Bean Sprout Adventures

We had really good Japanese hotcakes at a restaurant, Rule of Thirds, in Greenpoint. I thought it would be fun to recreate them at home.

The original. Goo in middle is maple butter. Plus the restaurant had fancy counters (walnut, maybe?) and fancy design in general.

The original pancake was light and fluffy, and somewhat eggy but not custardy. Like a standard pancake, it is probably leavened by both eggs and chemical leavening. But the soufflé-like texture is probably from a relatively high proportion of egg and whipping the egg whites. It was not very sweet, similar to a standard pancake.

I figured I wanted some features of a standard pancake and some features of an whipped eggy cake-y thing (not really a soufflé — the hotcake weren’t that eggy).

We happened to see the hotcakes in progress at the restaurant. The batter was ladle-able, but had enough body to make a mound in the baking dishes (definitely egg fluff). It wasn’t particularly yellow.

I referenced three different recipes: sponge cake from Cook’s Illustrated, pancakes from Cooks Illustrated (oddly using lemon juice and milk rather than buttermilk), and pancakes from Joy of Cooking (milk version). I combined steps and ingredients from them that seemed to go in the direction I wanted, and I ended up with:

Hotcakes?

• 2 oz (1/2 cup) cake flour (I actually used maybe 3/4-1 cup)
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1/4-1 cup (??) milk (I actually used maybe 2/3 cup)
• 2-3 Tbsp butter, melted (I actually used maybe 2 Tbsp)

1. Whisk flour and baking powder
2. Melt together milk and butter. Keep warm.
3. Whisk egg whites with sugar.
4. Whisk yolks until light in color and fluffy. Temper with some of egg white mixture.
5. Fold 1) into 4). Fold in 2).
6. Bake for 15 min at 350°F.

V1 of the home version. Not so close.

I think I reinvented corn bread (without corn). It wasn’t bad, but not very close at all to the restaurant version.

One big issue I had is that I added WAY too much milk, which caused the batter to be too liquidy. I added more flour to give structure to the batter, which made it too dense and cake-y. It seems like most of the structure needs to come from whipped egg whites. My pancake is also more yellow than the one at the restaurant. The eggs we get have super bright yolks, but maybe the “pancake” needs less yolk.

So for next time, I need less flour, and to reduce the overall amount of liquid (so less milk, butter, and maybe egg yolks).

Recipe to try next time:

Hotcakes V2?

• 2 oz (1/2 cup) cake flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 egg whites
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
1. Whisk flour and baking powder
2. Melt together milk and butter. Keep warm.
3. Whisk egg whites with sugar.
4. Whisk yolks until light in color and fluffy. Mix in 2). Temper with some of egg white mixture.
5. Fold 1) into 4).
6. Bake for 15 min at 350°F.

As it turns out, there are recipes online for “Japanese soufflé pancakes”. I didn’t bother searching, because I didn’t think the “hotcake” recipes I would find would be soufflé-y enough. I think I’ll continue with the experiment because it’s fun.