No. That is NOT how you cook them!

[neadods]

Ever since I discovered that American iTunes has BBC 4 podcasts, I've been doing more or less the audio equivalent of stripping down and rolling around naked in them, luxuriating in the wide variety and the options.

Until a certain episode of "Cook the Perfect..."

The first problem is the same one all of them have; it's an audio description of a visual experience. Not too bad when you can look up a photo online, but when cooking it's necessary to know what the speaker means by "a little flour."

The episode that undid me was Cook the Perfect American Pancakes. Now, I didn't know until Gally of last year that there was a difference in pancakes between the US & the UK. "Fake Keith" described British pancakes as thin and flat, while the ultimate accolades for pancakes in these parts is "fluffy and buttery."

The speaker in "Cook the Perfect..." dealt with this by using what sounded suspiciously like the British recipe, only separating the eggs and whipping the whites to get the loft, and... no. Just no. Yeah, it will rise and it should taste more or less OK, but that is most emphatically not a proper American pancake, much less a perfect one! We, depending on the recipe and the region, use baking powder, baking soda, or even ginger ale to get that loft and you know the right time to flip it because the bubbles stop rising to the surface you're looking at. Egg whites don't bubble.

The icon is me having a bit of a lie down to get over the shock.


(Look, it was either rant over pancakes or guns and/or the Presidential race. Either way, I feel better for a bit of strop.)

Comments

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

I have a British pancake recipe my mum-in-law sent me, and I'd describe them as much more crepe-like than American ones.

Ginger ale? Fascinating. I use the standard Joy of Cooking recipe for American pancakes, which calls for both baking powder *and* baking soda. I seem to remember my dad using Bisquik, when I was a child (it was one of two things he made).

[lukadreaming.livejournal.com]

UK pancakes are very thin - kind of like French crepes. They're traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday with sugar and lemon.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Pancakes are thin and what might be called crepes in the US.

They are also best consumed with lemon juice and a little sugar.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

There was a recent recipe column in The Guardian about "American pancakes" and most of the various versions showed bacon strips draped across the top of a high stack-- not something I've ever seen in our country.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I did an illustrated British Pancake post last year : http://inamac.livejournal.com/262088.html

I always understood that American pancakes involved a raising agent - although they look superficially like Scotch Pancakes - but neither of these sounds like the i-tunes recipe.

And I've never heard of a BBC show called 'Cook The Perfect...' - it must be a 'Furrin' Special'.

Besides, everyone in Britain uses Delia recipes (even me, sometimes). Like her Roast Chicken with stuffing.

And now I want to make pancakes.

[raqs.livejournal.com]

Well, you are 100% right. Hope that makes you feel better too!

[prof-pangaea.livejournal.com]

my pancake recipe has no eggs at all, but there are still plenty of bubbles while it's cooking. they're also THE BEST PANCAKES EVER. ask nonelvis; i made some for her last weekend. :D

[nonelvis]

prof_pangaea's pancakes really are delicious! But I'm also sure I've made pancakes with that separated egg technique -- which I'd have learned from an American cookbook, what with having almost no British cookbooks to speak of. It doesn't cook up as fluffy as a pancake with a leavening agent, but it's still got good texture.

ETA: I traced the separated egg technique to an old (pre-rewrite) edition of The Joy of Cooking. That recipe also includes leavening, though I'm certain I've left that out at least sometimes. You can certainly argue that a JoC recipe, particularly one that's likely to be original or close to it, is European-influenced, but it's also one that's probably been used by millions of Americans many, many times.

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

Does this recipe look closer to what you'd think of as pancakes?