American Diner Style Buttermilk Pancakes
There are three things I’ve been searching for since moving to the UK that I’ve almost given up on: anyone willing to physically high five my accomplishments, Dansko clogs and the kind of buttermilk pancakes you can only find at a certain type of diner in America. The stereotype here is that if a pancake is dry and thicker than a crepe it is “American Style”. I beg to differ.
The variety and scope of the American pancake is as wide as the country itself. There are the pancakes your family made when you were growing up which were probably made from a box of Bisquick. There are the pancakes you get from International House of Pancakes which come in stacks covered with sweet sauces and whipped cream. For my money, the pancake holy grail is the kind you get at roadside diners where they’re served all day with eggs and bacon. They aren’t exactly dry and they would look at you funny if you called them fluffy. They are pancakes with some attitude. And they are glorious.
It has always been apparent to me that I would never find those pancakes here. I would have to make them. You wouldn’t even know what you were looking for if you hadn’t had them a thousand times in your life. Decent recipes abound but none of them resulted in the kind of crispy edge and lighter middle I was looking for. The pancakes I was on the hunt for drape over each other like old friends at the end of a long night, seeming to coalesce into a single column of comfort as you cut into the stack. Like I said, they’re glorious. The ultimate IYKYK.
As I often do when I’m stuck with a recipe, I add the word “Southern” to my Google search to see what comes up. They have a reputation for great food for a reason. Wouldn’t you know it. There it was. The Southern Lady Cooks had added oil and buttermilk AND melted butter. Now we were on the right track. I did add some milk because her batter was very thick but otherwise I kept it the same. The recipe below is with the extra milk. Also, the photo pancakes have blueberries in them because they were lovely and begging to be breakfast. These pancakes love friends so throw in the berries, the chocolate chips, the bananas. All are welcome here!
