Box or Scratch...Making Pancakes

So most people have a box of Aunt Jamima or Bisquick in their pantry for that saturday morning when they get the urge to eat some pancakes. But I have WHY?!? Out of the box pancakes require 4 ingredients, powder, milk (please tell me you at least use the milk and not the water ones...), eggs, oil. Once cooked they taste bland, but who cares if you cover them with enough maple syrup. Well I have another alternative. Making the pancakes from scratch.

That's right, it will require a couple of additional ingredients and about 90 seconds of additional work, but it's worth it. These pancakes have a delicious flavor on their own, that once combined with the mape syrup turn into a heavenly morning kiss for your tastebuds. So you are asking, what are these additional ingredients...simple stuff, baking powder, vanilla extract, sugar and...wait for it...butter. mmmm...butter.

Now comes the real trick, the consistancy. You don't want to over mix to keep as much of the fluffiness as possible, but you want the mix resemble warm pudding, thick but fluid so that when it pours on the pan it spreads a little. If the mix is too thick, they'll still taste wonderful, but they tend to come apart as you eat them (and only the Swedish like the thin ones). So I beg you, the next morning you go to make pancakes (or waffles), toss out the box of pre-packaged stuff and spend the extra 90 second to make the yummy goodness.

Try this recipe...
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Liquid Smoke - Liquid Gold?

So the days at the short lived Dad's Backyard Burgers in Merrifield are long since past, but the memories of their Wisconsin Smoked Chedder Burger still lingered on my tongue. There wasn't a week that went by that a momentary yearning would once again spark and I would desire that smoked beef. Of course, what is funny about it, they didn't have a smoker. So where did that smokey flavor come from? Liquid Smoke of course.

So seasons passed and the desire did not go away, then finally one day I was terribly bored at work and searched for Liquid Smoke online. Turns out Colgin is the name of the company and smoke is their game. So you are thinking, how do they make it taste like smoke...well, it doesn't just taste like smoke, it is smoke. Now I'm sure that any halfwit who attended chemistry class could have figured this out, but a simple condensing of smoke as it left the chimney (cause smoke is a gas) and then some refining created this liquid which is essentially smokey water. I know, it doesn't sound like much the way I describe it...but it is so much better.

I tried it in burgers...good but I still need to tweek the recipe. I tried in the crockpot with a beef pot roast...wow that was mighty good. It's like I cooked the pot roast on a smoker. But the coup de gras was Chicken. Chicken marinated in liquid smoke (along with some salt and seasonings) and then cooked on the grill till it was done was fantastic. I mean, the wife and the kids just ate it up. I couldn't get enough and let me tell you the next day at work when reheating, it was even better. I have to give 5 stars to the liquid smoke that I might just need to put on everything now (well maybe not the pancakes). The next test will be a full chicken marinated in smoke and grilled slowly with a salty-rosemary crust. Yumm.