I've not fed myself well this week.
I started off on the wrong foot by eating 5 or 6 of those skullikin cupcakes on Monday. After two more on Tuesday, I threw the rest away. I did it as a self-preservation move, my local friends saw it as an attack.
About mid-week, I ran out of staples like bread, milk, and ground turkey. By Friday, things were getting desperate: Fiber One poptarts for breakfast, pickles and a granola bar for lunch, and a hastily purchased frozen pizza for dinner.
Yesterday (Saturday) I started with toast (from defrosted bread) and yogurt. I think that technically my lunch was a bottle of Fat Tire at Oktoberfest in Savannah. Lupper was fried shrimp and fries. And... if you follow my Twitter (@afiercehair), you'll know that I finished my day (or began this one...?) with a Big Mac around 2:30am.
Needless to say (but I will anyway... does anyone else hate that expression?), I woke up this morning feeling the need for something decidedly wholesome and breakfast-like. Never mind the fact that I woke up after normal breakfast hours. That's not important.
Without staples like milk or bread, I've been eating a lot of eggs, so I knew those weren't an option. In a moment of bravery, I decided to make pancakes. After trolling the interwebs for a bit, I found the perfect pancake recipe. Search no longer, friends. The recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes at Food Plus Politics made the most perfect pancakes I've ever made... possibly ever eaten. I'll explain...
These pancakes are light and fluffy and perfectly cooked. The flavor is spot on and pancake-y. No added flavorings or frou frous. And these are not greasy pancakes. I know some would disagree with me, but I don't like my pancakes to be greasy with crispy edges. A good pancake should taste great on its own at any temperature and without butter or syrup. And these pancakes definitely do.
(It might not hurt that some of them have dark chocolate chips in them.)
I learned a couple of things about pancake cooking today, so I'll share those as well.
First, the skillet or griddle should be on Medium heat. Not high and loud and sizzly like I'd always thought. Pancakes are gentle creatures and they don't need to be rough-handled and flashed into a crazy pan. Patience and a gentle, slow cooking works beautifully.
Second, instead of butter (careful!) or a non-stick spray (ew), pancakes should cook in vegetable oil but just a light brushing of it on the griddle. I don't have a brush, so I awkwardly used a paper towel. This small, small bit of oil kept the pancakes perfectly brown and unstuck.
And that, boys and girls, is all I know about pancakes.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some grocery shopping to do.
9 comments:
Oh my goodness those look amazing. I want second breakfast now.
Have you ever noticed that second breakfast is always better than first breakfast? It might be a law of nature.
I so appreciate your attention to the smaller details that are easily neglected such as the temperature (simpe medium...who needs degrees when we're talking about the stove?) and the nice smathering (don't you love that word?) of vegetable oil. Earlier today I was saying that I've never successfully made good pancakes. I'm ready to give it another try....Thanks!
I believe you when you say these are the best! They sure look like perfect fluffy rounds of sheer goodness! I love breakfast foods and I seem to have the same bout of eating more then enough eggs for the week as my stable breakfast.. so I made some homemade waffles.. lots of em and then froze for future lazy mornings when only popping something in the toaster will do!
those look so awesome. were they better than cracker barrel blueberry pancakes? or are those just a whole different animal?
I have had to throw out cupcakes before for self preservation - tragic isn't it. The pancakes look very good indeed - thanks for the cooking tips.
yeah we've been having a lot of the no-food, no-time blues around our house lately. Lots of guests lately, too, so lots of eating out. i should remember the whole "breakfast for dinner" move.
those look great! but i don't understand. You had no milk or bread but you had buttermilk?
my solution for not eating an entire tray of brownies is to take it to work. work people are always glad to get them. you put them out and they are almost always gone by the end of the day. a few times people even cleaned my pan for me!
kmari03: I think you're right about Cracker Barrel blueberry pancakes being an entirely different animal. These win though, b/c I ate them and did not feel ill afterward.
Kate: 2nd breakfast FTW!
Me: I would, but I'm not ready to be domestic at work yet. I have a lot of rules for myself... One of those rules is that I always have buttermilk powder in my fridge. :D
Finally got around to making these, and they were just about as perfect as you said. The taste was about like any other pancakes I've made, but the texture was great, and they looked absolutely gorgeous.
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