The research by food box company Gousto revealed that home cooks to search for over 100,000 pancake tips online every month.
From the first one sticking to a terrible toss; these are the three main pancake struggles experienced by home cooks:
The first pancake sticking to the pan
Burning them
Scaling up the recipe
To help pancake fans improve their skills in the kitchen, we asked Jordan Moore, senior recipe developer at Gousto for his top tips for perfecting pancakes, just in time for Pancake Tuesday on the 25th February.
Jordan said: “We love seeing the growing appetite for culinary skills and creativity in the kitchen. Whilst some recipes (like pancakes) can seem daunting at first, our advice is to always give it a go. These tips might help out with some of those more tricky but absolutely delicious dishes to recreate at home”
1. Try to make your batter ahead of time and leave it to settle in the fridge overnight. This will give better results when frying and give you perfectly flippable pancakes.
2. If you are making pancakes to serve with bacon and maple syrup, try substituting some of the milk in your batter for buttermilk. Not only will this supercharge the fluffiness of your pancake, it’ll add a savoury tang.
Picture: Monika Grabowski\Gousto
3. For sweet crepe style pancakes, add an extra spoonful of sugar to your batter. This will caramelise in the pan and give that delicious sweet taste.
4. When ladeling your mixture into the pan, lightly touch the base of the full ladle back onto your mixture - this can help to stop drips as you transfer to your pan. Why not transfer your batter into a jug for easy pouring?
Picture: Pixabay
5. If you like a thin pancake, take care to spread the batter as evenly as possible to everything cooks at the same time.
6. A non-stick, heavy bottomed pan is essential if you are worried about them sticking. To test if your pan is hot enough, drop a small spoonful of batter into the hot oil - If it turns golden on the underside after around 30 seconds, then you are good to go!
7. If you are making pancakes ahead of time, have some greaseproof paper ready to separate the pancakes in your stack.
8. Start with room temperature ingredients, this will ensure everything in your pancake mix will cook at the same rate.
9. Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately before combining, then use a folding action to mix.
10. If you are serving with golden syrup, why not try warming it and the plates too? This will keep your pancake hotter for longer!
Picture: Luke Pennystan\Gousto
