Jeff's Cooking Tip #4 - Pancakes

Believe it or not, it is actually possible to acquire pancakes at a place other than Denny's or IHOP. In fact, it is entirely possible to make pancakes at your very home in your very kitchen with several very common ingredients. You would be very surprised to know that you can make pancakes that taste exactly like they do at the restaurant with very little effort and only a little bit of time. This recipe comes from my old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Two secrets to pancakes:

1. Mixing - Don't overmix the batter. Mix it until just mixed, even if lumpy.
2. Hot skillet - Use a nice hot skillet, well buttered.

Ingredients to pancakes: 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of oil.

1. Use a sifter (trust me, use that old thing with the crank, it really helps), add the flour.

2. Add the baking powder (above), and the salt and sugar (below).


3. Beat the egg, add it to the dry ingredients.

4. Add the milk (above) and the oil (below).


5. Mix together until JUST mixed. Overmixing makes them taste tough and funny. Even if lumpy, mix about 10 strokes and be done with it.

6. Butter your skillet, and cook the pancakes in 1/4 cup increments of batter. NOTE: Your first batch of pancakes will look a little yellow and funny (the french have a word for this that eludes me). Every batch after that will look perfect.


7. Cook about 80% on one side (Pareto's Principle). Flip and finish.

8. Perfection.