Why Is the First Pancake so Ugly?
I make a lot of pancakes, but I’ve never had much experience in making beautiful pancakes with a smooth golden brown top. The first pancake was always aesthetically cheesy, with specks and spots. But why?
In a heartbreaking twist, it turns out that the butter is to blame. (Always the ones you love hurt you the most.)
It should now be noted that the ugly pancakes still taste pretty good, but if you want them to look the same, golden brown, diner-style, you have to swap butter for butter and use a lot less than you think you would. you need.
The clues were there all along. There is already a lot of fat in the pancake batter (often in the form of ghee), so while you cook it in a nonstick skillet or skillet, you don’t need to add a lot. People who write pancake recipes are aware of this, so almost all pancake-making instructions recommend lightly greasing a skillet or skillet with oil. I’ve always interpreted this to mean “use butter, but not as much butter as you would normally use,” which turns out to be still a lot of butter.
But there’s a lot going on in butter, and all that protein, water, and sugar reacts with the heat of the pan, bubbling and browning, leaving the surface of your pancake alive. You will also get texture differences with heavily browned spots and crisp edges. (Again, this can be fun to eat, but it won’t make a pretty pancake.) The butter will also continue to brown as you cook the pancakes, which means your pancakes will get darker and potentially burned, especially if your pan is small. , forcing to work in batches.
Reducing the amount of butter used can help, as a thin layer of butter cooks and browns more evenly than a small puddle. When I melted some butter in my nonstick skillet and then wiped off most of it with a paper towel, I got a much smoother pancake. (This explains why my first pancakes were always the ugliest – the first one soaks up all the excess oil!)
But if you want a truly smooth and smooth pancake with a golden brown color from edge to edge, substitute butter for plain vegetable oil. It is all fat, which means it lacks water, sugar and protein, and has a much higher smoke point, which makes it easier to cook the pancakes to a golden brown color rather than just a brownish brown. Simply pour about a teaspoon into a nonstick skillet or skillet, wipe off any excess with a paper towel, and pour over the batter.
After about a minute, you should see bubbles form at the top of the raw dough, indicating it’s time to flip over and turn over the other side for another minute or so. Once you’ve got a stack of pretty, fluffy, evenly toasted pancakes, it’s time to add butter, syrup or crème fraîche and caviar if you like. (I think you’re pretty unusual.)