Since Christmas Is Nearby….
Buttermilk pancake
Since Christmas is just around the corner, I thought it might be time to repost some of the old-fashioned things that you all like, so that you can put these things together quickly and easily. Pancakes, especially real buttermilk pancakes, are always welcome in the morning, and in some areas, it is so cold and so deep in snow that – well, what could be better than a plateful of these succulent breakfast items on a cold, inhospitable morning? This is your breakfast, and yes, you can add hashed potatoes (always good for you), and eggs and sausage or bacon to supplement the pancakes.
Better Homes & Gardens 1953 Pancakes recipe, including the buttermilk part:
1 1/4 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder (Clabber Girl is available)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup of milk (note: in 1952, 2% milk was not available; use whole milk if you are not making buttermilk pancakes)
2 tablespoons of salad oil (corn oil or olive oil) or melted shortening or bacon fat. I used olive oil. Canola oil does not work for this.
For buttermilk pancakes, follow these substitutions:
Substitute bnttermilk for whole milk
Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and cut the baking powder to 2 teaspoonfuls
Directions:
Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder, sugar, and salt. Give the dry ingredients a good stir to mix them.
Combine beaten egg, milk (or buttermilk), and oil and stir thoroughly. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour mixture is moistened. The batter will be very lumpy.
Hint: cook the bacon or sausages ahead of time and put them in the microwave or the oven to stay warm.
Cooking directions:
Bake on a hot griddle (yes, that is verbatim). Makes about 12 dollar-sized or 8 four-inch pancakes.
Note: Make sure you grease the griddle with something like olive oil or some other fat, or the pancakes will stick. I used olive oil on one batch and bacon grease on another. Both work quite well, and we have to remember than in the 1950s, a lot of things that go into the trash now were recycled and re-purposed, including bacon grease.
I made six pancakes out of it. The batter is quite thick and lumpy, and stuck like crazy to the dipper that I used, but when cooked, the lumps disappear and these real buttermilk pancakes have excellent flavor, requiring nothing more than real butter and good maple syrup, and maybe some J’ville sausages or nice, crispy bacon.
If this doesn’t fill your grandkids up, they aren’t human. There are two more old-fashioned recipes which I will post tomorrow. Cooking ahead saves a good portion of your time.
I have maybe 1/2 a cup of bacon grease left in my little plastic container in the fridge..
I use it a lot but since the last bacon I bought was the pre-cooked (soft and almost par-cooked really) from Costco on sale, I didn’t have any grease left recently. I grew up with an orange juice can on the stove left out all the time so, it goes on *everything* and doesn’t spoil.
When I get low, I’ll go to the store and get some more fatty thick cut baconzzz and fry myself up some more grease!!!
Real bacon for Real People!!!!
Mess hall bacon that went through those broiler contraptions was pretty good.
Rarely eat bacon, these days, but back-in-the-day we used to pour off most of the fat, for subsequent use, but leave enough in the skillet to fry some eggs.
I still like orange juice from frozen concentrate.
Wifey likes pancakes, I wouldn’t eat them if they were wrapped in Pam Dawber’s panties. Ahh hell, that might be one of those “be there situations”.
Love me some home fries/hashbrowns, fluffy eggs, adorned with ketchup and enhanced with Tabasco sauce 🙂
Almost forgot about latkes or potato pancakes. Those are delightful. Wifey will have no part of that sort of thing!
We can compromise with the some Jimmy Dean sausage on Thomas’ English Muffins.
Frank Zappa had a good song about pancakes, another about muffins and one entreaty about horribly foreshortened servings of orange juice served up in Allentown, Pa.
Been powerful hungry lately for some good old fashioned pancakes, or even some new-fangled pancakes. Hmmm. May just have to see if making them is really all that difficult. Surely not.
Best pancakes I ever ate were at a local diner many years ago. They had crumbled bacon cooked right in the batter. Yummy with real maple syrup, but I somewhere along the line I started putting honey on them and have enjoyed them that way ever since. Well, pancakes in general. Moved away from that diner several decades ago.
I don’t want to go here, but AW1Ed and EX-PH2 would be disappointed if I do not. For those who like to cook under pressure…. Instant Pot Pancakes. Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 3/4 cups whole milk 3 tablespoons butter (melted and slightly cooled) 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Instructions: Gather the ingredients. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together the milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a measuring cup and then add it to the dry ingredients. Make sure the butter has cooled slightly before adding the egg so it doesn’t start to curdle. Generously grease the bottom and sides of the Instant Pot insert with cooking spray, butter, or cooking oil. Set the Instant Pot to sauté and heat for 2 minutes. Pour the batter into the Instant Pot and allow to cook for 3 minutes to set the bottom. This will prevent the pancake from sticking. Cover and set on the low setting for 40 minutes. Allow any steam to release (there will be little to no build up because of the low setting), open the Instant Pot, then check to make sure the center of the pancake comes out clean when you stick it with a toothpick. Press the sauté button and cook for another two minutes. Do not cook for any longer or the bottom of the pancake will burn. Place a large plate over the top of the Instant Pot insert and carefully flip the pancake over onto the plate. Slice and serve with immediately hot maple syrup and butter. Make sure to cook on low pressure. You want the pancake to brown and not to just steam. The higher pressure settings will incorporate too much steam into the pancake and will make it look pale and doughy. I personally have not tried this recipe, but what you end up with is a thick pancake, which is perfect for feeding everyone at the same time instead of pancakes coming off the… Read more »
Make sure it’s REAL maple syrup.
Canola oil does not work for this.
Wonder why that is?
EVOO has one of the lowest smoke points of any oil or fat (325 – 350 degrees.)
Canola is up around 450 degrees along with corn oil, sunflower oil, etc.
No matter what, if you cook with EVOO, you will be adding a taste to the pancake. Bacon adds bacon-y flavor and other oils are neutral in taste.
I am not doubting the recommendation, but I am wondering the rationale behind it.
Anybody got any ideas?
Corn oil has slightly more sat-fat than canola, other than that I have no idea. Olive will leave a distinct flavor.
That’s why I use bacon grease. 🙂
Aside from the cat staring accusingly at me, it just has a better flavor for the pancakes.
I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying. I have a friend who worked in a couple mid-level restaurants and then as a short order cook. (He left the business because drug use is rampant.)
I asked him what he used in the restaurant when making pancakes and his answer was “butter.” (Like you said: “Make sure you grease the griddle with something like olive oil or some other fat, or the pancakes will stick….” so the butter is the fat. In fact, they would use butter (a big ol’ pound block o’ butter to “season the griddle at the start of the day as it was cleaned of the grease / fat at closing the day before.)
I just asked the question about the olive oil because of the low smoke point and the fact that it is going to add what I would consider an odd flavor.
I am just thinking that the reason not to use canola oil is not that it cannot do the job, but that it is high in monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Olive oil may be healthier but for the life of me I can’t see why canola oil wouldn’t cook the pancake.
(And for the record, I don’t cook enough bacon to keep it so when cooking pancakes I use butter most of the time because that is what I remembered my friend saying to use. A call today confirmed my memory.)
I don’t have a griddle, but instead use a cast iron skillet that was used by my great grandmother. That thing is slicker than “rat snot.” 🙂
Interesting discussion, that is for sure!
We used to keep two types of olive oil around for the reason you articulate. The “light” olive oil is more refined and has very little olive taste left in it. The regular stuff is what you use when you want the olive oil taste, the light for everything else.
I am crazy for good pancakes. Good is defined as not needing syrup as that is gilding the lily. But I love syrups, too. Maple, blueberry, raspberry…
There is a 24-hour greasy spoon my grandmother used to take me to when I was young. The place has been there, same spot, since 1940’s and is still busy as ever. Their pancakes are so good, I call them crackcakes. I literally crave them. The secret? Add malted milk to the batter. For Ex’s recipe, I’d add about 3 tablespoons.
To serve, add a dollop of whipped butter and syrup is superfluous..
This makes the best homemade pancakes ever but they are not quite those crackcakes. I think it has something to do with the well-aged, seasoned flat top that just can’t be duplicated.
Lawd halp, I missed this on my FIRST perusal. Not on an Thursday and the picture was rather small at 0Gawd45 hrs the other morning. In the overall field of food lubricants there is NOTHIN’ that will take the place of BACON drippin’s. “…and on the eighth (8) day, God created bacon.”
Lubs me some pancakes. Favorite way is when a thick slab cut of bacon is rolled up inside a pancake, a Southern style tortilla if you will.
Tanks Ex. Now if I can just find the other ones that were promised for Thursday, I might get both my puppy tails waggin’!