Spatulas

So, Jen and I are making pancakes. We're not doing a bad job, but I've come to realise that our spatulas all suck.

They're plastic, which means that they've all melted slightly at the tip, increasing the likelihood of pancake-tearing. We can't use metal ones, because they'd scratch the non-stick pan.

In fact, the non-stick pan's not ideal -- it's a nice flat one, ideal for making pancakes, but I've got used, over repeated years of pancake parties at Peter's place, to Peter's frying pan, the make of which escapes me; it has just the right shape and weight balance to make flipping an absolute breeze.

So, question: what spatula do you use? Do they make ceramic spatulas? In fact, what's your preferred Shrove Tuesday equipment? And while we're on the subject, any preferred pancake recipes?

I don't know if they're available in the UK, but here I can get heat-resistant silicone spatulas. They simply don't melt. It seems like they tend to use the term "spatula" for scraping-type spatulas and "turner" for what you're talking about. I have a Kitchenaid one that works pretty well. The only drawback is that it's a little thicker than a nylon one and a little more flexible. I've not had any real problems flipping things, though. Well, no more so than my general flipping incompetence.

of all the flipper-overs I've used, I really like the $1.00 cheapo type the best. they do get a little melted from time to time, but a box cutter will clean them up jiffy like.
and at a buck, I just get a few and I'm set for a year or more.
what's silly is that you can pay around $10 for the same thing if you're in a 'fancy' store.

last year I got a large one, about 8 inches across. just looking at the thing made me hungry for flapjacks. but sadly the thing was heavy overkill and I switched back to my low-rent, slightly melted and deformed one.

Personally, I don't own any non-stick cookware. I find that well-polished stainless steel is nearly as nonstick as teflon, and I don't have to worry about scratching it. Also, I think that a griddle is probably a more appropriate pancake-cooking surface than a pan anyway. Your low-sided "pan" may be a griddle -- I don't know -- but I use a dual-burner cast iron griddle for that sort of thing. They're usually "reversible"; that is, a flat griddle on one side and a ribbed grill on the other.

Having just spent the last few hours enjoying Peter's Pancakes (TM), I can confirm it's a cast iron Le Creuset skillet, of the type used for household murders and guaranteed to cause RSI.

Remedy: buy spatulas rated for frying pans, usually stated on the label. High Temperature Polyvynide (HTP) or Teflon-PVC types are usually the best, but are a little more expensive.

Alternatively, a nice thin wooden spatula usually does the job if well oiled up front.

The only thing better than a good cast iron pan is a good cast titanium one. They work at least as well, which is in part down to the rather poor heat conduction of both metals, and they're a damn sight lighter!

More expensive in the UK, although I have seen ones in Canada for silly money.

Really good teflon is certainly excellent, but it inevitably begins to flake off eventually, no matter how carefully you treat it. Wooden implements are the best on teflon.

pca

This thread kind of reminds me of the "spatula-city" scene in Weird Al Yankovic's UHF.

"I loved their spatulas so much...I bought the company"

Titanium cookware? Gads. I can't even begin to imagine what that must cost. Like Bitt, I'm a fan of traditional cast iron. It weighs a ton, but ( properly seasoned) it has reasonable non-stick properties and fantastic heat retention. The best part of cast iron, of course, is cleaning it. I had assorted burned vegetable matter carbonized onto my pan after a recent cooking escapade. After realizing that no standard kitchen scrubber was going to do the job, I got the wire-brush barbeque cleaner from outside. Cleaned it in a flash and didn't even chew all the way through the seasoning. And if it did, I'd just season it again. Low tech is good tech.

I'm not much of a pancake maker, but I don't recall using any sort of turning device. The trick has always been properly lubricating the pan. Even teflon, by itself, still needs butter or one of those non-stick spray oil things, as a buffer between the pan and the food. That should get you your nice, smooth flips and then the exit strategy is to more-or-less pour your pancake's onto their final serving plate.

(I've also got a dual-burner grill like the one mentioned by Bitt, except it's anodized aluminum, so it will only break your foot if you drop it rather than breaking your foot and destroying your floor. Turns out, that grill plus my cast iron pan make for a great make-shift panini press. Put the ribbed-side up and you even get the same sort of marks on your bread.)

Well, it's not like they can make proper pancakes anyway, what with their deplorable lack of maple syrup.

I suppose that depends on your definition of "proper". I had some very strange things in Belgium and the Netherlands that were called "pankoeken" (or something like that) which no doubt predate what we think of as pancakes.

Yes, and they're good pancakes. (In my limited experience, they're kind of halfway between crepes and flapjacks.) But there's still no maple syrup. And that "golden" syrup they use is basically just corn syrup. Pancakes with Karo. Mmmm. :/

(You notice that I wait until they've all been in bed for hours before starting this flame. )

Bah! I prefer the Aunt Jemima fake stuff to maple syrup. Maple syrup is too sweet and thick in my opinion.

Huh? In my experience, the fake stuff is way thicker and sweeter than the real thing.

It could be just the syrup my mom buys then. I decided I didn't like it early-on and I've chosen the fake stuff ever since.

Argh! Sainsbury's offers three maple syrups and one imitation maple syrup! My premises have been completely obliterated!

Yeah I have always found maple to be thinner than the fake stuff.

The only titanium stuff I've seen is titanium coated (or titanium/ceramic coated) and it generally looks crap. At least images on the net make it look crap. Just looks like your run of the mill non-stick coated pan with flimsy handle. I prefer pans with a nice solid looking/feeling handle with strong rivets attaching it.

I've got a few cast iron pans and grills as well as a decent collection of All-Clad stainless steel pans (what I primarily use). I've got a number of utensils including scraping (but not flipping) spatulas of silicone, med-temp plastics, stainless and of course wood. Wood is my preferred utensil for most cooking - certainly anything that involves stirring. I rarely make pancakes, but I have a stainless spatula (flipper) that does a good job on pans without special coatings.

I need a few more All Clad pieces and will probably pick up a few Le Crueset products this year as well. For non-stick I'd limit myself to oven-safe products meant for the restaurant industry. Their coatings seem a lot more durable. All Clad's non-stick line also looks/sounds very robust.

Bitt, do they make (real) Maple Syrup in the US? As far as I know most of it would have to come from the same place every other region gets it from. Quebec and Ontario, Canada. My girlfriend works in marketing for a conservation authority and in fact they'll soon be starting their Maple Syrup festival. Mmmmm, Fresh. I also like the Aunt Jemima's fake stuff though (because it's what I first had as a kid).

Bruno

And as a (former, now a west coaster) dyed in the wool New Englander, if your'e buying real maple syrup make sure it's grade B.
The tourists buy grade A.

<Mainer>
Ayuh, now thems some tasty flapjacks...
</Mainer>

Yeah. Regions along the Canadian border produce maple syrup, most of it in Vermont, if the selections in the grocery stores have any bearing on it. I feel sure that Maine, New Hampshire, and upper New York all produce a decent amount of maple syrup.

Quote:
My premises have been completely obliterated!

Your premises have been completely obliterated? I've just hosted a pancake party for about fifteen people -- my premises have rarely looked so obliterated as they did this morning.

This year I did vegan pancakes as well as the standard-issue ones: soya milk instead of cows', and half a banana instead of the egg. This doesn't make a mixture with quite the same mechanical properties, and I still think it was very skillful of Dave to produce proper-looking pancakes out of it (I totally failed with it when I tried).

Rob is right that I have a Le Creuset cast-iron frying pan, but I suspect the one Roger's talking about is my other one, which I much prefer: Meyer Anolon. I also have their chef pan, kind of like a round-sided saute pan, which I've used for virtually every meal I've cooked since I got it, it's outstandingly useful.

Both Meyer pans are hard-anodised non-stick, which is much more resilient than the teflon in the Le Creuset one. I currently use wooden spatulas (one slightly carbonised at the end where I've used it for gumbo roux) but have been eyeing up silicon ones. Nowadays I make gumbo roux in a stainless-steel pan with a stainless-steel spatula, and for some reason it was very hard to find the necessary flat-ended spatula in steel.

Someone brought a small bottle of maple syrup last night but, as I have no cricket bats requiring seasoning, not much of it was used and I'm now looking into the regulations concerning its safe disposal. I expect it's a no-no to let it enter the water table.

Peter

Edit: Now also feeling slightly guilty for not inviting you two, Roger, but I didn't reckon you'd make the trek up here and back on a weeknight...