Serves 6 - 8 people
5-10 minutes to prepare batter
When I was a graduate student in New York City, I called my Mom to ask how she made her pancakes. For two people, she gave the recipe as "beat one or two eggs, some milk, a little oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of baking soda, and enough flour." I thought this hilarious that she didn't have a "fixed" recipe, until, when it came time to record the recipe here, I found myself thinking along similar lines...
As a kid, I had sometimes wondered why Mom's pancakes were so good (moist, tender, not overly absorbant), and "box" pancakes were so overly fluffy, dry, and almost super absorbant -- it was generally difficult to ever have enough syrup! After Mom gave me the recipe, and I had a chance to think about this, it all made sense. Her mother had taught her the pancake recipe she knew; being descended from French Canadian stock, that was essentially a crêpe recipe!
At a recent partial family gathering, I was thrilled to see that so many of my nieces and nephews (as well as my daughter) enjoy these pancakes. They call them "roll-up pancakes", because that's how they like to eat them -- and so the crêpe tradition renews itself.
This recipe is, like many great family recipes, very fault tolerant, which is partially why the "official" recipe is so vague. There's lots of leeway here, so if you're a little short on eggs, add a little more milk. Or, if you prefer, add an extra egg. If you really want the full crêpe experience you can leave out the leavening and add some milk to make the batter a little thinner. I add vanilla to mine, something of an homage to the crêpe background.
4 large eggs
3 cups milk
2 Tablespoons oil (1 Tbl if you're using whole milk.)
"enough" flour (about 3 or 4 cups)
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (optional)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (optional)
Before you begin, start heating a large skillet or a griddle. You'll need to experiment here, as ranges vary so much in their heating characteristics, but a 6 or 7 (out of 10) on an electric range generally works well. (Turn the heat down a little if you prefer your pancakes to be light in color.)
Beat the eggs together with the milk, oil and vanilla extract, until they are a little foamy on the top. Mix a cup or so of flour together with the salt and baking soda (if any). Gradually stir in the flour, adding more to reach the "right" consistency. Your goal is to obtain a thin batter that readily coats a spoon.
Once the cooking surface is hot enough to cause a drop of water to dance about rapidly, coat it with melted margarine or (better) butter. (You probably won't need any more butter after that.) Pour on about 1/4 cup of pancake batter. (You might want to cook one "test" pancake, to be sure the surface is right. Another tradition: looking for someone to eat the "test pancake" -- it usually isn't hard to find volunteers!) You can spread the batter by tilting the skillet or, in the case of a griddle, by using the back of a spoon. Let the pancake cook until the edges no longer have a glossy look, then flip the pancake over. Let it cook for about the same time on the other side.
Pancakes can be served in a stack with syrup (maple, of course!) or can be coated with sugar, cinnamon sugar, chocolate, fruit preserves, or whatever you have on hand, and rolled up. Serve immediately.
These pancakes lend themselves to experimentation. I've used them for making stuffed crêpe recipes, using cubed, cooked chicken mixed with stuffing or similar fillings, placing the rolled up crêpes in a baking dish, covering them with a cream sauce, and baking in the oven until the top browns. You can also play with them with the kids -- for example, dribbling their initials onto the griddle and serving them "personalized" pancakes (if you first dribble the initial -- backwards -- wait a few moments, and then add batter to make a more traditional round pancake, the initial will still be quite visible.) For special events, add a little food coloring.