Name: American pancakes review by diloyloyy at Hare of the Dog, Haarlem, Netherlands
Item: American pancakes
Rating: 3.5
Author: diloyloyy

American pancakes are small, thick, leavened griddle cakes, ten to fifteen centimetres across and a centimetre or more high, made from a batter of flour, milk or buttermilk, egg, melted butter, a little sugar and baking powder or soda, cooked on a flat-top and served in a stack with butter and maple syrup. The thickness is the whole difference from a French crêpe or a Dutch pannenkoek: chemical leavening makes the batter rise on the griddle into a soft, open crumb, and the stack of three is the standard diner order, with bacon, sausage or eggs alongside at breakfast. They descend from the griddle cakes of colonial New England, where cornmeal johnnycakes came first and wheat flour pancakes followed, and the name "flapjack" and "hotcake" survive regionally for the same thing. Buttermilk pancakes, where the acid reacts with baking soda, are the diner and home standard; blueberry, chocolate chip and banana are the common additions, folded in or dropped onto the raw top.

The batter is mixed as little as possible: the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, combined with a few strokes and left lumpy, because overmixing develops gluten and gives a tough, flat cake. It rests for ten minutes so the flour hydrates and the leavening begins to work. The griddle is medium-hot, about 190°C, lightly buttered or oiled; a ladle of batter goes down and is left alone until bubbles form across the surface and the edges look dry, around two minutes, then flipped once and cooked for another minute. A pancake flipped twice or pressed with the spatula loses its rise. A fluffier result comes from separating the eggs and folding in whipped whites, which is how the thick Japanese-style soufflé pancake is made; a thinner, crisper edge comes from more butter on the griddle.

A good pancake is evenly golden on both faces with no pale centre or dark ring, tall, and springs back slightly when pressed; the inside is soft, moist and uniformly open, with no gummy layer near the base and no raw-batter taste. It should taste of butter and a little salt with the sweetness coming from the syrup, not the batter. Mark down a flat, dense pancake from overmixed or old batter, a rubbery one from too much egg, a pale greasy one from a cool griddle, scorched spots from a hot one, a stack that has gone soggy under the lid while waiting, and pancake syrup made from corn syrup and flavouring passed off as maple. Whipped cream and fruit are a dessert; at breakfast they should be optional and listed as such.

American pancakes

Netherlands

Hare of the Dog

The banana pancake was average, not fluffy at all. The fruits on the side could have bern better and more red fruits.

American pancakes review by diloyloyy at Hare of the Dog, Haarlem, Netherlands

American pancakes

Hare of the Dog

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