Workday Pancakes, Why Not?

Alternatively: working from home during a quarantine provides scheduling flexibility (among few other things), so it’d be a shame if we didn’t use it to turn a rushed breakfast into deluxe brunch

I don’t think it would be proper to write about my latest culinary adventure without acknowledging recent events in the United States. With the events in Minneapolis once again (far too many times now) casting light on America's rampant racism, we need to recognize that racism thrives in the company of silence, and unless you actively work against racism, you give it a place to grow. This silence often occurs in our communities, whether those be towns, schools, or general cultures. The opposite of racism is anti-racism, not simply “not being racist”. Black lives matter, and clearly what we have done in the past is not working.

For centuries, Black Americans have been enslaved, actively neglected, and treated as second-class citizens in ways that are perhaps the antithesis of “American ideals”. One of many negative consequences of this history of oppression is underrepresentation of Black Americans in many spheres of influence, including academia, entrepreneurship, and the media. Food bloggers and chefs are very much included in these spheres of underrepresentation.

Whenever I’m looking for a recipe to try out, I usually seek the recommendation of my friends and family, which is a strikingly narrow circle of people. This means that I regularly do not allow myself to benefit from recipes created by Black voices, which is truly a lose-lose situation. These past few weeks helped me better acknowledge the lack of Black voices in my circles, and I will strive to be more conscious in exploring ideas from Black food bloggers, starting with this recipe right here from the incredible Scotty Scott (@cookdrankeat): rosemary blueberry cornmeal pancakes!

There are no excuses for not practicing anti-racism, and there truly are a plethora of ways YOU can provide valuable help, no matter whether you're Black, another POC, or white. Do you have a personal hobby or interest that is lacking in ideas from Black voices? Because that’s a wonderful way to start, alongside donating (if you are able) and signing petitions.

Ok, so I’m huge on breakfast. Like if you name a breakfast food, I probably love it, and pancakes are no exception. But while I’d frequently indulged in the pancake stacks at IHOP, Cafe Luna, or Trident, I had seldom made them myself, let alone from scratch. The pictures of the blueberry pancake stacks on Scott’s page, however, were more than sufficient to make me commit to this recipe.

I was able to pick up all ingredients for the recipe from whole foods, including honey, which is not explicitly mentioned in the recipe but as a topping “is a gamechanger for the blueberry pancakes” (according to my roommate). I had also never made any dishes with cornmeal or rosemary, so making these pancakes was very much a learning experience.

Once I got the hang of pouring the batter, tossing in a lot of blueberries, and actually flipping the pancakes, everything started going much more smoothly! The pancakes actually looked circular, the golden brown started converging on the same ideal shade in each pancake, and the blueberries retained their structure while becoming moist and warm. I got around 12 pancakes out of this recipe, and while my roommate and I only expressed interested in eating two at most…. let’s just say it’s been 24 hours since I made these and I am currently out of pancakes 😬

After finishing the pancakes, I drizzled some honey across the top and sides and topped it off with some butter for the aesthetic. Two things I’m very proud of in this adventure are 1) rapidly improving my pancake making with each one and 2) insisting on a high density of blueberries in each pancake. The pancakes themselves are not sweet, which I am personally a huge fan of, so the packing of blueberries and honey really allow you to control the sweetness to your level of preference. This is easily the best breakfast that I’ve had during the quarantine. And yes, that includes the egg breakfast sandwiches from Darwin’s: I thought it was dangerous that Darwin’s was less than a five minute walk from my apartment, but the real danger is that I have left over ingredients and could whip up a batch of pancakes without needing to put on a pair of pants 😬

Thank you again Scotty Scott for the recipe!