pancakes

[Hgrove]

a friend has e-mailed me a recipe to make pancakes.  An egg, flour, milk, mix to make a batter about the texture of double cream.  Can someone please give me some precise quantities as I am afraid I am hopeless.  Thanks.

[pamnez]

4 ounces of plain flour.  Pinch of salt.   1 egg size 3.  Half a pint of milk.    Mix salt and flour in a bowl, make a hollow in the centre and drop in the egg.  Stir with a wooden spoon and add liquid gradually until all the flour is worked in. Beat well and add remaining liquid.  The consistency should be like single cream.  Then cook your pancakes.  ENJOY.

[Clanad]

Ummm... needs something... 1 tsp. vanilla and about 2 tbsp.sugar (to make it brown properly), use buttermilk instead... and 1 tsp. baking powder (not soda!) for lightness... otherwise a pretty good recipe...

[Clanad]

Oh... and about 2 tbsp cooking oil will make it better batter... there, now it's ready to go...

[pamnez]

I must be a lot older than you clanad as that is not the original recipe.  Vanilla, buttermilk?  Eggs were a luxury for us.  But your recipe does sound delicious.  I will have to give it a try.

[Clanad]

pamnez, on the off chance that you are a female, I won't make any age comparisons... however, being raised in the south (hence the chivalry) in the U.S., every female relation had a different recipe for pancakes... this one is from my grandmother.  By the looks of your recipe, it appears that yours may actually be a form of crepe (flat).  I suspect they are for differing occasions.  Mine is typically a brekfast serving, fried in a little oil (grandmother used lard!) in a well seasoned black cast iron skillet and served with sweetened molasses along with country ham and basted eggs... making me hungry.  BTW, we use the flour by the volume rather than the weight... usually 2 cups for a normal recipe, more depending on sevings needed.  Pancakes were normally 6 to 8 inches in diameter, turned just as the bubbles began to break...Still use this recipe here on the ranch in western U.S.

[brachiopod]

"...a well seasoned black cast iron skillet..."

Sounds perfect, Clanad. I have one I use for pancakes and nothing else. It's a good few years old now, perfectly 'seasoned' and better than any 'non-stick' surface. (When poured in, the batter initially sticks so that you can pour off any excess batter for perfectly thin pancakes. Then, as it cooks it lifts away cleanly from the pan. Non-sticks can be too non-stick, and the whole semi-cooked pancake ends up back in the bowl as you pour off the excess batter !!)

Oh, and whose pancakes are you calling crepe?  ;o)

[Clanad]

Ummmm, well brachiopod, your translation of the French term leaves something to be desired! In addition to your observations about the cast iron skillet, we are now informed that non-stick pots and pans shouldn't be used in high temperatures, such as oven baking.  Apparently something about giving off gasses.  I also have a cast iron (well seasoned) Dutch Oven that can turn the chespest cut of meat into a tender, well flavored roast.  It's nearly 100 years old and the kids are pestering their mother about who gets it when were through... Well, they shouldn't hold their breath...

[Hgrove]

Thanks for the replies.  I meant pancakes for pancake night (Shrove Tuesday) which is tomorrow, rather than breakfast pancakes.  All useful anyhow.

[pamnez]

clanad.  I am the wrong side of sixty and I went to Florida in November for the first time in my life, (amazing). I was ntroduced to the wonderful breakfast pancakes. I was very lucky that I only gained 4lbs in weight in 2 weeks. They were delicious.

[Clanad]

pamnez ... now that the introduction to US pancakes has been made, be sure to try sourdough pancakes if you have the opportunity...