Just like Grandma used to make

November 1, 2007 4:44 AM

Love pancakes but can't be bothered to make them from scratch? Try aerosol pancakes! Organic Batter Blaster is all organic, low fat, and "amazing!"
posted by zardoz (61 comments total)

Not so crazy, sounds like it'd make a good textured batter. Heston Blumenthal has been known to liven his fish batter up with a soda siphon (second link).
posted by edd at 4:51 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Pancakes in a spray can. Certified "Organic" by the USDA.

There you have it.
posted by three blind mice at 4:52 AM on November 1, 2007 [4 favorites]

I've got an organic batter blaster of my own, thank you very much.
posted by yhbc at 4:56 AM on November 1, 2007 [17 favorites]

Okay, kids, lob a can of pancakes into the campfire, and stand back.
posted by eriko at 5:00 AM on November 1, 2007

Next they'll start making organic pepsi blue blasters.
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:00 AM on November 1, 2007

I thought it was a joke. Seriously...that video?

But there's clearly company info on the site and also seem to be store listings; has anyone seen this on the shelves at a Mollie Stone's?

(If it is real...then I'm cursing the fact that I can't import anything with aerosol to Japan...because, c'mon, pancakes in an aerosol can?! The future is now.)
posted by squasha at 5:01 AM on November 1, 2007

I'm not sure it really is certified by the USDA. It has a little label, but their "organic information" is just a couple of copied definitions of the term.

But even if true, what exactly is not organic about this product? Crazy, yes. Maybe even bad. But if there's no antibiotics/hormones/pesticides, it's organic.
posted by DU at 5:02 AM on November 1, 2007

Okay, kids, lob a can of pancakes into the campfire, and stand back.
I'm not sure the word "great" really applies in this instance, but apparently certain kinds of minds really do think alike.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:02 AM on November 1, 2007

The environmentalists campaining against flagrantly overpackaged products sadly ended up with perfectly formed organic pancakes on their faces.
posted by algreer at 5:03 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

I say without a hint of sarcasm that it's things like this that make me Goddamn proud to be an American.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 5:04 AM on November 1, 2007 [2 favorites]

Also, this product doesn't seem all that different than Bisquick Shake'N Pour, except that it has better spelling.
posted by DU at 5:05 AM on November 1, 2007

If you use a scale, there are no dirty measuring cups.
posted by jb at 5:07 AM on November 1, 2007

This is going to find a lot more use in frat hazing than Bisquick Shake'N'Pour ever would.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:07 AM on November 1, 2007

There will come a time in the distant future where historians in some new civilization will look back to ours and point to that single instance, a shining precipice where we teetered on the edge of greatness above a chasm of doom. Much like the Romans with Hadrian's Wall - where one society pushed against the darkness of the world before ultimately retreating.

This high water mark, the pinnacle of our creativity and industrialization, this marker for all of history, our Ozymandias moment will be Batter Blaster aerosol pancakes.
posted by wfrgms at 5:12 AM on November 1, 2007 [9 favorites]

I say without a hint of sarcasm that it's things like this that make me Goddamn proud to be an American.

A bar set so low it would make an amoebic limbo dancer wince...
posted by i_cola at 5:14 AM on November 1, 2007

Happy birthday, Spray. I'm disappointed in you.
posted by aftermarketradio at 5:21 AM on November 1, 2007

...our Ozymandias moment will be Batter Blaster aerosol pancakes.

Batter Blaster seems pretty innocuous compared to EZ Cheez.
posted by DU at 5:27 AM on November 1, 2007

First time seeing this product posted on the web, thought it was an internet Photoshop meme. Since, many postings have been made about it with several blogs inquiring about the public’s tasting of it.

It seems hard finding a location to purchase the product tho. The product’s site has a “finding local store” search using zip codes with no location being found (used Tx & Ca zip codes). Unfortunately, the product’s website pancakes itself here.
posted by thomcatspike at 5:33 AM on November 1, 2007

Locations
posted by DU at 5:38 AM on November 1, 2007

Oh dear. Organic, no less. Would that be "organic" in the chemistry sense, as in some of the molecules in this batter contain carbon atoms?
posted by polysigma at 5:40 AM on November 1, 2007

Breakfast money shot.
posted by ColdChef at 5:42 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

I want this. I used to beg my mom to buy us that cheese in a can that you could spray on crackers, or aim at your brother. When she finally gave in and did, it was even better than I'd hoped. I have to try this.
posted by Kangaroo at 5:51 AM on November 1, 2007 [3 favorites]

The theme music to their demo video is the same sample Dan Savage used to use on his podcast. Whenever I hear it, I immediately think of sex.

Sex and pancakes isn't such a bad combo, really.
posted by desjardins at 5:52 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sex and pancakes isn't such a bad combo, really.

Oh yeah! Just spray it all over her, add some maple syrup and melted butter and chow down!

She's so hot you could fry pancakes on her!
posted by strangeguitars at 6:05 AM on November 1, 2007

yhbc writes 'I've got an organic batter blaster of my own, thank you very much.'

Howd'ya like some of *these* pancakes on your head, baby?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:06 AM on November 1, 2007

Yes, but are they any good with Bacon Salt? Or Season Shot?
posted by sephira at 6:10 AM on November 1, 2007

Too much trouble to make pancakes? WTF?

Pancakes are simple and forgiving (it's breakfast, after all, not rocket science), and very very easy. The hardest part is flipping them, not mixing the batter. Using basic ingredients, they're very cheap, too.

The bare-bones recipe is 1/1/1/1/1/1. 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 TBsp oil or melted butter, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar (aids browning). Don't over mix! Using cake flour will reduce over-mixing problems. Forget the boring milk, use butter milk, sour cream, or yogurt, and add half tsp of baking soda--But you may like to thin the thicker semi-liquids with some real milk (optional, otherwise, pancakes are thicker, which you might like).

Don't like the chemicals? Use yeast, and go 50/50 on milk to water, instead. Adjust the ratio of flour to liquid to suit your taste for thickness. But yea, you have to wait for the batter to rise the first time. Still, the taste is awesome. The same batter will do a reasonable job at Belgian waffles, too.

From those simple measurements, you can freely play around. I often use more eggs, myself. The only reason I ever use plain milk is when I'm in a hurry and don't have something else. The more fat in your liquid, the softer the pancakes (full cream yogurt is fantastic for this).

Of course, if you still think pancakes are difficult, your problem is dirty dishes, not the pancakes.
posted by Goofyy at 6:11 AM on November 1, 2007 [24 favorites]

Pankakke!
posted by isopraxis at 6:22 AM on November 1, 2007 [11 favorites]

Looking at Goofyy's recipe, is the addition of baking powder the only difference between regular flour and the Bisquick pancake powder I've been buying all these years?
posted by gfrobe at 6:32 AM on November 1, 2007

This is a wonderful opportunity to give a bump to Deadwood Pancakes, a YT video that should never, ever be forgotten.
posted by zardoz at 6:34 AM on November 1, 2007

Ok, I don't care HOW ridiculous these are, I WANT some.

Searching the map, it seems they're only in California right now... none here, none in Boston (used all the zipcodes that came to mind).
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:41 AM on November 1, 2007

Bisquick substitution recipe:

Here is a recipe for making your own Bisquick™ - like biscuit mix.

Makes: 1 cup

1 cup flour,
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon shortening

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse on/off until well blended. Use as you would any recipe that calls for Biscuick™ brand Store in a cool dry location.

posted by pracowity at 6:46 AM on November 1, 2007 [3 favorites]

"All Organic"

Bastards. Something organic (if only in the most technical sense) is not necessarily ecological. To get this itty-bitty bit of bottled batter, ingredients were trucked to a central factory, mixed, stuck in a can (which had to be manufactured and shipped in, of course, and will later be shipped to and spend many years in your local dump), pressurized (more industrial processing and shipping), and shipped (smoking diesel engines, additional road traffic) to stores many miles away just so very lazy people could avoid having to stir five or six simple things in a bowl and wash the bowl afterward.

Worse, their grammar is bad.
posted by pracowity at 7:03 AM on November 1, 2007

Metafilter: one society pushed against the darkness of the world before ultimately retreating
posted by jquinby at 7:07 AM on November 1, 2007

What's in it? Don't see an ingredients list.

I think what they've hit on here is that things in a pressurized can are fun. What else? Jelly. Peanut butter. Jelly and peanut butter. Chocoloate syrup. etc.. it might be possible to have an entire kitchen stocked with blaster cans. Even better, a machine to fill your own cans with whatever you want.

BTW anyone who gives an extra 2 cents for organic, and doesn't see the utter waste of this product's packaging .. it's too twisted.
posted by stbalbach at 7:24 AM on November 1, 2007 [2 favorites]

Goofyy, I'm not disputing your approach, but understand that you are arguing following your two paragraphs of instructions is somehow as easy as spraying a magic pankcake out of a can.

That is clearly not the case.

Now, even with noone here having sampled the spray-on pancakes, I'm inclined to believe yours would be much better tasting.

But if you are comparing ease, then you are losing, and badly.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:29 AM on November 1, 2007 [3 favorites]

i'm still waiting for aerosol western omelettes.
posted by YFiB at 7:30 AM on November 1, 2007

pracowity: Yeah, I know what you mean. Why don't people understand they should grow their own grain and grind it into flour. It's so easy. What does it take, some dirt and a few germinated seeds?

And eggs? Why ship those things across the state? A wire fence and some chicken feed you can get at the co-op, and you're all set for eggs.

Of course, why bother getting feed from the co-op when you could get into a good crop rotation between corn and wheat and make your own chicken feed?

I'm not exactly sure how you farm baking soda, but it can't be too hard, the frontiersmen did it.

Why, if you got started today, you could have some pancakes in as little as 18-24 weeks. Provided the weather cooperates. And you have 3-4 hours per day of labor to put into it.

Then, just mix the ingredients together, cook, and clean up afterwards.

Look at the savings!
posted by Ynoxas at 7:38 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Unless it's Bruce's Sweet Potato Pancake mix, it's just no good.
posted by Mamapotomus at 7:56 AM on November 1, 2007

Sweet Potato Pancake

First ingredient: wheat flour.
Second ingredient: PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL (ie. TRANS FATS)

I'll skip the "sweet potato" pancakes :)
posted by stbalbach at 8:01 AM on November 1, 2007

Our doom is certain. When the apocalypse comes and our advanced technologies crumble away, when all we have left is our own resourcefulness and know-how...we won't even remember how to make pancakes! God help us when it comes to cleaning a fish or gutting a deer.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:17 AM on November 1, 2007

This just opens the door to a porn titled 'Orasmic Baby Batter Blaster"
posted by jeffmik at 8:27 AM on November 1, 2007

Recommended: be sure to clean plates and utensils with bottled water after making 'Organic Batter Blaster' pancakes.
posted by ericb at 8:36 AM on November 1, 2007

who has time to assemble ingredients anymore.

folks, dont forget to pick up a jar of goober PBJ while you are at the store. and maybe some milk and cereal bars too, while u are at it.
posted by mano at 8:43 AM on November 1, 2007

BRAWNDO! its got the electrolytes that plants crave
posted by mano at 8:48 AM on November 1, 2007

yeah!
posted by mano at 8:49 AM on November 1, 2007

"Blaster?" After watching the video, it looked more like a trickler if you ask me. Disappointing.
posted by afx237vi at 9:08 AM on November 1, 2007

I love pancakes, but the kerning on that site made me worried.

Then I checked out the ingredients and saw copious overuse of exclamation points, another advertising no-no.

But more importantly, is there nitrous in the can? CAN I GET HIGH ON IT?
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:21 AM on November 1, 2007 [2 favorites]

gfrobe: As someone pointed out, the Bisquick also has some fat worked in to the flour. It is, after all, intended for biscuits, not pancakes. Actually, I've never used the stuff.

Ynoxas: The can is easy. But I don't like the can. It's a waste of metal. I hate that. My instructions, slim as they are, will work. If you want to do them justice, there is a specific way to mix the ingredients, but they'll work any way you do it. And your measurements need not be exact. It's not rocket science, it's breakfast! (A line I coined years ago, on this very topic)
posted by Goofyy at 10:02 AM on November 1, 2007

If you click on product information on the main page it lists all the ingredients, and also says that every part of it is recyclable. Obviously it can't match the flavour of a simple homemade pancake, and it is a waste of energy and carbon emissions compared to doing it yourself, but isn't it just a drop in the bucket? Isn't the entire industry founded on styrofoam and food mies?
posted by kaspen at 11:33 AM on November 1, 2007

*miles, food miles.
posted by kaspen at 11:34 AM on November 1, 2007

and the war against bacon rages on....

also, in the spirit of goober's pb&j as mentioned above, i recommend vaughnnie's & mundee's fine condiments (youtube links of mr. show sketches).
posted by YFiB at 11:47 AM on November 1, 2007

Ooh, I wonder how it would be to just stick the nozzle in my mouth and fire away, like I do with whipped cream and Easy Cheese!

Um, I mean like someone might do...

Also, "Blaster?" After watching the video, it looked more like a trickler if you ask me. Disappointing.

I believe I have received some emails which offer a solution to that problem.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:59 PM on November 1, 2007

OMG, I saw it at my local Costco last week, in a pack of three cans; was interesting, but at close to ten bucks, too much to spend on just trying it. And if it was over 3 dollars a can at Costco, how much woud it be at Olly's Organix Market?
posted by wendell at 1:02 PM on November 1, 2007

My main problem with this is that there's no way there's enough batter in those cans for one serving of pancakes, much less eight.

This is why you make pancake batter in a vat the size of a swimming pool, with a big, flat iron griddle measured in square meters.

Because once you start making pancakes, you can't make them fast enough. There's always this mob of people that come out of nowhere to begin clamoring noisily for flapjacks, rattling their fork on their plates and using up all the syrup and butter.
posted by loquacious at 1:47 PM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Ooh, I wonder how it would be to just stick the nozzle in my mouth and fire away, like I do with whipped cream and Easy Cheese!

Eeeeeeeew. Have you ever tasted raw pancake batter? It ain't like cake batter or cookie dough.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:36 PM on November 1, 2007

Dammit, now I want to make pancakes.

And, well ... making them from a can would be harder. Because I always have liquid dairy, butter, eggs, baking soda, flour on hand - I'd actually have to add something to my shopping list to make these. And find them at the shops. Effort++ (especially since I live in .au).
posted by ysabet at 4:39 PM on November 1, 2007

I can only imagine how terrible these will taste, given that Bisquick shake n' pour pancakes are the most vile creation in the world, and have permanently sullied the reputation instant pancakes had for me.
posted by leffler at 8:54 PM on November 1, 2007

Maaaaan, America has spray cheese? you guys are so lucky. It took us years to get cookie-dough flavoured biscuits. Now I bet we have to wait another 6000 years to get spray cheese, let alone spray pancake batter.

c'mon globalisation, hurry up and deliver for fuck's sake.
posted by mattoxic at 9:10 PM on November 1, 2007

If it weren't for the fact that the can would explode in my suitcase, I would risk the wrath of Her Majesty's Customs to bring some of this back from my next trip to the US. The only thing that vaguely resembles proper breakfast pancakes in the UK are Scotch Pancakes, that are sold ready made and cold, pre-packaged. Yes, you heard right. We are all going to hell in Britain.
posted by essexjan at 10:23 AM on November 2, 2007

...ready made and cold, pre-packaged...

And State-side we have our Aunt Jemima Frozen Pancakes, Waffles and Griddle Cakes.
posted by ericb at 11:29 AM on November 2, 2007