Adventures In German Cuisine

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When I was a child, on Sundays after church the whole family would head off to Elmer’s for Sunday brunch.  Of course, we didn’t call it brunch back then…it was just breakfast that we ate at lunchtime.  As I never had what could be described as an adventurous palate, I only ate one of two entrees: either the sublime Eggs Benedict (classic, of course…why ruin it with things like avocado or tomato?) or the German Pancake, which is the subject of our discussion today.

According to the internet, the German Pancake (also known as a Dutch Baby) in its current American form was “invented” by Manca’s Cafe in Seattle in the early 1900s.  While it was almost certainly a riff on some European version of a similar dish, the owner of the cafe claimed he owned the trademark for the dish in 1942.

You can of course get a German Pancake at Elmer’s anytime.  But if you don’t want to eat out all the time but you still want to enjoy the deliciousness of the German Pancake, you can easily make them at home.  My mother taught me how, using this recipe cut out of a newspaper a million years ago.

You will need a cast iron pan, 8-10” in diameter.  It’s very difficult to get the dish to come out right without this one essential tool.  I have this beautiful 10.25” Lodge pre-seasoned pan, which you can get here. My favorite sister-in-law bought it for me for Christmas.  Bless her.

We’ll get to the actual recipe below but let’s talk about technique first.  You will need to preheat your pan, but not too much.  So don’t set your pan in the oven to preheat until you have your ingredients assembled and are actually ready to begin mixing together the batter, which goes relatively quickly.  First, whisk your eggs, vanilla, and salt together in a bowl.  Then add the flour and milk in two additions; that means put in half of the flour, then whisk gently, then half the milk and whisk gently.  Don’t worry about all the lumps you will have initially; just whisk it gently and then add the rest of the flour, whisk, then the rest of the milk, and whisk again until all the lumps are gone.

When the batter is ready, bring your pan out of the oven and set it on the stove.  Take a chunk of cold butter, stick it on a fork, and run it over all the interior surface of the pan.  Do this quickly, so the pan doesn’t have time to cool down.  Then pour your batter into the pan and put the pan back in the oven.  If your batter appears to be cooking unevenly (which is often the case), you might want to turn the pan around in the oven about halfway through the cooking process.

When you are done cooking, slide the pancake onto a plate (if you want to get fancy, you can warm the plate on the top of the stove by the oven vent prior to plating your pancake), and top with butter, powdered sugar, and lemon juice.  This needs to be eaten right away, and the easiest way is to roll up the pancake, and then slice off bite-sized ribbons.  Absolutely delicious, and just as good as the Elmer’s version, if I do say so myself.

You could also, if you want to be adventurous, try some toppings other than the classic butter/sugar/lemon.  Apple pie filling might be nice, or jam, or maple syrup, or pumpkin butter (only in the fall, naturally), or whatever you like.  You are the captain of the good ship HMS Dutch Baby.

Dutch Baby

(Get printable PDF recipe here)

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

splash of vanilla

2-3 Tbsp butter

1-2 Tbsp powdered sugar

1/2 a lemon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450°. Once ingredients are assembled and you are ready to begin mixing your batter, place your 8” or 10” cast iron (or heavy) skillet (or two 6” skillets) in oven while preparing batter. Beat eggs with the salt and vanilla until blended. Add the flour and the milk in additions: half the flour, then half the milk; repeat. Beat until smooth. Do not overbeat.

Melt about a Tbsp of butter in hot skillet, tilting pan to cover sides and bottom of pan (or using a silicon pastry brush to move it around). Pour batter into hot pan.

Bake at 450° for 10 minutes, then lower temperature to 350° and bake for 10 minutes more. Serve immediately with the rest of the butter, powdered sugar, and fresh lemon juice.