How Brooklyn’s Best Pancakes are Made | Made to Order | Bon Appétit

0:02 [music]

0:05 My name is Jake Leiber.

0:06 I am the chef and owner of Shay Ma Tan here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

0:10 Today I'm going to show you how to make my perfect pancakes.

0:14 [music]

0:17 Shay Ma Tan has been open for nearly 9 years now.

0:20 It was inspired by the nouveau bistro scene in Paris.

0:23 [music] Pancakes probably the most popular dish.

0:26 We make literally like 1200 pancakes on a weekend.

0:28 They have this great crispy edge.

0:30 Pushing the color on them to get

0:32 that toasted marshmallow flavor is transcendent.

0:38 So, I'm going to start by cracking all my eggs.

0:41 If you get shells in your bowl,

0:43 there's this lovely trick that if you use a shell,

0:47 it scoops it out really easily.

0:48 If I tried to use my fingers for that, it would just slide

0:52 around and avoid my fingers like like my children avoiding going to bed.

0:57 I'm going to do eight and eight eggs and egg yolks.

0:59 I'm just using my hands to separate the whites from the yolk.

1:03 I'm letting the whites slip through my fingers,

1:06 my very clean, recently washed hands.

1:10 You do not have to waste your whites at all.

1:12 You can make an omelet out of them.

1:13 You can save them to make meringue.

1:15 Extra yolks contribute richness.

1:18 I'm going to cream my sugar a bit

1:20 just to make sure that it's evenly distributed.

1:24 I'm going to go in with salt and baking powder to make them rise.

1:29 Probably the most important thing about the batter,

1:31 we're mixing our ingredients evenly so we don't have some

1:34 that end up flat and some that end up fluffy.

1:37 But look at it already.

1:38 It's starting to activate.

1:40 I'm going with about half the milk.

1:42 I'm using whole milk.

1:43 Skim milk is By adding milk in stages,

1:47 it helps to make my batter a little bit more even.

1:50 This is leached all-purpose flour.

1:53 Adding the flour bit by bit helps to avoid lumps.

1:57 Now it's getting tight.

1:58 I can feel my arm like it's starting to feel like cement a little bit.

2:00 I'm going to add a little bit more of my milk.

2:03 Kind of got to use your eye a bit.

2:05 If the batter's super wet,

2:07 your pancakes are going to be flat and nobody wants flat pancakes.

2:12 One of the special things about this recipe is that we use clarified butter,

2:15 butter that has been separated from the milk solids.

2:18 And once I add the fat, don't be scared if you see it broken.

2:21 It will incorporate.

2:23 And that's about the consistency we're looking for.

2:25 A little bit like a drippy sand castle.

2:27 Any like decent supermarket has clarified butter these days.

2:31 Called ghee.

2:33 G H E E.

2:36 If you don't have clarified butter,

2:37 you can use literally any oil that you have in your pantry.

2:41 We also use a little bit of lemon zest.

2:44 Zest doesn't add acidity, but it adds brightness.

2:48 It helps cut the richness of the pancakes.

2:50 Some people ask me why I put my microplane in my belly button.

2:54 It's like my fishing rod anchor.

2:56 I wasn't thinking about it, but then somebody called me out.

2:59 They're like, "Are you Is your microplane in your belly button?" And I was like,

3:03 "Yeah." I've been talking a lot and my batter is tightening.

3:08 It's holding even longer than it would before.

3:10 That's partially because I emulsified some fat into it and the fat

3:14 is cooling in the cold egg and the cold milk.

3:17 You can make your batter in advance.

3:19 You probably should actually, at least even an hour in advance.

3:22 You can rest it in the fridge.

3:23 I actually have a batch of rested pancake batter right here.

3:27 By resting your batter, it hydrates and it cools.

3:31 The fat is super like congealed in here and it's

3:35 going to hold its shape when it hits the hot griddle.

3:41 [music]

3:42 So, what really sets this pancake apart is what I'm about to do right now.

3:47 I know you saw me putting clarified butter into the batter.

3:50 I'm going to fry them in an ocean of clarified

3:52 butter and that's what really makes them special, super crispy.

3:56 Clarified butter has a much higher smoke point than traditional butter.

4:00 We don't run any risk of burning our fat, making the fat bitter in the pancake.

4:04 As it warms, the fat is shimmering and it's just barely starting to smoke.

4:09 The griddle should be at a good temperature.

4:11 If you do not have a griddle like this at home,

4:14 you can use literally any frying pan.

4:16 It doesn't matter.

4:16 Especially it doesn't matter because you're using this much fat.

4:19 So, I have my rested batter here.

4:21 This is maybe a 4-oz ladle.

4:23 But it's dropping in and it's sizzling right away,

4:26 which is exactly what we're looking for.

4:28 And I'm going to give them enough space cuz they're going to expand.

4:31 These generally take eight or so minutes to cook this very cold,

4:35 thick batter all the way through.

4:37 I have eight on here.

4:38 They're nice and evenly spaced.

4:39 This one is frying more.

4:40 Obviously it's hotter in the middle.

4:42 That's because the rim is absorbing heat.

4:44 But they're setting.

4:45 I don't want to disturb them too much just yet.

4:47 And we want it to set almost like a custard.

4:49 Once they set, I'm going to move them around

4:52 cuz I have this really nice pancake in the middle

4:55 that's getting a little bit too much heat

4:56 and the other ones need a little bit of heat, too.

4:59 These generally take eight or so minutes to cook,

5:01 80% of the cooking on the first side.

5:03 This one's pretty much ready.

5:05 The bubbles are not nearly as active and it's like kind of tacky up top.

5:09 Looks dry.

5:10 So, that when we flip it,

5:11 it doesn't flatten and eject the raw batter on the other side.

5:17 I like a smaller turner because I'm going

5:19 to gently flip from one side over to the other.

5:22 I'm seeing a pancake now that's a shade or two darker than golden brown.

5:28 I'm seeing this I'm seeing double rings.

5:31 I'm seeing a double rainbow right now.

5:33 See this ring here and this ring here?

5:35 That's magic.

5:36 And this right here is super crispy and super fluffy.

5:39 I'm going to start looking at my other pancakes.

5:41 They're all looking really nice.

5:43 Let's flip this guy right here.

5:45 That's a nice color, too.

5:45 Look at that one.

5:47 I like my pancakes dark because they end up

5:49 having this like almost burnt caramel flavor to them.

5:53 You don't want it to be like soft and anemic looking.

5:56 I just splattered a out of myself, which is par for the course.

6:02 You can see Okay, so now look at this.

6:03 It's splattered out a little bit.

6:05 It's just under set just a tiny bit.

6:07 It's a usable pancake.

6:08 Also, it's going to rise on its second side.

6:10 It's going to keep rising.

6:12 Pancakes are like snowflakes.

6:13 They're all beautiful in their own way.

6:15 And then once you flip them, they need time to rise again.

6:18 This is the first one.

6:18 I know this one's cooked.

6:20 If I tap on my pancake and it doesn't like compress at all,

6:22 it's cooked all the way through.

6:24 They should sound like patting a baseball mitt or someone's tushy.

6:29 So, they're all sounding pretty good to me.

6:31 Let's go with the biggest ones on the bottom.

6:34 These are hot off the griddle.

6:35 I'm going to cover them in butter and maple syrup.

6:38 Pretty pretty pretty good.

6:43 [music] I've got my plate here.

6:46 We have five pancakes.

6:47 [music] Normally we serve two.

6:49 I'm going to put a heaping ice cream scoop of salted butter.

6:52 It's whipped.

6:53 You might not need more fat, but if you're counting calories like get the We

6:58 used to serve them covered in maple syrup.

7:00 Now we pour them tableside.

7:01 I'm going [music] to drench them in this lovely Pennsylvania maple syrup.

7:05 I don't like random all over my pancakes.

7:07 You don't need nuts.

7:09 You don't need fruit.

7:10 You don't need anything.

7:11 You just need butter and maple syrup.

7:13 They look gorgeous.

7:15 They're dark.

7:16 They have this wonderful ring, this shattering glass-like [music] crispy edge.

7:21 They're absolutely perfect.

7:23 You can see how fluffy it is.

7:27 They're sweet, but they're not too sweet.

7:29 The lemon like you might not think it does anything,

7:31 but it really comes through.

7:33 [music] They're really nice and crispy.

7:34 It has that almost barely burnt flavor.

7:37 And then you get a little bit more salt from the butter.

7:40 Look at these layers.

7:41 Look at that.

7:42 It's like a harp.

7:49 Comments below if you would buy my pancake mix, I'll make it.

7:52 I'll make I'll make it.

7:54 Let's let's make some let's make some money.

7:56 Make some money doing it.

7:58 I'm losing money.

8:00 Make money.

8:01 Making pancakes.