SFGate Hot Cake Hot Take

May 12, 2020 10:54 AM

Drew Magary writes for SFGate about his diet:

I eat pancakes for breakfast every morning now. This is not because of quarantine.

posted by Going To Maine (47 comments total)

Ha, this really is a 2,000 word essay (with redacted cussing, aww) that comes down to: I eat and enjoy pancakes for breakfast.

I'm with you brother! Just-add-water mixes have been a blessing during these dark times.

But waffles are better.
posted by gwint at 11:08 AM on May 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

I used to make them pancakes for breakfast every weekend, because that's a strong mob boss move.

QFT
posted by chavenet at 11:21 AM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

This person has a lot of ambivalence about and need to justify pancakes per se. I just can't imagine doing that much prep work first thing in the morning but yes you should eat food you enjoy.
posted by PMdixon at 11:21 AM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Flipping fantastic!!
posted by Fizz at 11:27 AM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've spent the past few days having pancakes for breakfast because I'm trying to rev up a sourdough starter and that's the best thing to do with the discard.

That is probably the most hipster-foodie thing I've typed all week.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:31 AM on May 12, 2020 [19 favorites]

I’ve been making a lot of pancakes lately; it’s nice to spend commute time in something I enjoy.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:36 AM on May 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

The theater I used to go to all the time in Columbus, The Gateway, had an amazing year or two when their in-theater restaurant made pancakes and bacon and you could get that as a movie snack. There is literally nothing better than drinking a nice wheat beer while eating pancakes and bacon with maple syrup and watching Hobo With a Shotgun.
posted by ChuraChura at 11:49 AM on May 12, 2020 [11 favorites]

I usually make pancakes or waffles on Sunday morning - the only morning of the week we aren't rushed to get the kids to school. I could actually make them every morning because my schedule is flexible enough but I'd feel a bit guilty having fresh pancakes or waffles myself and feeding the kids toast, or cereal or leftover frozen waffles.

I've spent the past few days having pancakes for breakfast because I'm trying to rev up a sourdough starter and that's the best thing to do with the discard.

I can confirm that sourdough discard makes them better. I don't know if they're the best thing to do with the discard though, I made a pretty good chocolate cake and cinnamon rolls over the weekend, but they were a lot more work than the pancakes and waffles.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:49 AM on May 12, 2020

I can't help thinking of loquacious.
posted by MtDewd at 11:59 AM on May 12, 2020 [24 favorites]

i saw a recipe the other day that was "pancakes cereal" which was basically just a bowl full of very tiny cheerio-sized pancakes with a little syrup on top and now there is nothing on this earth that i want more
posted by poffin boffin at 12:04 PM on May 12, 2020 [5 favorites]

Yeah, I've figured out that I can make my 1 egg omelet in about 8 minutes and I don't know that I could get through a just-add-water shaker can of pancakes quite as quickly? On the other hand, it's a lot less fussy, I'm sure.
posted by Kyol at 12:05 PM on May 12, 2020

I used to make them pancakes for breakfast every weekend, because that's a strong mob boss move.

I have a 5 lb bag of rainbow sprinkles in my house and this is why.
posted by benzenedream at 12:14 PM on May 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

We have them for dinner about once a week: from-scratch buttermilk pancakes with pure maple syrup.

Two adults and four kids (two of whom are teen-age boys) eat a shitload of pancakes. We quadruple the batch, and then also serve a frittata or half a dozen scrambled eggs with ham & cheese and maybe green onions. Last night we made TJ's hash brown cakes, too.

Last night my wife folded a compote of rhubarb & strawberries into the batter: fancy! Other weeks it's the Three Chips Per 'Cake rule to keep from turning "breakfast for dinner" into plain old "candy."

Goddam but breakfast is the best meal, and pancakes are its king.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:20 PM on May 12, 2020 [8 favorites]

A few weeks ago I turned four very ripe, frozen bananas into very good pancakes (I used the pioneer woman's pb&j recipe and just didn't do the peanut butter or jam parts of the recipe).

We ate pancakes for several days after and I keep thinking I'd like to make a bunch more pancakes and freeze them to eat whenever, so I don't have to think about cooking them.

Alas the freezer is very small, and still quite full. And I also don't have any bananas.

Those were very good pancakes.
posted by bilabial at 12:26 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have a peanut butter and banana open-faced sandwich for breakfast every day. I feel no need to justify it nowadays!
posted by movicont at 12:36 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I am filled to bursting just by looking at a pancake. I don't think I can even hope to finish a whole one. They make my body feel like it is approaching light speed and my mass increases to infinity.

The weird thing is that I have nothing like this trouble with waffles. I guess its that the crunchy to moist quotient for waffles is much higher than for pancakes? I thought I had it pinned down to different batters until I asked a waitress at our once standard breakfast place, only to learn that the exact same mixture went into both.
posted by hwestiii at 12:37 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

My latest earworm: Adventure Time's Jake the Dog singing "makin' bacon pancakes".
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:45 PM on May 12, 2020 [9 favorites]

What I've learned from These Times is that I don't know how to make pancakes. Why are they burnt outside and raw inside? It's a mystery.
posted by betweenthebars at 1:12 PM on May 12, 2020

betweenthebars: turn the heat down.
posted by scose at 1:22 PM on May 12, 2020 [9 favorites]

What I've learned from These Times is that I don't know how to make pancakes. Why are they burnt outside and raw inside? It's a mystery.

Either your pan is too hot, your pancakes are too thick or some combination of the two. My wife likes to make really thick pancakes but I can never do that because it'll be raw inside. I make them "standard" thickness - like what you'd see at an IHOP. You could go even thinner and make them British-style, which I understand to be little more than a crepe. I bet you could properly cook one of those in no time.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:23 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oddly enough, Nadiya's new Netflix show starts with a way to make pancakes as what they call a tray-bake in the UK. It's pancake batter, in a 9x13" pan, baked up. Much faster than pouring batter and flipping pancakes, but tastes the same.
posted by suelac at 1:25 PM on May 12, 2020

Okay, then -- how is it that mine are raw outside but burnt inside?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:26 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

Your stove is backwards.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:34 PM on May 12, 2020 [15 favorites]

We have an old nonstick electric griddle that gets used exclusively for pancakes. I do them from scratch and the whole process takes maybe 20-25 minutes, cleanup included? I don't know. But I can do it bleary-eyed on a weekend morning without much trouble.

2 cups of AP flour, a teaspoon of kosher salt, two or three tablespoons of sugar, four (!!) teaspoons of baking powder, one egg, a cup and two thirds or so of milk, a teaspoon or two of vanilla, a few tablespoons of melted butter. The batter should be pretty thin. Not at all gloopy. If it's gloopy, add more milk.

Griddle to 350 F, make them pancakes. Scant quarter cup of batter each. I don't butter it, but my wife does. They look nicer with the butter, but honestly, they taste about the same.

Real maple syrup. US Grade A Dark & Lovely. Or whatever the darkest grade is called now. I like mine with walnuts and bananas. Everyone else likes chocolate chips, but the kid (rightly) realizes that chocolate chips + syrup is too damn sweet and so eats them dry.

Pancakes.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:35 PM on May 12, 2020 [7 favorites]

Just had Swedish Pancakes this week for the first time in ever (made from scratch). My mom is gonna send me the recipe she used that I grew up with, and my friend works at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in Door County and is sending me their mix, and then i'll determine which is superior. My (non-Swedish heritage mom) or the "official" Swedish family's kind. I've never had Al Johnson's before so I hope it is as good as it's claimed. My mom said she doesn't like it as much.

Anyways, I just want to say Swedish pancakes are so amazing! (Regular pancakes are good too) and nothing beats my mom's French Toast. I just want a chef that makes it so I don't have to spend so much time cooking for what amounts to not much...
posted by symbioid at 1:35 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

Just had Swedish Pancakes this week for the first time in ever (made from scratch). My mom is gonna send me the recipe she used that I grew up with, and my friend works at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in Door County and is sending me their mix, and then i'll determine which is superior. My (non-Swedish heritage mom) or the "official" Swedish family's kind. I've never had Al Johnson's before so I hope it is as good as it's claimed. My mom said she doesn't like it as much.

Al Johnson's is delicious. To get the full experience, you need a foot-tall mound of whipped cream and strawberry or cherry sauce on top of the stack of pancakes, plus a side of Swedish meatballs.
posted by bassooner at 1:58 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

Flapjacks? No thanks. Waffles? Jake with me! Why? No idea. Why do I love tomatoes and tomato sauce but gag at the idea of tomato juice? A chacun a son gout. I had a dream that I talked to a drummer friend of mine who was working at a fast food restaurant and I could smell the burgers and fries through the phone connection. Does it sound like this Stay At Home thing is affecting my ability to stay on topic while on Metafilter? Bingo!
posted by kozad at 2:03 PM on May 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

This post inspired me to make crepes (or "skinny pancakes", as serious eats likes to call them) for lunch. With some leftover spiced honey butter, mmm...
posted by btfreek at 2:10 PM on May 12, 2020

If making pancackes, don't use a mix! Use self rising flour, it's practically a miracle how easy and how much better it is for no more effort. One cup of self rising flour. One Egg. One tablespoon of melted butter. A scant one cup of milk. A optional splot of sugar and/or vanilla. Mix till there's no lumps of flour. Done.
posted by aspo at 2:21 PM on May 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

My favorite pancake recipe uses a bit of white vinegar in the milk to "sour" it, and the result is outstanding! A similar trick works for waffles, too.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:16 PM on May 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

Hungarian crepes with cottage cheese filling and raspberry sauce. Every culture has some sort of pancake, but these are obviously the best.
posted by benzenedream at 3:16 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

My favorite pancake recipe uses a bit of white vinegar in the milk to "sour" it, and the result is outstanding! A similar trick works for waffles, too.

I used to use that recipe all the time! I moved on to their buttermilk recipe, but again using soured milk instead of buttermilk. Right now because I've got sourdough starter I've been using the King Arthur sourdough pancakes recipe. My family likes this recipe the best, and it uses up my extra starter.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:27 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

The German pancake (aka Dutch baby) is almost impossible to screw up and requires little effort. Florence Fabricant’s recipe in The NY Times works well, though I add a bit of vanilla.

My favorite topping is a few Amarena cherries and a bit of syrup from their jar, but you can go the savory route instead -- which would basically be a Yorkshire pudding.
posted by theory at 3:55 PM on May 12, 2020

It's pancake batter, in a 9x13" pan, baked up.
That is a Yorkshire pudding
posted by glasseyes at 5:10 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Celiacs feeling left out with all this pancake action? Buckwheat pancakes or Ployes, as we call them, can be made without the wheat flour. Traditionally they were made with a sourdough starter.
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:30 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

This may be a Yankee thing, but corncakes / cornbread waffles deserve a mention. That cornbread mix that comes in the little blue and white box, just add milk and an egg? Works great, pairs excellently with honey butter and smoky / peppery bacon.
Make too many waffles, freeze them, pop one in the toaster several days later while frying an egg with salsa to put on top for a quick brekkie.

Also, someone remind me what the Brits mean when they speak of flap jack / flapjacks? In US english, flapjacks are just another name for hotcakes / griddle cakes / pancakes, but I feel like someone else uses the term for oatbars in treacle or something.
posted by bartleby at 5:55 PM on May 12, 2020

Pancakes with some corn meal mixed in sounds like Rhode Island's own johnnycakes. I am an immigrant and have only had them once, but the texture was awesome!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:31 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

That's the idea. Think a batter made of very fine polenta, put in a waffle iron or poured on a hot surface. It's got a grit compared to regular batter, but if you cant have wheat...
Also you can play with the bright, yellow, corn taste and add in some herbs or red pepper flakes, etc. to make 'spicy waffles'.
posted by bartleby at 7:00 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Incidentally, 'spicy oatbar waffles in treacle' is my new username. What the hell, piss everyone off!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:16 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I, too, am using sourdough discard, but you can also do flour + water + baking powder + ingredients (in my case, scallions and sesame oil.)

Surprised that we got this far without mentioning the behemoth rice cooker pancake.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:36 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Also, someone remind me what the Brits mean when they speak of flap jack / flapjacks?

These were a regular thing on Bonfire night ...basically baked, buttery, syrupy oats. A bit like granola or an oat bar really, but with more butter and sugar than is reasonable.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:58 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

The other thing required to get the full Al Johnson’s Swedish pancake experience is to eat them in a building that has goats on the roof.
posted by rockindata at 3:22 AM on May 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yup, British flapjacks are sweet buttery oat bar things. If you try real hard and they have fruit in, you can pretend they are an appropriate breakfast.

Also, "pancakes" in Scotland would generally refer to crepes. American style pancakes are called drop scones, scotch pancakes or American pancakes. (This does not appear to be the case in Northern Ireland, as there was much pancake miscommunication with my partner in the early days. Expecting crepes and getting scotch pancakes is disappointing as I am really more of a crepe person).
posted by stillnocturnal at 6:25 AM on May 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would also like to get one of those fancy pans for making Danish aebleskiver pancake balls because they always sell them at the Christmas market here and they are so delicious.
posted by stillnocturnal at 6:29 AM on May 13, 2020

I made my first sourdough starter pancakes this week (first sourdough anythings, actually) with ~5 days worth of discard saved up in the fridge, and they were amazing. I might keep this up just for the pancakes even if the bread turns out terrible.

I followed this recipe because unlike the other recipes I found, it didn't require waiting for like 12 hours.
posted by randomnity at 7:10 AM on May 13, 2020

I enjoy Swedish pancakes - I inherited my grandmother's cast iron plett pan - but it takes forever to make enough for even one person to reasonably call a meal, let alone when all 3 of the kids lived at home.

Anyway, I will hope that nobeagle will show up with his actual recipe, but.. I have always been fine with pancakes. Like, they're good, but not going to hit my top 5 anytime soon. And then nobeagle made them by substituting maple syrup in place of some other liquids.. and those precious pancakes are fluffy and have this crispy sugary-edging and the deepest maple syrup flavour. And now I could eat pancakes for every single meal. So good.
posted by VioletU at 9:04 AM on May 13, 2020

Just had Swedish Pancakes this week for the first time in ever (made from scratch). My mom is gonna send me the recipe she used that I grew up with.

Please, for the love of the old Sverige gods, message me that recipe when you get it. My Swedish grandmother made pancakes that were the stuff of dreams. IKEA comes somewhat close. Al Johnson's mix is respectable but not quite there. My mother made these but it was all done from memory and she never wrote the recipe down. So please, please share this bounty.
posted by Ber at 10:47 AM on May 13, 2020