New England Griddle Cakes aka the best pancakes in my world

There's nothing like getting back into the kitchen and producing a lovely stack of pancakes for a Sunday brunch. What a busy November this has been! Family reunions, a food show, thoughts in career movement and attempts at getting onto the British property ladder have all been encroaching my peaceable existance.

I finally got this recipe from my mother. I have yet to find a better pancake recipe. But why look for another when this recipe is perfection itself. When I was growing up, our Sunday breakfast was our traditional weekend feast - rather than a Sunday lunch. We sometimes had waffles, we sometimes had French toast but more often than not we had pancakes.

It was my brother's ambition to break the household record for the amount of pancakes consumed in one sitting and he often reached the dizzying heights of 24 pancakes in one sitting! Mum often had to triple or quadruple the recipe. I don't blame him for wanting to eat so many, these are so good.


Pancakes (New England Griddlecakes)

1 1/2 cups of sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar
3 tablespoons of butter, melted

Sift the dry ingredients together. Beat together the egg, milk, vinegar and melted butter. Add the liquid mixture gradually to the dry mixture, stirring constantly to keep it smooth. Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto a heated non-stick heavy metal griddle. No additional butter is needed as there is enough in the batter. Keep the heat low, so the cakes will not cook too fast. When the top is full of tiny bubbles the under side should be sufficiently brown. Turn and brown the other side. Serve hot with maple syrup. Makes 2 dozen small cakes.

From 'The United States Regional Cook Book', edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, Ill. 1947.