Dear Serious Eats: 'I Have Searched for Years for This Recipe; Please Help'
We receive a lot of email through our contact page, most of which we deal with behind the scenes. But every now and then, something so good comes in that we have to share it. Today, a humdinger of a culinary mystery.
Dear Serious Eats,
In the late 1980s I found a recipe in a magazine (Southern Living, I think). The only thing I remember was that it had to be cooked in an iron skillet. It was made with flour, sugar, and eggs, I think. It was thin, about 1/2 inch. After it was done, I put fresh strawberries on it. I have searched for years for this recipe. Please help.
—Helen
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Dear Helen,
Wow. Have you ever watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent? In it, that crazy fidgety guy, Goren, pieces together the mystery with the barest of clues. This is sort of the food mystery equivalent. Unfortunately, none of us at Serious Eats HQ are in the same league as Detective Goren.
But what we do have is a a whipsmart community of food lovers who can answer almost any food question, so I'm going to put this question to them.
Seriously,
Adam
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So, serious eaters: Can you help Helen? Maybe one of you remembers a recipe like this from Southern Living?
Note: For questions like these, it's almost always best to just open it up to the supersmart SE community right off the bat. You can post your most stumpingest questions in our Talk section. It's quick, easy, and free.
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26 Comments:
Crepes. That's what comes to mind with that ingredient list. Plus the addition of fresh fruit after. But 1/2" crepes are not. But that's my best guess.
meechiko at 9:11PM on 10/13/08
Was it maybe a German pancake?
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1177727
Or maybe a puff pancake?
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=226353
Or maybe a Dutch baby?
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=577204
All would be great with strawberries.
The links provided are from the Southern Living/Cooking Light/Real Simple family of magazines on their website, MyRecipes.
holdthemayo at 9:12PM on 10/13/08
Crepes. That's what comes to find with that ingredient list and the addition of fresh strawberries. But 1/2", crepes are not. They are much thinner - paper-thin. But that's my best guess.
meechiko at 9:14PM on 10/13/08
Clafouti?
lawofmurphy at 9:14PM on 10/13/08
This sounds to me like a recipe for something called variously "Dutch Baby Pancakes" or "Popover Pancakes." It is basically a slightly sweetish popover batter cooked in a greased, pre-heated cast-iron skillet. After a few minutes, you got a "pancake" that forms a bowl that you can fill with sweetened fruit or jam or syrup or.... My recipe came from Craig Claiborne in The New York Times, circa 1975.
My search on Yahoo turned up lots of recipes with slightly varyinng proportions.
PS Back in the summer of 1975, we had suffered from a steady month of rain in the state of Maine. We decided to celebrate(?) with a Champagne breakfast that included these pancakes. A priceless experience!
BostonDiner at 9:16PM on 10/13/08
Pancakes are the first thing I thought of...although I keep wanting to say "cornbread"! (But I think she would have mentioned cornmeal.)
CharJTF at 9:20PM on 10/13/08
swedish pancakes lufkin?
Kenzo at 9:46PM on 10/13/08
I definitely thought of a dutch baby right off the bat.
Celeriac at 9:47PM on 10/13/08
How about this:
Breakfast Clafoutis
from Outlaw Cook, by John Thorne
- fruit (prepared weight): 4 to 6 oz cranberries, rasberries, or blueberries, OR 12 oz cherries, peaches, or plums (can use other fruit- experiment)
- zest from 1 small lemon, grated (or 1/4 tsp. lemon extract)
- 2 Tb sugar for batter
- 2 Tb sugar for fruit
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tb unsalted butter
- confectioners' sugar
- sour cream (optional)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Wash and prepare fruit- pit fruit (if necessary) and cut all larger fruit into smaller pieces.
Make lemon sugar - mix the lemon zest (or lemon extract) with 2 Tb sugar in a small dish.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs together and whisk in the milk.
Add the wet to the dry ingerdients a little at a time, whisking until smooth. Stir in the lemon sugar. Let the batter rest while the fruit is being cooked.
In a 10-inch nonstick skillet (I use a cast-iron skillet) melt the butter over medium heat, coating the bottom and sides halfway to the rim. When the butter is bubbling, add the fruit. Stir until each piece has softened and is coated with butter, about 2 to 3 minutes. Then sprinkle in 2 Tb. sugar (cranberries need twice as much, ad peaches work better with brown sugar).
When the sugar has dissolved and turned to a syrup (about 2 minutes), stir up the batter and pour carefully into the pan over the fruit. Put the skillet in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the clafoutis is set, golden brown, and pufed up at the edges.
Divide into bowls, top with confectioners' sugar and sour cream (if desired).
drewa at 10:17PM on 10/13/08
I put in another vote for dutch baby.
buffy at 10:22PM on 10/13/08
I often look for things that I know can be good or were good.
http://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/
Finder of lost recipes. He takes requests.
My problem is my italian relatives made things and called them some smacked itanglish name and when I have proper italian cookbooks now nothing sounds namewise the same so I have to read every recipe and check the ingredients.
JerzeeTomato at 10:25PM on 10/13/08
Hey Jerzee, great site. I was in at "catfish pate."
islandexile at 10:50PM on 10/13/08
Hi, all! Thanks for the help. I've contacted Helen to show her what you've been up to. Not sure if she's viewed your help yet. (Maybe if she left a comment here ... hint, hint! ;)
Adam Kuban at 9:00AM on 10/14/08
curses for showing me that lost recipe sight! how am i supposed to get any work done this morning?
carriebwc at 9:41AM on 10/14/08
I fifth the vote on the Dutch baby. (I like finishing the baby with powdered sugar and fresh lime zest.) Here's a tasty round-up.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E6D61630F936A15750C0A9619C8B63
http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2005/04/david_eyres_pan.html
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005/02/9-am-sunday-butter-and-babies.html
http://flickr.com/photos/tamngo/453697343/in/set-72157594563899384/
Tam Ngo at 10:25AM on 10/14/08
@Tam Ngo--lime juice sounds amazing and a nice change from lemon! I have to try that. :)
Christina at 10:37AM on 10/14/08
Oh, I love grated lime zest -- my favorite flavor discovery of 2006! In addition to brightening up baked goods and mascarpone, it's fantastic on top of scallops: grilled, ceviche, every which way.
Tam Ngo at 1:35PM on 10/14/08
Perhaps ebelskiver, the Danish filled pancakes?
Penelope at 1:46PM on 10/14/08
I thought of clafouti too, the thickness is there, but the fruit is baked in.
JuliaKay at 5:13PM on 10/14/08
I'd say Dutch baby
merav13 at 11:05PM on 10/14/08
i went right to my Southern Living 1990 Annual Recipes cookbook and found a recipe for Sour Cream Pancakes with Fruit Topping. it doesn't specify an iron skillet so i'm thinking that the one i have isn't the one Helen is looking for but i'll be happy to put it here if she thinks it might be the one.
meiren at 7:43AM on 10/15/08
Wow, Jerzee, thanks for that site!
baboo at 9:34AM on 10/15/08
Randomly, I read this article and Steel Magnolias was on. Could it be Truvy's "cuppa-Cuppa-Cuppa"?
Keight at 3:43PM on 10/18/08
i thought clafouti but usually not in a skillet...but it's somewhere between dutch/german/swedish pancake and clafouti....goes to show you that food all over the world is the same...just takes on different clothes...
ginagolfs at 9:58AM on 10/20/08
The NY Times recipe was reprinted in the Sunday magazine within the last year. Search for David Eyre's Pancake.
lagoldberg8397 at 12:11PM on 10/20/08
Did you contact Southern Living Magazine?
Jamatt at 8:31PM on 10/20/08