Pancakes
After pouring through various cookbooks, I couldn’t decide on an entree for this week. Nearly all cookbooks before the 20th century have receipts that, upon reading ingredients, seem quite bland. Either that, or the receipts call for certain parts of animals that aren’t normally found in meat departments of modern grocery stores.
So, I thought I’d try something easy… like pancakes. I came across an 1877 receipt that sounded pretty simple. It was from Every Day Meals: being economic and wholesome recipes for breakfast, luncheon, and supper by Mary Hooper.
Once I started mixing the ingredients, it dawned on me there was no sugar listed among the ingredients. Nor baking powder. As a result, the first two I made were, as the proverbial saying goes, “flatter than a pancake.” And, the taste was horrible.
By the second pancake, I had added a little sugar to the batter. By the third I added a little baking powder. Having made 8 inch pancakes, these only made three, not seven, as the receipt mentioned.
Although they looked nice, the last one, even with sugar and baking powder, still didn’t taste good. I put powdered sugar and previously frozen strawberries on top, which helped mask the taste. But I wouldn’t try this again!! That’s probably why people back then might have made this receipt: they could mask the taste with lots of maple syrup!! (Image below shows how nice they looked on the outside. Which all goes to prove the saying “looks can be deceiving.”)
I would have listed the above as a “fiasco” but didn’t, since I cooked it all according to directions and, at least aesthetically, it turned out right.
One of the pancake recipes I use most is from an old cookbook my mom gave me: The 1933 “All About Home Baking” cookbook, published by General Foods. Unfortunately, no copy is available at Archive.org to place on the Vintage Cookbooks site. However, below is the recipe, which having used for years, know is a good one!
