★·cucumber·lounge·★･ﾟ
Swedish Pancakes
Pancakes are served on Thursdays, and traditionally with a pea soup. I'm not sure why it's pancakes and pea soup on Thursdays, but it's a thing in Sweden and Finland. I was told once that it was an old army tradition, but who even knows? I don't eat them with pea soup, though, because my father was a notorious legume hater and refused to even have it in the house. The important thing is, the pancakes are good and you have to make them on Thursday. I will be pissed if there's no lingon at the table, too.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 well-packed US cup of flour (it ends up being like 145g-170g, depending on your flour)
- 1 tsp salt (I've been adding extra to taste ever since I had COVID)
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 500ml half and half (or your local equivalent, as long as it's somewhere between 10%-20% milkfat)
- 4-5 tbsp cool water (again, this depends on your flour, so start with 4)
- 4 beaten eggs
- a fair amount of butter
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HOW-TO
- Whisk the flour, salt, and sugar together.
- Pour the water into the half and half.
- Dump the eggs, half and half, and water into the flour, then quickly whisk it into a batter. Break up any clumps.
- Pour the batter into a container you can easily pour it from. I usually use a 500ml Pyrex cup and just top it off as I go.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat. You want it to be pretty hot, so the butter goes brown as soon as it hits the metal.
- Dump in about 1/3 tbsp of butter. Tilt the pan back and forth until the whole bottom of the pan is coated. It helps to get a little on the walls of the pan, too.
- Hold the pan at sharp downward angle and pour a thin stream into it the highest part of the bottom of the pan. Tilt the pan to swirl the batter around and evenly coat the bottom.
- Let cook until the pancake is set on the top, then flip it. You want it to be browned nicely on both sides. The browner your butter, the better the pancake will brown.
- Fold each pancake over twice, so it's rolled up in thirds. Set them in a pile on a plate, beneath some foil or a warm towel. Repeat the process until all of the batter is cooked.
- Serve cold or briefly warm up the pancakes in the still-hot pan before eating. For a traditional serving, unroll the pancakes, spread the insides with jam, and then roll them up again.
TIPS AND TRICKS
- Sometimes, we do weird stuff with these that my dad would not approve of. I like to melt mozzarella in them all the time, and I'm definitely not averse to filling a pancake with sour cream and ajvar. My wife likes peanut butter and maple syrup. I was really messed up once and made a Swedish pancake grilled cheese with American slices, and I don't recommend that one. It was bad.