Making Pancakes

For breakfast this morning I had pancakes.

Well it was pancake time again for breakfast on Sunday, one advantage I guess of getting woken up early.

I make a simple batter of flour, eggs and milk, with a spoonful of caster sugar and some vanilla extract; and then cook using a hot pan. I really should measure the batter, but I find that experience allows me to “guess: the flour and milk. The key is the ensure that the mixture is smooth and coats the back of a spoon.

I have one just for pancakes, well I sometimes use it for omelettes or when I need an extra frying pan… shouldn’t really, but like any good cook, I need more pans. As it is getting old, though non-stick I do use some sunflower oil. I use a pastry style brush, it was a free gift from Jack Daniels and was designed to baste barbecue food with a Jack Daniels sauce. It therefore works really well in brushing oil onto the pancake pan.

If I am making large pancakes then I have the pan hotter than if I am making small ones, partly as the smaller ones are thicker, whilst the larger ones are made by swirling the mixture across the pan (and therefore are thinner).

I serve them with proper maple syrup. Personally I can’t stand the maple flavoured syrups you can buy, and will only buy the proper stuff. Yes it is expensive, but I would rather have the good stuff now and again rather than the horrible stuff all the time.

Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauce

Many, many years ago I use to go out and eat at TGI Fridays, one thing they use to do with their steaks (and prawns and chicken wings) was either cook them in a Jack Daniels sauce or serve it on the side.

I remember trying to find that sauce at local supermarkets and other suppliers without success. I even (when I got the internet) trying to find an online supplier and again no success.

Eventually TGI Fridays stopped serving the sauce and it became one of those food memories, something you had once, and would never see again (like the Wispa).

So you can imagine my surprise when in my local Morrisons I found this.

Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauce

Alas though it was nice it was not as nice as I remembered it, maybe it’s different, maybe it’s just time.