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Pancake Day: Here’s how to make the perfect pancake
Before you start crashing about in the kitchen with frying pans and mixing bowls this evening, you need a fail-safe pancake recipe.
Enter some of the country’s top chefs.
Not only do they have the perfect pancake mix, but they also have some top tips on how to jazz up your batter this Shrove Tuesday.
Follow these tips and there will be no crying over spilt milk tonight. Hopefully.
The perfect pancake mix
Donal Skehan, Ireland’s answer to Jamie Oliver, has this foolproof recipe for pancake batter:
Makes 12-14 pancakes
110g plain flour
2 large eggs
75ml water
200ml milk
1tbsp melted butter
Instructions:
Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and with a spoon make a well in the center.
Break the eggs into the well and using a whisk slowly incorporate them with the flour.
Gradually add the milk and water until you have a light batter.
Heat a little butter in your frying pan over a hot heat, and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the batter, stir through to combine.
Add a ladle full of the batter to the hot pan and move from side to side until it evenly covers the surface of the pan.
Reduce the heat and cook for about a minute each side or until the batter begins to take a nice golden colour.
Eat while still warm.
But, if you really want to have standout crepes, then follow these top chef-y tips:
A better batter
For a perfectly smooth batter, Riad Ziak, head chef at London’s Kensington Quarter Cafe and Restaurant recommends also warming your milk first. ‘If you get it up to around 60C, this will help gel the egg mixture together and ensure a smooth batter,’ says Ziak.
Michelin-starred Indian chef Vivek Singh strains his batter mix twice to ensure no lumps.
While, for a more American-style pancake, chef Erion Karaj from Bread Street Kitchen recommends adding ricotta to your mix to give that extra fluffy texture.
All chefs recommend resting your pancake mix for between 20 minutes (which gives the starch granules in the flour enough time to swell up) and 12 hours (which clearly isn’t going to happen).
And always weigh out your ingredients – no guesswork. Andrew Turner, exec head chef at Hotel Cafe Royale, says: ‘It’s difficult to get consistency. A good recipe will yield perfection every time.’ Apparently, what you’re looking for is something the consistency of double cream.
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