On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 20:51:28 +0200, "flo.agaud"
wrote:

I am french and I found the recipe of the American slapjacks made with
Ambrosia batter, but it requires a griddle. I don't know what is this cook
tool, and I don't find this word on my translation dictionnary.I full of
keenness doing this recipe (a sort of pancake, I guess), but can you explain
me this term ? and what means hotcakes too ?

Sorry, maybe I don't express oneself very well.

flo


Slapjack, and hotcake, are other words for pancakes. A fairly liquid,
usually chemically raised batter, cooked on a flat, not-too-hot
surface. Usually about 1 cm. thick when finished. People will also
sometimes use sourdough, or yeast, to raise the batter. Slapjack or
hotcake would be regional, old-fashioned, and less-used words.
Pancake is generally recognized throughout the US.

A griddle is a wide, flat, nonstick cooking surface. A griddle for
stove top use will often cover two stove burners at once, with a
single, flat cooking surface. Electric models are also made. People
like them for pancakes, because you can cook several at once.

A reasonable substitute for a griddle would be any wide, flat bottomed
pan, such as a nonstick saute pan, to cook the pancakes one at a time.
Don't feel that you need to buy a griddle just to make good pancakes.

Compared to crepes, the batter for pancakes will be about twice as
thick. It may be somewhat lumpy, and the bubbles from the levening
will be noticable. It is mixed and cooked immediately, rather than
allowed to rest, as with crepes. They also require somewhat longer to
cook, at a lower temperature, due to the extra thickness. Cook on the
first side until almost completely cooked through, and then flip,
just once, to brown the second side. (I mention these details
because, if your recipe is from the US, it may assume that you know
the basics of pancake technique.)

The most common serving for pancakes is with butter and maple syrup.
Sometimes cooked fruit compote, or fresh sliced fruit. Pancakes
themselves are not sweet, but almost always have a sweet topping.
Sometimes, however they are wrapped around cooked breakfast sausage,
(made from pork) and called "pigs in a blanket." Sometimes fresh
blueberries, nuts, chocolate chips, or other oddities are sprinkled on
the pancake batter immediately after it is poured on to the cooking
surface, so that the topping cooks inside the pancake.

Pancakes are considered a breakfast food, although often eaten at
other times of the day.

Ursula