The World According to Taquoriaan

I saw on Twitter that today marks the “International Pancake Day”. At least according to IHOP. I don’t need to go to IHOP to get the best pancakes in the world, since I rely on my trusty Dutch recipe:

Ingredients:

• one cup of buckwheat flour
• one cup of self rising flour
• 3 or 4 medium sized eggs
• a dash of salt
• about 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar
• milk
• shortening (for baking)

Directions:

Sift the dry ingredients in a deep bowl. Add milk until you get a nice smooth batter which shouldn’t be too thick. It’s best to add most of the milk, and add a bit later to get the right viscosity.

Add the eggs one by one. And then a bit more of the milk to finish it. The batter should have about the same viscosity as syrup, not too liquid, but most certainly not too thick. Dutch pancakes are thin, like crepes.

Take a pan and bake the pancakes on both sides until golden brown. The Dutch have a variety of toppings. You can add molasses, sugar, jelly, cheese, champignon ragout, anything you like.

Since it’s Lent right now, I didn’t make bacon pancakes. But if you want to try that, you need to put a thin slice of bacon in the pan before pouring a soup spoon full of batter in the pan before baking golden brown on both sides. Bacon pancakes taste best with molasses.

Ingredients:

• 1.1 lbs. / 500 grams red cabbage (cut in small strips)
• 2 sour apples (like Golden Reinette)
• ± 2 oz. / 50 grams raisins (Sunmaid)
• ± 1 oz. / 25 grams butter
• a dash of cinnamon powder
• a dash of ground cloves
• salt
• vinegar or lemon juice
• optional: red wine to taste

Directions:
Cut the cabbage in small strips and cook it in a pot together with the apples in only a little bottom of water. When it’s cooking, add the spices and the salt. Cook for about 45-50 minutes. At the end, about 10 minutes before the cabbage is ready, add vinegar (or lemon juice). When the cabbage is done you can add wine to taste. It’s also possible to use steamed pears instead of apples. Serve with boiled potatoes and simmered veal.

Tip:
For me living alone, one whole red cabbage is way too much to eat. So what I do is take a part of it (usually a quarter), and use it to cook right away, the other 3/4 of the cabbage I cook for 40 minutes without spices, drain it and let it completely cool off. I divide it over three small bags and freeze it. The cabbage can be prepared later on a small fire in 10 minutes, adding all the spices and apple like I normally would do.