Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Zen, and the Art of Pancake

There is a reason my people love to cook so much, its very theraputic. There is something about making something out of nothing that can give a person a feeling of control in a world full of chaos. I think that is personifed extremely well by the cooking of the perfect pancake.

In my searches about the different cookbooks, recipe sites, youtube videos, 'secret' family recipes etc, etc... i have found no two identical recipes. One calls for more flour the other calls for a pinch of lemon zest the other says you cant do ANYTHING unless you have double acting baking powder. Who is right and who is wrong. THATS THE POINT! There is no such thing. Some people are used to thin crepe-y cakes and others NEED them to be a inch thick otherwise the nose goes up into the air and it doesnt matter if the cakes you made will give the eater the ability to fly... they will not eat them. These things are all in the eye of the beholder, the only through-line is that they have to taste good.

Speaking of tasting good, have you noticed how your grandmothers cooking always tastes amazing? No matter what meal it is very good, why? Because its made with so much happiness and love... because your grandma is so happy to see you. You give her balance by just being there. That beign said, when things are out of wack and there is a storm brewing behind closed doors a recipe will get screwed up really quickly. I can tell this because the last couple of days i have pretty much been throwing all the odds and ends into a bowl and seeing what happens... its been nice and satisfying each time. However, before and after the 'Terminator' challenge the homemade batches have been, or lack of a better word, sucky McSuckerson: mayor of suck town. Ive tried pre-making batters, using different liquids, i even ventured to WF yesterday and bought some new flours because i thought that might be it. Nothing is working and the last batch in particular has been thin, flacid and a bit too salty for my pallete. I actually went as far as to throw the cakes away this morning... which is UN-HEARD of. PanClayke does not throw anything away when it comes to food, He eats like a monkey (diet-wise and approach-wise). What could the problem be... i thinking its a lack of balance.

I dont know exactly what that means, but i do know that there is a 'secret ingredient' (opposing what Kung Fu Panda says). So, no more flour experiments and i not even gonna go near the electric skillets again because i barely had enough to pay off my 14.00 griddle pan. Its time to make love to the food again. Next up... is going to be a pancake made with love topped with the notion moving on from the past two instances. (It's the best thing to do right now, especially since its Hug a Carb Month.
And who doesn't want to hug it out with a stack o' these bad boys? Until next time, this is PanClayke reminding you that a life without balance is a lie.

2 comments:

  1. love hug a carb month :)
    cooking is such a therapeutic relief!
    that pic of the pancakes omg looks soo good!

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  2. Gorgeous picture!!!! It's making me crave some pancakes NOW!!!!
    -A

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