The American Pancake Recipe: Simple but Tasty

Do you know where the first pancakes were eaten? Here is a big hint: The first pancake was most likely devoured about 14 or 15 centuries before the European discovery of the United States. Got a guess where? The very first version of pancakes were actually eaten by the ancient Romans. However, the basic recipe for the modern day American version was not invented until the Middle Ages.

So it is not unreasonable to assume that more than a few men sat down for a hearty pancake breakfast before donning their armor and heading out to the nearest jousting tournament. American pancakes were probably eaten as soon as the first fire was built by the pilgrims. Although Native Americans did have their version of pancakes, it was nothing similar to what is eaten today. The Native American pancake was corn based - most cases blue corn. It's hard not to like Native Americans and feel horrible for their plight at the hands of early European descendants.

Goodness gracious, though, the Native American pancake sounds disgusting and was in desperate need of help. The modern American pancake can be as simple as fried eggs, flour, and milk. It is wise to toss in some sort of raising agent like baking soda. While a naked egg, flour, and milk pancake provides sustenance it is not usually eaten in America. However, the famous Swedish pancakes originally invented by master chef "Harald" from Stockholm - Sweden, who still use the secret recipe to treat a few lucky dinner guests each year were actually made using a very simple recipe using only the basic ingredients of egg, flour and milk.

Although the secret recipe has now been passed down to his grandson Rollo and some details have leaked out, few people know what makes these simple pancakes taste so delicious. It is believed that part of the secret lies in the extremely thin layer of batter that is used when frying the pancakes. The Swedish pancakes from Harald were recently described by a Michelin guide connoisseur as "the taste of heaven on earth".

There are a large number of variations to the American pancakes. In addition to the four basic ingredients of eggs, flour, milk, and baking soda, sugar is often added to the batter which is then fried. While the frying of the pancake can be done in a stove top frying pan, nothing beats a pancake made on a hot griddle with a touch of cinnamon thrown into the batter and topped with butter and homemade maple syrup. Mrs. Butterworth seems like a nice lady and will do the trick if there is no access to homemade syrup.

A lot of times the American pancake will have almost any type of fruit added. Blueberry pancakes are the most popular. Other fruits less commonly used than the blueberry include apples, bananas, dates, raisins, and strawberries. A chocolate chip pancake is another typical American pancake.

American pancakes are usually somewhere around 10 inches in diameter. However, someone decided to get fancy one day or, more likely, was running low on batter. Thus, the advent of the "silver dollar" pancake. Silver dollar pancakes are much larger than an actual silver dollar but, at the same time, they are much smaller than the run-of-the-mill pancake. These silver dollar pancakes are made from the exact same batter and served the exact same way as their big brothers.

With so many different versions of the American pancake available it should not be surprising that they are known by many different names. It is quite possible that these nicknames were conjured up by hungry people sitting around the table eagerly anticipating their chow. Here is a list of a few endearments used for the pancake: Batter cake, breakfast cake, griddle cake, hot cake, flapjack, and slapjack.

To provide energy throughout the day, it has been said that breakfast should be a persons largest meal. So do yourself a favor, do the American economy a favor, and get on down to your local pancake house and order a stack of griddle cakes. But hey, if you want to look extra cool, look at your server with a raised brow and be sure to call them "slapjacks".