Pancakes and Cream

I have it on good authority (my mother) that my first adventures in the kitchen were of a breakfast kind. More specifically, once I learned how to add water to a pancake mix, turn on the electric fry pan and flip cakes without burning myself, I was up and running. I have unabashedly enjoyed pancakes ever since.

I will admit that I am something of a traditionalist. I slather melted butter on my cakes, then pour on the maple syrup. I now make my cakes from scratch and I don’t use commercial syrup. Pancake mixes are too salty to my taste; commercial syrup is too sweet. I have had, however, major periods of pancake aberration.

There was a time when I did my weekly grocery run to the Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. This emporium of vegetable and fruit vendors, butchers, fish mongers, dairies, taquerias and spice vendors is especially memorable for the Latino dairy at which distinctly different versions of sour cream are available. There are sour creams of Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador. The Guatemalan sour cream quickly became my favorite, because of its velvety fluffiness and the latent sour tang that slips through the natural sweetness of cream the way the perfume of tropical flowers can permeate a hot, moist night.

At a time when calories and cholesterol could be set aside without undue flinching, I would sometimes whip up a batch of buttermilk pancake batter, set it aside to rise, then scoot downtown to power-shop the Grand Central Market in 20 minutes flat. That way the parking tab didn’t double. I would then return home, make the cakes and sit down to hot pancakes slathered with Guatemalan sour cream and dolloped with fresh apricot preserves, after which I would stretch out on the couch and wish I were dead, a passing affliction I think of as pancake poisoning.

Making buttermilk pancakes from scratch is indeed a simple affair. One of the great recipes I have known comes from Marion Cunningham’s “The Breakfast Book� (Knopf: 1987; $19.95). This recipe makes just enough small pancakes to fill two people without being indecent about it. Do not overmix the batter , and if you have time, give it some time to rise.

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg, at room temperature

3 tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together buttermilk, egg and butter until smooth in bowl. In another bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking soda. Add buttermilk mixture, stirring just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Leave lumps alone. Ladle batter, about 1/4 cup per pancake, onto medium-hot greased griddle. Cook until both sides are done. Makes 2 servings.

Each serving contains about:

410 calories; 927 mg sodium; 157 mg cholesterol; 21 grams fat; 42 grams carbohydrates; 12 grams protein; 0 fiber; 47% calories from fat.

The perfect accompaniment to a stack of pancakes.

JAMES BEARD’S GLAZED BACON

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon white wine

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 pound bacon, cut in strips

In glass measuring cup, mix brown sugar, white wine and enough Dijon mustard to make pasty consistency, about 1 tablespoon. Place bacon strips on grill pan and bake in 350-degree oven until half done. Remove from oven and turn oven on to broil.

Brush 1 side bacon with about 1/2 sugar-mustard paste. Return bacon to broiler and cook until glazed. Flip bacon strips and brush with remaining sugar-mustard paste. Return to broiler and cook until glazed, being careful not to burn sugar. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

323 calories; 423 mg sodium; 34 mg cholesterol; 30 grams fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0 fiber; 82% calories from fat.

WARM APPLE SAUCE

You could, of course, make fresh applesauce. I cheat. I buy my favorite brand, warm it in a pan and doctor it with a little cinnamon and sometimes a drizzle of Calvados.