Two of the many things that I love in this world are pancakes and camping. So when we embarked on our Fourth of July camping extravaganza (you should have seen our trunk) to Provincetown, Massachusetts, I brought along my whisk, cast iron pan, pancake mix and blueberries for early morning camping pancakes.
When I say campfire, I’m actually referring to a mini webber charcoal grill our friends brought with them (the campsite doesn’t allow open fires). Because it was my first time making pancakes on a grill there were some bumps along the way. Bump number one was getting the cast iron pan temperature right.
Charcoals are HOT when they’re white and smoldering so I’d recommend not waiting this long. Really high heat is great for meats but for pancakes you want nice, even, medium heat. We did NOT get that on the first try. Our butter scorched and smoked causing us to have to clean out the pan and start all over again.
Once we put the clean (and cooled) pan back on the grill, we were careful to not let it get that hot again. That’s when the pancakes went on. While I was ladling them onto the pan, I realized that the second bump was that they weren’t lumpy enough. I only brought a whisk and a ladle (no rubber spatula or wooden spoon) so I wasn’t able to fold in the egg whites as gently as I would have liked. The lumpier the fluffier!
There’s nothing better than waking up after a long night’s sleep (thanks to our battery operated air mattress) on a dewy summer morning to the smell of pancakes. I’m thinking it just might become a tradition.
Camping Pancakes
Dry ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk)
Maple syrup and butter for serving
For the dry mix: Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until homogenous. Transfer to an airtight container. The mix will stay good for 3 months.
For the wet mix: Place one batch of dry mix in a large bowl. In another large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, buttermilk, and sour cream until homogenous. Add to dry mix and stir. Whisk eggwhites until they form stiff peaks. Then carefully fold egg whites into the mix with a rubber spatula until just combined (there should still be plenty of lumps).
Ladel em’ up, sprinkle on bluberries and cook until bubbles start to appear on top and the bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the pancakes and cook on the second side until golden brown and completely set, about 2 more minutes. Eat immediately!
