BEST PANCAKES EVER

I love a pancake. On the one hand, I’m never gonna be *that* picky about a syrup ladened carb. On the other hand, I know a really good pancake when I taste it. As most of us probably do, I also have my own, personal flavor profile I want for a pancake. Mine was set by the pancakes at Harner’s Bakery on Galena in Aurora, IL, where I grew up. It was a real treat for me to go to Harner’s with my dad on a Sunday. My mom “doesn’t like breakfast” (which will never make a lick of sense to me) and my dad would take himself and the paper to Harner’s on a Sunday. Occasionally, he’d also take me.

As I remember it, Harner’s was a long narrow counter area, with a bigger seating area in back. It was all wooden accents, very 70s Rustic, and full of taxidermied animals I wanted to pet rullllll bad.

And they had the best pancakes. They were thin and huge, I guess more like a flapjack? And they were really tangy. As an adult, when I first had Ethiopian injera, I thought of these pancakes.

So whenever I make a new pancake recipe (and it’s shocking how many there are), that’s what I’m *really* looking for—that thin, crispy edged, really malty pancake I loved as a kid. And Alison Roman’s recipe is the closest I’ve ever made !

The recipe is here. I didn’t have the full amount of buttermilk left (#pandemicblues), so I had to cut it with whole milk. But they were still SO good. Also, whenever you make pancakes, let the batter sit on the counter, after mixing, for 30 minutes. No less. You can do an hour in the fridge if it’s boiling hot in your kitchen and you can’t leave it on the counter. But letting the mix sit makes for a 100% better pancake. I’m sure there is science involved here—somethingsomething fermentation somethingsomething leavening—but I like to think those thirty minutes give the pancake fairies a chance to shit delight into the batter.

Here’s my final product, FULL of delight. If you make these, lemme know here or tag me on Instagram! xo