Induction Pancakes

Just a peek at cooking on the NuWave induction cooktop.  We made pancakes again last night.     We continue to experiment and practice so we will be ready when we bring this on the road with us later.   The reason we still are working on pancakes is that it is a good test of how even the cooking surface is heating.  You really can see hot spots and cold spots.   Also, I love pancakes.

There was a question about what is the best way to make pancakes while on the road.  Our traditional recipe tends to be messy.  In addition to Bisquick,  it uses eggs and milk.  This would require refrigeration and use a lot of space.  Not a real problem in the Fuse motorhome.  The refrigerator works well and has plenty of space.  The bigger problem is all of the mess we make mixing the batter.

We decided to try out  the "Shake 'N Pour" Pancake mix in a bottle.    Though not quite as good as from scratch, the pancakes came out pretty good.  Much better than frozen pancakes.  All you do is add water and shake.   All of the mess stays in the bottle.  How can it get better?  No mess and no refrigeration of any of the ingredients.    This is a big win.

Using the induction cooktop, we first made pancakes using plain All-Cald stainless steel skillet.  Remember the earlier post about having to get a new pan.  Well this is the type of pan  I had handy and would work on the cooktop.   So we used it.   It did great and made pancakes with no problems.  Ok, there were a couple of problems.

The pancakes were slightly fried.  Not a problem with the equipment, just the method.   We are pancake gourmets so we are a little critical.  But more importantly my daughter (who was cooking) did not like having to butter the pan between each batch.   She whined and complained about wanting to use a non-stick pan.  Spoiled I know, but pancakes are even better when someone else makes them.  It's that ingredient called love (at least I hope that is what it is).

The next time we did made pancakes we had the new Techef everyday pan.  Very non-stick.   It made the process of cooking even easier.  It worked great and cleanup was super easy.  Just a quick wipe out of the pan and a quick rinse.   No other cleanup needed either.  There were no pancakes leftover and all the mess was contained in the bottle.

The pancakes came out great. Real close to perfect. They looked great and tasted as good as they looked.  The flavor was almost as good as from scratch.   Cooking using the induction cooktop and the everyday pan worked out just as good as using an electric griddle. The NuWave keeps the temperature just as constant as the griddle.    Even better, the induction cooktop is much more versatile.

Detailed instructions:

1. Put non-stick pan on induction cooktop and turn on to 375.   Make sure you hit start or you will be waiting on the pan to heat up for a long time :-)
2. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the Shake 'N Pour bottle.
3. Shake it up baby.  Tap, do not rap, the bottom and top of the bottle several times to make sure it gets well mixed. Get some exercise while mixing.  Sing and dance to "Shake and Shout" while mixing.   The singing and dancing is the secret ingredient.
4. Make sure the pan is at temperature.  You can tell when a drop of water dances when sprinkled on the pan.  aka: wet your finger and flick a drop onto the pan.  If it bounces around you are good.
5. Pour 3 to 4 pancakes onto the pan (this is with a 12 inch pan).
6. They will bubble.  When they stop bubbling, it is time to flip.  So flip.
7. Cook the other side.  This is where a little bit of experience comes in handy.  Don't worry.  you will get the hang of it quick.
8. When the pancakes are finished cooking remove from the pan.
9. Add a little butter to the tops of the pancakes.  This is optional but butter makes everything better.
10. Sample one.  But only one.  Don't get greedy or you will get caught.
1. If you do get caught share.   We have eaten batches of pancakes straight from the griddle never getting the serving platter dirty.
11. Go back to step 5 and repeat until all the batter is gone
12. Serve to family and complain how it doesn't make as many pancakes as it should.  Divert questions about why you are not hungry smiling while remembering how good the samples were.