Pancake School

It seems like such a long time since culinary school. Bike riding was cancelled today due to rain, so I hung out in the house until my father in law came over. I made banana pancakes from scratch, and all sorts of memories of what I learned came back to me.

• When wet goes into dry, mix minimally to avoid toughness i.e. gluten. Whisking is a no no
• When the banana side of the pancake goes down, wait until you smell the sugars of the banana caramelizing. There is no point to making banana pancakes until this happens
• A fish spatula is ideal for lifting sticky things out of a fry pan like, say, caramelized bananas -- it ain't just for fish.
• A cooling rack is essential if you plan to store these -- if left on a solid surface while hot, condensation will collect and you will have a permanently mushy pancake

One thing I forgot:

• One your comfortable, experiment with the recipe. It ain't the Bible.

I should of jazzed it up with vanilla bean and cinnamon, added extra eggs, supplanted some milk with cream and maybe even a subtle dash of hot pepper or hot sauce to add that little round note.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 11am, homemade banana pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ate them as they came out of the pan. The ones that were a little too dark went into my maw, so the nicest ones are saved for B & Edles.

PM SNACK: 2pm, seltzer, "small" popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
That popcorn had 320 calories, according to the listing at the theater...

DINNER: 6pm, beef carpacio, shrimp scampi, canolli, pepper soup, water, bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out with El at a nice restaurant, excellent quality but small portions...he he.


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, scallion pancake, 3 pork dumplings, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Left over from the reign of the father in law.