- Pancake Pusher: Aunt Jemima was the Starbuck’s of the 1890s.
This morning comes a cheery note from a pancake-crazed Disher named Jeff. He writes:
I must say Nancy, you’ve been touching my heart lately-pancakes and now pizza! I’m always always ALWAYS eating pizza, and oddly enough, I was on a pancake tear of my own the past few months in a search to find pancakes in Dallas as good as Clinton Street Baking Company in NYC. The sad results–nowhere even came close. However, you can make above-average pancakes at home. (Dean Fearing’s old pancake recipe is after the jumperoo.)
“Always, ALWAYS, always”? This guy has a real problem. Making pancakes at home is not a healthy activity for people with pancake-itis.
What happens if, one lonely night, you find yourself eggless, drinking syrup straight from an Aunt Jemima bottle while chopping the sugar, baking powder, and salt with a straight-edged razor? Who are you going to call? I don’t think so.
Dean’s Pancakes
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 half teaspoons salt
Combine all liquids into metal bowl first. Mix to combine. Add all dry ingredients, fold in making sure not to overwork flour. Let sit for ten minutes and proceed with pancakes.
However, if you don’t suffer from pancake-itis and you feel comfortable making them at home, I have a another recipe. Richard Chamberlain gave me his Lemon Pancake recipe a bazillion years ago. He originally served them on his breakfast menu when he did hard time in the kitchen of Little Nell in Aspen. It’s stuck in the back of my old Joy of Cooking somewhere. Joy and cooking? Whatever. Somebody flag the waitress?
