When I was young and immature, I use to oil the pan lightly, spreading with a paper towel. As I grew wiser, I realized that my grandma's pancakes, which I always admired, were always crispy on the outside but chewy in the middle (which is awesome). I discovered that the secret is not a thin layer of oil distributed evenly.

DOUSE THAT M'FER WITH OIL.

Seriously, throw a huge glob down until you've got a nice thick layer of oil, and then pour your batter all over it. It will not only make your pancake tastier and crispier, it will make it super easy to flip.

Also, for all my flapjack buddies out there, please invest the $20-$30 on a griddle Like this. One-caking it is a sin. Who wants to eat them one at a time, or god forbid, 5 pancakes in descending order of temperature. The top one burns your mouth and the bottom one tastes like it's been sitting out all day.

And for the love of god get some real syrup. One that's made from tree sap and not high fructose corn syrup. If you don't have to refrigerate it after opening, it's not real syrup.

Pancakes + Bananas + Walnuts = Deliciousness

Crap..... now I really want pancakes for breakfast!!!

It's been a long time since I cooked a pancake but for some reason I remember, to know when to flip, you're supposed to watch for when there aren't any more bubles on the top part. Either that or you're supposed to watch the edges for when they've browned half way up the edge. Or maybe it's both, I'm not sure.

Quote: Original post by kseh
You're supposed to watch for when there aren't any more bubles on the top part.

That's how you make overcooked pancakes. I like mine light golden, I flip them as soon as the bottom is cooked enough to flip. Usually the bubbles are just starting to spread out.

I've become a fan of heavy fried pancakes. Pour a good dollop of oil in the middle of a pan, tilt it around to spread it a bit, then pour your batter into the middle of the pan. The cake then kind of floats on a thin layer of the oil as it cooks, rather than going right down to touch the pan itself as you would if you just wiped an oily rag over the pan.


Also, I strongly suggest a good cast iron pan. When properly seared with oil they are nearly non-stick. (Don't over scrub your cast iron pans!)

You should rarely have to fiddle with temperatures while cooking. If you find yourself turning the temp up and down while doing something as simple as pancakes it means you are using a crappy light pan!

Avoid teflon pans. They are usually cheap thin metal that doesn't hold or distribute the heat well, and not to mention they are rather toxic if over heated.


Spend more now, save more in the long run. I'm currently using my father's cast iron pans that must be nearly 30 years old by now. I don't see any reason why I won't still be using them 30 years from now. Many of my classmates have picked up the cheapest thinnest pans they could find for going to school, and have dented them into uselessness with in a year.

Quote: Original post by kseh you're supposed to watch for when there aren't any more bubles on the top part.

My mom always told us to watch for when the bubbles start to pop, then if you want it golden brown you flip as they start popping, or if you want them a little darker you wait til they are all popped.
And yes, my mother is a pancake master...

Quote: Original post by kseh
It's been a long time since I cooked a pancake but for some reason I remember, to know when to flip, you're supposed to watch for when there aren't any more bubles on the top part. Either that or you're supposed to watch the edges for when they've browned half way up the edge. Or maybe it's both, I'm not sure.

Bubbles. Wait for most of the bubbles in the middle to pop. If you wait until there aren't any more bubbles you might burn the pancake. Make enough batter to experiment and waste some on a few small pancakes testing to see what works best for you.

I haven't made pancakes in a long time but I made waffles Sunday. PAM works really well on the waffle iron.

Quote: Original post by Prozak
My main problem I guess is that the top part of the pancake is still too liquid when I try to flip it, but I feel that I have to flip it at that time because the lower half will soon start to burn.

Sounds like you are trying to cook with too high of a temperature. The top should lose the glossy look by the time it should be ready to flip. If it's burning before that, you probably have too high of a temperature.

A nice teflon pan with a bit of oil or butter works wonders.

Quote: Original post by owl
You can use butter for the pan, it actually gives the pancakes a nicer flavor.

I personally use half the amount of eggs and no sugar. But that's because here we make them thinier and we roll'em up arround the filling (which is usually a jelly made basically of sugar called "Dulce de Leche").



The pan should be very well oiled/buttered and hot when you place the mix on it.

I think that is more of a crepe than a pancake.

Here's the way I've been taught:

Ingredients:
For N pancake eaters (I usually count myself as N=2 if I'm very hungry),
2*N dl milk
1*N dl flour
1*N eggs
N/4 tea spoons salt

Instructions:
Add N dl milk to bowl.
Mix in N dl flour to bowl.
Add N dl more more milk to bowl. (Adding it all at once will make the batter lumpy)
Add N eggs to bowl.
Add N / 4 tea spoons of salt to bowl.
Mix together, but not too hard.

Fry with butter in a teflon pan until the upper side is dry (a bit longer depending on how crusty you like them), then flip it and fry it a bit more on the other side. Repeat while batter > 0.

You can add some sugar to the mix, but I prefer it without sugar.