Pancake/Recipes

Bridge Creek Restaurant Heavenly Hots		Yields 4-6 servings
Ingredients   1 pint (2 cups) sour cream 4 large or extra large eggs 3 tablespoons sugar 6 to 8 tablespoons cake flour—it is essential to use cake flour ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon baking soda (Most versions of this recipe call for very little flour; the less flour used the lighter the pancakes, but also the more difficult to flip. Six tablespoons make a very light pancake; even less flour is called for by some recipes, in which case extreme care is needed to flip them without tearing. With 8 tablespoons, the pancakes will flip like ordinary ones.)
Preparation: Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend thoroughly. Or just whisk it together. Allow to sit three hours, or overnight. Before cooking, blend or whisk again to make certain batter is even. Preheat a griddle to medium hot (about 375 degrees) and grease it lightly with bacon fat or Crisco. After the first batch of pancakes has been cooked the griddle will not need additional greasing. (If you have a well-seasoned griddle, don’t bother with this step.) Using a ¼-cup measure, pour just enough batter on the griddle to make a dollar-sized pancake, probably about 1½ tablespoons. When pancakes are bubbly, turn VERY carefully and cook for a short time on the other side. Serve with butter and maple syrup. Chop the pancetta by hand; pulse the onion, celery, and carrots in the food processor until fairly fine but not mushy. Heat the oil and butter in a large casserole and cook the vegetables and pancetta over medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Mince the garlic in the food processor, add to the vegetables, and stir another minute. Add the meats, the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring, until the meat has lost its red color. Add the milk and cook until all the liquid has bubbled away. Be very careful not to let the mixture burn. Add the nutmeg and white wine and cook until the liquid has completely evaporated. Once again, be very careful not to let it burn. Pulse the tomatoes (if necessary) in the food processor, then add to the pot, along with the sugar, the red wine, another 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, the tomato sauce, a tiny bit of red pepper, and the water. Taste carefully for more salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer, then place on a heat diffuser, reduce the heat, and cook uncovered at the barest simmer for 3 to 8 hours, stirring from time to time, and adding water from time to time. Don’t let it burn! Do not remove any oil that rises to the surface — stir it back in. Cook down to a nice consistency. The longer the cooking the better the sauce, apparently, at least up to 8 hours — after that there may be a point of diminishing returns. Serve on buttered pasta with Parmesan cheese.
Notes: This recipe was developed by the noted American cookbook author Marion Cunningham at her Bridge Creek Restaurant in Berkeley, California. With slight modifications it has appeared in her own cookbook, Breakfasts, as well in a 1987 San Francisco Chronicle article, a 1987 New York Times article, and a 2010 New York Times article. This recipe, while completely rewritten, is essentially that of the second New York Times article.
Categories: Italian cuisine, Sauces
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