you do with maple syrp?? Though i dont recommend its use in the bedroom...too sticky!
When done well, there are few things as satisfactory as the pancake.
And I am originally from New England where there is plenty of the real maple syrup.
And in Maine, where the blueberries originate and are still picked wild, the blueberry pancake with blueberry syrup or compote reigns supreme. I miss them terribly.
The Scotch pancake frightens me just a bit.
If you beat the separated egg white to the glossy-with-stiff-peaks stage and fold it into the batter at the last minute, your pancakes will have even more loft.
And Fannie Farmer (yes, you're allowed to snigger at her name) invented cup-and-spoon measurements b/c they were more "scientific": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Farmer
As for maple syrup, I occasionally eat a teaspoonful, neat. It sounds sad, but it's perfect maple intensity.
Sadly, my supply of maple syrup from Québec has just recently run out (purchased in 2008 near Saint-Hyacinthe, which may give you an idea of how much I dragged home. Also how bloody heavy it was.). It's quite expensive to buy here in BC, compared with back east.
Anyway, I disagree with Emily: maple syrup works just fine in the bedroom. You just have to lick quite carefully and thoroughly, and watch your - um - positioning.
MY GOD. Y S Lee, you are mysterious but I am very enthusiastic about you. Hello and welcome to this exciting debate. I would give you a teaspoon of syrup any time you asked. The pathologist also does this ...French children eat teaspoons of Nutella (well not all of them obv but the ones I knew when I was a tiny monkey in Paris); is this what Canadian children do? (English children as we know eat Marmite soldiers and are grateful for it.)
Pinklea and Emily I am amazed by your 'sex chat'!!!!
Tracy, the Scotch pancake is quite delicious - really very much like the American one but cold and you put butter on it. Yes oh yes.
Pierre, est-ce que t'es français-anglais où anglais-queb and are you REALLY IMPRESSED by my extraordinary bilinguality? Please explain the circumstances in which you first had Marmite. There may be a cure.
I use maple syrup in the bread I bake, but you don't have to send me any because I live in Vermont and we think we invented the stuff.
As for pancakes, I like to make them with an extra egg and at least half whole wheat flour. And maybe some cornmeal. It just gives them more texture and depth. Corn pancakes are nice with maple syrup as are blueberry. But like you, I always need a nap after pancakes.
Zoe, thank you. This is brilliant. I am finding the top tips "awesome" (is only adjective I have come across recently) and I promise I will try them all. What kind of pan do you use? I am AGOG.
ALL NON-AMERICANS OR CANADIANS READING THIS WEB-BLOG AND ADMIRING THIS RECIPE: I strongly recommend that you too try the top tips being supplied!!! It is amazing, like an American Pancake Share-In. I will be (if Monkeymother permits) sharing ancient family recipe for marmalade which is delicious and takes 3 days to make. I cannot speak am too excited.
I use an old "non-stick" pan which is probably, by now, done leaching chemicals that will kill my children. It is no longer particularly non-stick, but I think it works better than the cast iron for pancakes. I like to use plenty of butter in the pan because it makes them taste good. I never burn them. Frankly, I don't know what is wrong with the pathologist that he has to throw the first one away. The pan must be too hot. Sliced apples are nice in the pancakes, too. And, obviously, bananas.
Oh, and if you ever want to "cut the sweetness" of the maple syrup, why not ad a dollop of sour cream to the top of your pancake? This works well with waffles, too. Full fat versions only.
I didn't mean to be all mysterious - thanks for the warm welcome and letting me dive into your discussion! Yes, I suspect all Cdn children eat teaspoons of maple syrup. I thought all Brit children did the same with golden syrup?
Zoe's tips are fantastic, and I would add that if you do the beaten-egg-white trick, you can use all whole wheat flours (or rye, or spelt, etc) and it softens the blood-sugar crash. It might even get you through to lunch.
Zoe, thank you for that. I suspect my problem is a heavy cast-iron pan which I am not used to manipulating - plus having to use ghastly electricity after years and years of gas. It struck me that something thinner would be better. Hmm.
Anyway. I will let the pathologist answer for himself if he can tear himself away from his microscope and/or doing our tax returns, filling out my application for residency, paying the bills, generally being amazing, etc. I had forgotten about the apple thing - I think a long time ago someone (Monkeymother?) made something delicious called apple fritters which were I suppose a version of batter with apple in. Delish. I shall try it forthwith.
Y S Lee - this is also excellent because I am not supposed to eat white flour (who is, who is) so if I can do with with whole wheat and rye (for e.g.) I will feel excellent about eating pancakes non-stop and all the time. I do not remember eating golden syrup, but that is because our parents kept us in a box in the garden, letting us out only to entertain their guests with selections from the early works of The Doobie Brothers; if our Michael McDonald impersonations were good enough, we would be rewarded with a scrape of cheap jam on a day-old bun.
i would trade you the worlds most sinful oatmeal cookies/bisquits for some real maple syrup.
Also a good way to make pancakes it to 1. slice in babanas or sprinkle chocolate chips in them. My favorite way though, is to butter them, sprinkle sugar on them and then put lemon juice on them. YUM
uh, make that bananas, but being as you are a monkey, you probably figured that part out, already.
Since I live in Henley on Thames where the production of maple syrup is not one of the town's main industries, I should love to try some. I would like to try it on porridge because I think I am too English to ever get used to bacon & sugary syrup. Seems like pouring golden syrup over your poached eggs to me.
Would you like my favourite recipe for blini? When I lived in Ukraine, I searched and searched and now have the best one in Kiev, I think.
These are well good. I added a half teaspoon of vanilla to the eggs and milk, and also I did not have buttermilk so used half a cup of creme fraiche thinned with milk (and then had to add a splash of milk to the batter). They are splendid. I also liked the minimal oil brushing thing and the low heat. SPLENDID MONKEY YES SPLENDID.
That cup business: I suspect those poor souls bumping westwards across the prairie had to throw out the best that Mr Salter could provide, along with the grandfather clock and the rocking chair, so learnt to measure with a cup.
ooh! word verification: 'eudork'. Nothing personal
Katy am so glad. And Jane - YES YES YES please oh YES please. It will be pancakes of the world! I will include the North Staffordshire Oatcake, which is a delicious (if you do not know it) cross between a pancake (English style) and a pikelet, but made with oats and wholemeal flour. They are absolutely, eye-rollingly delicious with cheese and ham in rolled up and they are worthy, so worthy.
MM see the comment from new commentatorer The Mysterious Y S Lee, who demonstrates that cups were invented by Fannie Farmer, although I must confess that I had had the same thought as you. Also I am making marmalade today and didn't soak it for 24 hours but it seems to be alright, except we have run out of sugar and jars. I think I have made 36lbs of it. Yes.
I love When water splashed on surface confidently sizzles. It is the best line in the whole recipe, although I am quite sure it is a splendid recipe and I am quite strongly inclined to try it. I do have an Aga and a proper griddle, which make excellent Scotch pancakes and crumpets.
Being a traditional type, even if it's with someone else's traditions, I would try maple syrup with bacon. After all, my daughter-in-law puts vinegar on brussels sprouts, which is a Norwich tradition.
If this is turning into a pancakes of the world thread, can I put in a plug for the crepe? (You'll have to supply the circumflex yourselves.) The recipes I use are Richard Olney’s in Simple French Food (sound views on proportions) and Ali-Bab’s from Gastronomie Pratique, which includes one with beer, rum and kirsch.
vinegar on brussels sprouts is the
only way to eat them!!
Hang on, Punxxi, do we read all the same blogs? We seem to be following each other around this evening.
What do you mean, "same blogs"? I thought you only read this one?
Baron!!! Beer! Rum! Kirsch!! Where?!
Pancakes, schmancakes. Speaking as one who was a destitute Canadian student, the secret to Kraft Dinner is to a) get extremely inebriated and b) add things to it. Like bacon. Not maple syrup.
I can confidently say that I WOULD NOT put maple syrup on/in KD.
As for Roch Voisine, he is tiny, but his head is enormous. I once stage managed a ghastly cavalcade of Canadian "talent" of which he was a part.
One of Ali-Bab's recipes:
Pour faire dix a douze crêpes, prenez :
200 grammes de farine de froment
125 grammes d’eau tiède
125 grammes de bière
15 grammes de rhum
15 grammes de kirsch
5 grammes de sel blanc
5 œufs frais
zeste d’orange râpé
Melangez d’abord farine, oeufs, sel, zeste d’orange, ajoutez ensuite par petites quantités de l’eau, la bière, le rhum et le kirsch. Travaillez bien pour obtenir une pâte lisse. Laissez-la reposer pendant 4 heures avant de vous en servir.
This recipe is not by any to be enterprised nor taken in hand unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly and in the fear of God.
Maple syrup - can be used on very good vanilla ice cream (so I hear. Is on reasonably good authority as was a habit of my aunt, but not the certifiably nuts one, only the sort of licked-too-many-things-in-the-60's nuts which means she's a bit annoying and quite flaky and lives in Northern California BUT is probably reliable as to maple syrup on ice cream).
Pancakes - must add blueberries to the batter, fresh ones. Other options - sprinkle of cinnamon-and-sugar over the top (not too much) which gives just a bit of spice and not too much sweetness. (cinnamon sugar on toast is one of childhood's greater pleasures). Once you've gotten over the pancake phase I assume you will go on to waffles, right?
Bonjour NWM. Je suis bien impressionné par ton francais. Le mien est bien fatigué. De plus, le spell-checker dit que tout ces mots sont des ereurs.
I was originally a quebecois (although never a separatist) before I became British.
It possible to find genuine maple syrup from Quebec or Vermont in Tesco or Waitrose, but it is pretty expensive in the UK. Very nice on a spoon or in a small glass. That could be part of the reason why I am overweight.
Incidentally, if you ever visit the Metro station call Lucien-Lallier, please let me know what it's like since I have never seen it.
"called", not call". Sorry
I *love* the North Staffordshire oatcake. The best thing about going to school in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Here are my blini...
175 g strong white plain flour
1 teaspoon level salt
6 g dried yeast
200 ml crème fraîche (ideally kefir if you can get it)
225 ml whole milk
2 large eggs, separated
40 g butter
Sift the buckwheat flour, plain flour and salt into a large bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Place 200 ml of the crème fraîche into a measuring jug and add enough milk to bring it to 425 ml. Place this in a small saucepan and warm it gently – it must only be slightly warm, as too much heat will kill the yeast. Next add the egg yolks to the milk, mix them in with a whisk and after that pour the whole lot into the flour mixture. Whisk everything until you have a thick batter, then cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and leave it in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Whisk up the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and gently fold them into the batter. Cover with the cloth again and leave as before for another hour.
Make the blini and eat each one as it comes off the pan!
Dear readers, you are all amazing, and I am genuinely grateful for all the great recipes and "tips".
I am also still thinking about who gets the syrup (we may have more than one winner), but I am at the moment slightly pre-occupied; suffice to say I will be able to make an Important Announcement in the very near future (and it does not involve babies, so don't start).
In the meantime, Baron: wow. Jane: wow. Pierre. Bon dieu. Megan!
Need a lie down.
In the meantime, Baron: wow. Jane: wow. Pierre. Bon dieu. Megan!
Need a lie down.
Hot maple syrup tip: use instead of sugar in making choc brownies. Yum.
Springonmars!!!! Dirty!!!!
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh! Am I too late? I want syrup! Genuine-article real maple syrup!
If I had real genuine made-from-maples syrup, I would...
Oh dear, I feel pressure to think of something terribly sophisticated and witty and all of that stuff, but the sad fact is that if I had syrup I would simply relish it and use it as yet another excuse to postpone the diet that I keep promising my poor beleaguered flesh.
I would spread it on toast and drip it (in large dollops) on pancakes and I would use it as a Terribly Good Reason to eat far more pancakes than is necessarily wise. I might try putting it in coffee, I would definitely try adding it to The Best Hot Chocolate In The World (which is called San Cristobar and to which I am addicted), I would pour it on icecream (with also Baileys and possibly powdered San Cristobar, both of which also work well on icecream). I would possibly try putting it in some kind of salad dressing, although that does sound rather unnecessarily healthy, and I would definitely add it to cake recipes at random and according to whim.
Is that enough? Do I qualify? Oh damn, I really want some.
[smacks lips]
[tries to temper expectation]
I just want to say that I made these again this morning and can add the following:
1. I only had milk so clabbered it as per instructions and left out the extra 1/4 cup of milk. The mix was much looser and the pancakes came out incredibly light and melt-in-the-mouth. YES.
2. I zested the lemon I juiced for the milk clabbering and slung that into the batter along with a handful of blueberries. That IS the way to do it.
3. Drizzling honey on top of the pancakes was a bit of a mistake, frankly, but they stood up to it.
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