Tuesday 21 February 2012

Bacon Pancakes!

Internet food porn has a lot to answer for. Sometimes I see a single image, and that's it, I have to have a go at making it myself.

That's exactly what happened when I saw bacon pancakes: rashers of streaky bacon embedded in thick, fluffy pancakes.

Look!

Bacon Pancake LifeWithMel
from Cooking with Mel

Of course, bacon and pancakes is nothing new – I've loved the combination of fluffy pancakes, bacon, maple syrup (and American sausages too, if available) since I was a small child, making regular visits to relatives living in Florida. But previously, I always meant a stack of pancakes and an order of bacon on the side.

Cooking them together is, for me, all new!

A little internet research reveals that this idea was popularised in a series of adverts for American brand Aunt Jemima's pancake batter mix back in the 1960s.

AuntJemimaAd

I've made thick pancakes before, but last time, I must have put too much baking powder in as they tasted a little odd, so I asked friends for their trusted recipes. I meant to follow Amee's drop scone recipe but ended up leaving out some ingredients. If you already have a trusted pancake batter recipe, go ahead and use that, of course!

BaconPancake-9518

Bacon Pancakes

Ingredients
6-8 rashers streaky bacon
125 grams plain flour
Small pinch of salt
0.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
75-125 ml milk (sorry, I sploshed directly from the carton, forgot to measure!)
Vegetable oil for frying

Good quality maple syrup to serve

Note: I chose smoked bacon, as I love the smokiness against sweet maple syrup, but choose whatever you prefer.

Method

  • Grill or fry your bacon until it's well cooked, with a little browning on the surfaces. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and sugar). Pour in the beaten egg and a little of the milk and beat together. Add more milk as necessary, to achieve a smooth, thick batter.
  • Heat a heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat until hot. Add a little oil.

BaconPancake-9505

  • Place a bacon strip into the pan and immediately ladle or pour some batter over the top. You can either cover the bacon completely or leave the two ends sticking out, as I chose to do. If your pan is large enough, you may be able to make two pancakes at a time.
  • After 2 to 3 minutes, when you shake the pan, the pancake should slide freely and a few bubbles will show on the top surface. Slide a large fish slice beneath the pancake and carefully flip it over.
  • Cook for another minute or two, remove to a plate and repeat to make the rest.
  • Serve with generous amounts of maple syrup.

BaconPancake-9515

What pancakes will you be making for Shrove Tuesday this year?

21 comments:

Kay @ Chopstix2Steaknives said...

Unfortunately am away on this Shrove Tuesday and no pancake making for me. Yours looks absolutely delish!

Unknown said...

oh my sweet jesus!

Anonymous said...

Bacon pancakes? You wonderful, glorious, *adjective*, *adjective* person. I LOVE YOU!

Unknown said...

Dirty. x

The Grubworm said...

oooh, this looks good. I love bacon, pancakes and maple syrup... And also Aunt Jemima is my pancake staple (it's my guilty secret - Aunt J and Bisquick make better American pancakes than I can...)

Unknown said...

you are also aware that these look rather vaginal...?

Jeanne said...

OMG - get behind me Satan - bacon IN pancakes?? Gotta get me some of those. OK, so they look a little erm anatomical, but then so do sausages and bananas and nobody complains ;o)

Mr Noodles said...

This is proper Homer Simpson food! BTW I mean that as a compliment! Happy Pancake Day!

Andy said...

Yay, Happy Pancake day! - I will be trying this recipe out tonight. Looks yummy :)

Karen S Booth said...

YESSSS! Cannot think of anything else to say.......
Karen

Unknown said...

They look like flattened Hot Dogs! x

london bakes said...

There are no words Kavey, no words at all.

Ailbhe said...

Love it! A porky pancake onesie, the bacake!

Heather @ The SW Food Blog said...

I've bought buckwheat flour this year for a bit of a change. I almost always do something cheese based with plain white flour, but this year I'm going upmarket and stretching myself to poached salmon and dill! Oo er! Glad your new recipe turned out well!

Elly McCausland said...

Amazing. I bet this would work with waffles too. Yuuum!

Anonymous said...

As promised, a limerick to bacon pancakes.

Bacon and pancake compunded?
Believe me, I am most astounded
A mixture of sweet and savoury
My heart loathes this bravery
Proving my love of bacon is very well founded.

sweet without sugar said...

Masterpiece! Evil genius! So gonna try this on Sunday, might even persuade my 4yo to eat pancakes, as she loves bacon...

Kavey said...

Seems this one has really captured the imagination on my side of the pond! Glad everyone likes it!

Kay, pancakes are for any day, not just for Pancake Day, so just make them once you're back home!

Dom, yes indeed. And I hadn't noticed the vaginal resemblance till you pointed it out! (And curious how you know?!) Also loved our zombie genitals conversation on twitter!

Toby, oh yes, the slag of all pancakes? Love the suggestion of flattened hot dogs, ha, that made me giggle.

Aaron, just been food shopping. Waitrose have Bisquick pancake mix at all their tills!

Jeanne, Satan can wait, these pancakes are all for us! Your Mex chocolate hazelnut ones look gorgeous too!

Mr Noodles, yes I probably dribbled in a very Homeresque way as I ate them. All of them! By myself!

Karen, heh, YESSSSS is enough!

London Bakes, no words but appreciate you sharing your enthusiasm!

Ailbhe, a bacake indeed! Or pancon?

Heather, sounds delicious!

Elly, yeah I was thinking that, but don't have a waffle iron. I'd probably go for small chopped pieces in the waffle batter, I think...?

Procrastibaking, I looooove it. I am honoured!

Sweet, evil genius, I like! Can't claim the idea whatsoever but happy to bring it to some new people!

tori said...

Gorgeous. We killed two birds with one stone (coffee and pancakes) and threw some espresso into the mix. Was pretty lovely with banana and honey.

Simon said...

bacon and pancakes is one of my favourite combinations, but never thought about cooking them together, will definitely have to try this out

Shu Han said...

OOh, also did bacon in a sweet/savoury combo for pancake day. I love how your bacon strip is actually stuck onto the pancake so you can't avoid it even if you wanted to, though I can't imagine why you would. heh nice one!