Earlier this week on Bravo’s hit reality show Below Deck Mediterranean, a yacht guest — former NFL player Dominique Easley — requested pancakes from the charter chef, Dave. “I like it crispy around the edges though, not too fluffy,” Dominique instructed, adding some extra notes about coconut oil and batter technique. Dave nodded his head, said “yeah” a few times, and then proceeded to serve up a stack of crepes.
According to Dave, the crepes were actually what Dominique wanted. After all, the football player had ordered thin, crispy pancakes —were those not crepes? To sell it further, Dave went so far as to attack the crepes with a blow torch to generate undeniably crispy texture. Surely, this would be perfect!
But of course, flame-kissed crepes were not what Dominique had asked for. He wanted pancakes with crispy edges that weren’t too fluffy. Naturally Dominique tried to explain this concept to the confused chef, but Dave’s second batch remained firmly in crepe territory. Why was it so hard for a trained chef to wrap his head around this seemingly straightforward request?
On the one hand, Dave may have conflated “crispy” with “crispy edges,” which are two entirely different concepts. The latter calls for a crisp perimeter circling the pancake; the former suggests crispiness throughout every inch of the pancake. So, that’s a problem. There also may have been a wider cultural gap between British Dave and American Dominique —maybe Dave simply hasn’t had enough exposure to American-style pancakes (as opposed to the more crepe-like British pancake style).
Regardless of why things went awry for Dominique’s pancakes, the episode led to lots of online chatter (including from yours truly) about what is a pancake and furthermore, what are crispy edges. Apparently wide swaths of the population have been living with soft-fringed pancakes, unaware of the utter perfection that is crispy edges. It’s time to change that. Crispy edges are the only way to make pancakes, and once you have them, you’ll probably never go back.
Crispy edges are like the rice puffs in a Nestlé Crunch; the caramelized sugar on a crème brûlée; the burnt bits atop baked mac & cheese: joy-inducing texture. Humans love crispiness apparently —so much so that there’s an entire industry based on creating crisp moments. That’s why I’m a little surprised that crisp edges aren’t the pancake standard. I mean, a soft-edged pancake is honestly great. But why settle for “honestly great” when you can have “ honestly AMAZING”?
I didn’t grow up with crispy edged pancakes (although, many lucky people did). I hadn’t really encountered them until sometime in the mid-Aughts when I visited Hash House A Go Go in Vegas. The restaurant is known for its oversized, gut-busting breakfasts, and while I remember very little of the meal, the one thing that has stayed with me – more than the Frank Gehry-esque mounds of chicken and waffles constantly passing by —was the pancake. It was light and airy like any good pancake… but it was crisp! WHAT IN TARNATION?? I assumed the texture was the result of some sort of sugar wizardry in the kitchen, never to be recreated by mere mortals. That pancake became my gold standard. Nothing could beat the magic of Hash House A Go Go.
It took over a decade for crispy edges to find their way into my kitchen. For years, when making pancakes, I relied on Ina Garten’s Banana Sour Cream pancakes recipe (often skipping the bananas entirely if I didn’t have any on hand). It’s an excellent recipe, yielding tall flapjacks full of tangy, lemony notes. I thought it was going to be my pancake method for life. Why change it up?
At some point in the past four years, however, I subscribed to the New York Times Cooking page and stumbled upon
Alison Roman
's Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes. The recipe had five stars and thousands of ratings (just over 8k as of press time). Plus, it claimed to be PERFECT; so who was I to turn my nose up at it? Given the success I’d had with Roman’s other recipes, I figured I’d cheat on Ina just this once and try the pancakes out.
I was immediately struck by how easy these pancakes were to make: no lemon, no sour cream, no banana. Just combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and then make a well in the center for the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Compared to Ina’s recipe, Alison Roman’s pancake batter was somewhat thin and flowy, which meant faster cooking time in the skillet. I could whip up a full batch relatively quickly, and this mattered because after the first bite I knew I’d be returning to this recipe many, many times. Yes, these pancakes were excellent. Their flavor was sweet, eggy, and perfectly pancake-y. A new supreme had emerged.
But.. BUT… the most important part. The reason why we’re all here: crispy edges!
I had recreated the elusive texture I had loved from Hash House A Go Go! Somehow these pancakes were able to generate crispiness in a way that Ina’s were unable to. How was that possible? The answer, it turns out, was where I should have always looked for it: the fat.
Most pancake recipes I’ve seen rely on melting butter in a skillet. Makes sense: butter is wonderful and heavenly and a natural friend to nearly all breakfast foods. Alison Roman’s recipe, however, calls for oil in the skillet instead. I remember being a little weirded out by this —what monster would summon oil over butter? Had the spirit of breakfast been banished from her soul?
But oil is actually the changemaker here. Hot oil does a fantastic job of crisping up pancake edges, which really isn’t that surprising, given all we’ve learned from doughnuts and funnel cakes. There will be people who say “But Ben, couldn’t you make crisp edges from butter?” Of course you can. But I suspect one has to use much more butter to achieve the same effect as oil. I don’t have the scientific evidence to back up this claim, but I have theories:
Theory 1: A tablespoon of oil will go farther than a tablespoon of butter. As butter melts, it releases steam, which shrinks the butter footprint in the pan. The less fat volume in the pan, the harder it is to make crispy edges.
Theory 2: the steam leaving the butter may actively work against crispy edges (this theory is just so-so, but I’m still putting it out there)
Theory 3: Oil has a higher smoke point than butter, which means greater heat conduction and crispier edges. (Love this theory, if I do say so myself)
Theory 4: This is very unscientific, but when eyeballing, it’s easier to accidentally add too much oil versus too much butter. More fat = more crisping.
Building off that last theory, when I first started using Alison Roman’s recipe, I measured my oil. Now I just go full glug (#fullglug). I’m okay with this. For some reason, I feel less guilty about a strong glug of oil than I do a giant pat of butter. Call me crazy, but I’m more prone to holding back with butter than oil, and holding back fat is not going to help with those coveted crispy edges. The more fat the better, and in my case, I’m oddly comfortable with generous oil glugs (although, try to remember that we’re not deep frying here).
“But Ben,” you surely are saying, “what about all that delicious butter flavor? You’re just going to disregard it like a craven ghoul?” Welp… yes? For those having butter FOMO, you can always do what Ina Garten does: add butter to the oil. I usually skip this extravagance because a) the guilt factor really starts to ratchet up, and b) the flavor is already so wonderful that I don’t find it necessary to gild the pancake-shaped lily. Plus, it’s another ingredient to pull from the fridge, and sometimes, I just want to get the damn things to the table. Just, whatever you do, make sure there’s always a healthy oil slick in your pan.
Many people online will also note that a crispy-edged pancake will benefit from a medium flame (as opposed to medium-low or low, which is fairly standard for normal pancakes). This feels right, but I’m not going to weigh in authoritatively on heat because there are so many variables at play: type of range, distance to flame/heating element, quality of pan, etc etc. You’ll have to use your eyes and instincts.
One visual clue you can rely on is a dark ring. I used to feel so bummed when I’d flip a pancake to its second side, only to find a dark ring around the edges (as opposed to a perfectly tan, IHOP-like surface). I thought this was an indication of my griddling ineptitude, but actually, I’ve come to realize the ring is in fact a sign of success. It’s like a Great Barrier Reef of crispiness around the airy center of the pancake. And who doesn’t love the Great Barrier Reef? Just know that the second side will most likely be ring-less, instead taking on a mottled appearance like the surface of a tawny moon.
Regardless of heat, the key takeaway is that pancakes should be cooked in oil. I’m sure any recipe will do. Just don’t make your pancakes too big or else you risk taking bites that don’t include crispy edges (and what’s the point of that?). I have yet to circle back to Ina’s banana sour cream pancakes now that I have embraced the power of oil, but when I do, I will report back dutifully. Until then, I’m sticking with Alison Roman’s Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes because honestly, they really are perfect.
Here’s the recipe for those who need pancake enlightenment. Oh, and by the way, if you’re leaning on a mix for your pancakes, more power to you. Seek out Krusteaz and thank me later.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
2½ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable, canola or coconut oil for the pan
The Steps:
1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt together in a bowl. Using the whisk, make a well in the center. Pour the buttermilk into the well and crack eggs into buttermilk. Pour the melted butter into the mixture. Starting in the center, whisk everything together, moving towards the outside of the bowl, until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not overbeat (lumps are fine). The batter can be refrigerated for up to one hour.
2. Heat a large nonstick griddle orskillet, preferably cast-iron, over low heat for about 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. Turn heat up to medium–low and using a measuring cup, ladle ⅓ cup batter into the skillet. If you are using a large skillet or a griddle, repeat once or twice, taking care not to crowd the cooking surface.
Shocker: I use more than 1 tbs of oil, to spectacular effect. Also, don’t be afraid to add more oil as needed if the pan gets too dry. You want those edges to ABB: Always. Be. Bubbling.
3. Flip pancakes after bubbles rise to surface and bottoms brown, about 2 to 4 minutes. Cook until the other sides are lightly browned. Remove pancakes to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet, and keep in heated oven until all the batter is cooked and you are ready to serve.
Do you have a favorite pancake recipe? And how do you make your crispy edges?
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