What's cooking?

Saturday morning pancakes.  I don't make these as much now that the kids are away at school but I love pancakes so I still make them often enough.  I grew up eating awful pancakes - my mom used the Aunt Jemima mix that I think you only added water to - they were cooked to an insipid yellowish tinge and topped with some horrible syrup that was pure high fructose corn syrup.  Pancakes weren't one of my mom's culinary strengths.  So, I have made a study of what is required to make my idea of the perfect pancake.  The recipe itself is pretty basic buttermilk pancake from the Joy of Cooking.  The secrets I learned along the way that aren't in the Joy are first and foremost that all of your wet ingredients must be at/close to room temperature.  The buttermilk and egg should be taken out of the refrigerator at least an hour before and the melted butter should be allowed to cool almost to the point of congealing so that when you incorporate the melted butter into the beaten egg there should be no solid globs of butter floating around, just a smooth homogenous mixture.  The same goes for when you gradually beat the buttermilk into the egg butter mixture - no globs of butter should be apparent.  Then you gently incorporate the wet into the dry and leave a slightly lumpy mixture with no dry pockets anywhere.  I believe that a well seasoned cast iron pan is also important to the ideal pancake, I grease with some coconut oil as it has a higher smoke point than butter and adds a nice flavour. This pan only has room for three medium sized pancakes which I've found to be the ideal serving and I like to serve them straight off the pan. Pancakes should be served on pre-warmed plates and slathered with maple syrup  - I use Canada No.1 Medium but you can use a darker grade which can give a stronger flavour.  Never use light - not enough flavour.  I use the same recipe for waffles as I've found that those waffle recipes involving separating the eggs and adding way more butter don't significantly improve on the basic buttermilk pancake recipe used as waffle batter.

Here are some pictures:

Wet and dry not yet combined - the brown stuff is vanilla extract that I haven't blend in yet.


Wet and dry mixed and resting for a few minutes.


Cast iron pan waiting for dollops of batter.


Dollops of batter added.


After a few minutes, almost ready to turn.


Turned, what a lovely golden brown bottom


Served on a warm plate and syrup applied, time to eat.

I'm going to Marko's house for breakfast.

They look good Marko! I was going to cook pancakes this morning, but yours are far less work for me and fewer calories. I can read the menu, I just won't order as much as I want anymore. :-)

What brand is that cast iron griddle? I've been looking for something like that.

I'm thinking about making Muffin Tin Donuts tomorrow, an ATK recipe. I haven't eaten much junk since as long as I can remember so it's time to get off of my diet. But I will moderate my intake. (Last I checked days ago I lost 10 pounds and it's remained off for a month with a steady decline over that time. 30 more pounds to go.) I still like food, I just eat less, and 3x a day, no more 2 meals and gorge. Mid day sees a small amount of cheese (optional) and low fat meat and no carbs... ie: no sandwich. But if I break that it's no big deal; just not every day. I don't intend to lose all of the weight in a month. If I need a midnight snack I have a Larabar, dried apples, or some such. All in moderation. So far it's been easy to do and painless. No special cooking, no special recipes, just less consumption. I'll judge it by comparing my next physical to the last one. No, the Dr suggested nothing; I'm in great health. It's all for me, because I want to. I'd like to be a better shooting competitor. I do NOT want to get back to my "fighting" weight of 145 pounds where I was in the military. I was far too lean back then. 160- 180 is about right for me to maintain.

If I make the baked donuts I hope to remember to take pix.

Why? No special reason. I just want to get into better shape. It's part of an overall plan. I'm getting older.

Hey, Brian, kudos on the weight loss. I try to maintain a reasonable weight for my build and, for the most part I succeed. I just feel so much better when I don't have too many extra pounds on. However, with the pics you folks post of your culinary skills I just want to run into the kitchen and binge.

They look good Marko! I was going to cook pancakes this morning, but yours are far less work for me and fewer calories. I can read the menu, I just won't order as much as I want anymore. :-)

What brand is that cast iron griddle? I've been looking for something like that.

I'm thinking about making Muffin Tin Donuts tomorrow, an ATK recipe. I haven't eaten much junk since as long as I can remember so it's time to get off of my diet. But I will moderate my intake. (Last I checked days ago I lost 10 pounds and it's remained off for a month with a steady decline over that time. 30 more pounds to go.) I still like food, I just eat less, and 3x a day, no more 2 meals and gorge. Mid day sees a small amount of cheese (optional)  and low fat meat and no carbs... ie: no sandwich. But if I break that it's no big deal; just not every day. I don't intend to lose all of the weight in a month. If I need a midnight snack I have a Larabar, dried apples, or some such. All in moderation. So far it's been easy to do and painless. No special cooking, no special recipes, just less consumption. I'll judge it by comparing my next physical to the last one. No, the Dr suggested nothing; I'm in great health. It's all for me, because I want to. I'd like to be a better shooting competitor. I do NOT want to get back to my "fighting" weight of 145 pounds where I was in the military. I was far too lean back then. 160- 180 is about right for me to maintain.

If I make the baked donuts I hope to remember to take pix.

Why? No special reason. I just want to get into better shape. It's part of an overall plan. I'm getting older.

Hey Brian, I'll check the pan in the morning for a brand, it was a wedding gift I received over 25 years ago. I had lovingly seasoned it over about 18 years or so but then I had a brain cramp. I had rinsed it off and put it in the warm oven to dry thoroughly and forgot it. A couple of days later I turned the oven up to very high heat for some reason and when I opened the oven door a while later I found my formerly beautifully seasoned pan burned clean back down to bare cast iron. It was a mess. That was about seven years ago and the re-seasoning is coming along nicely.

It looked nicely seasoned.

I wanted to put the muffin tin donuts together last night and just finish them off in the morning with final mixing and such. I forgot to do it, so no baked donuts today.

ShadowsDad its a Wagner Ware 11" skillet griddle E. Not sure what the E means but its there. The low sides of this pan make it ideal for lots of things that require turning with a low angle of attack. It also makes great crepes. Seasoning cast iron is a life long process that should provide excellent cookware for generations and of course we mustn't forget the priceless value of the comedic frying pan to the head gag The clip below uses the frying pan to the head gag effectively - I'm compelled to give the strong language warning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_5ozDIao8g

I think it was accidental.

Too funny!

I'd love to find a "black steel" griddle pan larger than my 9" Matfer crepe pan, but the same basic design with low sides. Maybe 13" would be about right. But I just don't know anyone making one. The 9" crepe pan just makes one pancake at a time. That's OK for me, but when I'm making multiple pancakes it's just too slow.

Black steel is nice because the seasoning is easily seen and touched up in minutes when the seasoning is removed.

This morning we had avocado-topped spinach omelets with country fried red potatoes. Protein and carbohydrates for the treadmill.

This morning we had avocado-topped spinach omelets topped with country fried red potatoes.  Protein and carbohydrates for the treadmill.

Sorry, John, the heck with the treadmill; my stomach is growling!  That looks sensational.  I'd be happy with a meal like that for dinner.