Holy Grail of the Kitchen Part IV

Pancakes. You know, those things that everyone enjoys just before Easter. I've made them before, and very successfully,but this time I was going to have to do it in a foreign country...

It's true, I have made pancakes before when I was married, and they were all exactly as they should be. Thin, lightly cooked, easily tossed etc. I knew it wasn't a difficult task. This time however, I was going to have to try it with a 'ready mix' and guessing at the amount of milk required.

Despite the fact the kitchen I have is equipped with more pots and pans than the restaurant of the London Hilton, The one thing I was missing was any kind of measuring tool. No scales, no jug, nothing. When the ready pancake mix said 'add two eggs and 400ml of milk' I'm going to have to do my best to work out what 400ml of dairy juice actually looks like.

A bit of Mathematics helped me out though. Take a litre carton of milk and pour it into two pint glasses until they are both level (thus making them 500ml each). Take a gulp out of one of them and hey presto you have 400ml of milk!

It wasn't just a weighing scales my kitchen lacked though, I didn't have a mixing bowl. No matter, I can use a 'Tupperware' bowl with a sealable lid. (That bit wasn't a problem, it did prove to be a suitable mising vessle)

I added the mix, the two eggs, the '400ml' of milk and stirred and mixed until my arm felt like it was going to drop off. What was I left with? A mixture so thick I could stand my spoon up in it. I could even turn the container upside down without it falling out. So I added a bit more milk...

..then a bit more...

...then a bit more...

It still had the texture of treacle, but it was starting to thin out a bit, so I decided to try an experimental pancake. I heated the tiniest amount of oil in my frying pan, waited till it was hot enough, then poured in a measure of the pancake mix...

Well, I say 'pour', it was more of a 'gloop' really. It hit the pan in the middle and just stayed there. I tried moving it around to thin it out and make the pancake bigger, but it refused to move. Granted though, I turned it over and it was a lovely golden brown, and when the other side cooked, I did have quite a nice looking 'Scotch Pancake' (I hope you all know what I mean by that).

Ok, next attempt. No oil, less heat. More mixture poured in, and yes! it moves around a bit faster! But not fast enough. Now I have something that resembles a paint splodge on a piece of paper. Little rivers of pancake mix running away from a central hub. Then again, flip it over and cook the other side, and once again it tasted lovely.

Last attempt for the night. More milk added to thin out the mix. Less heat and hey presto we have a pancake! Pours easily to the edges, cooks, to a light golden brown, can be flipped or tossed and tastes perfect. Chances are though I've added nearly a litre of milk by now, more than twice the required '400ml' but hey, who cares! I'm making pancakes!

But then we come to the other side of pancake making. The mess. There are drips, blobs, globules, smears of solid pancake mix everywhere! It has the texture of wallpaper paste when it starts to set and I'm scared it's now blocking up my sink drain. I still have half a tub of mix stored for later, but drips down the side of the box mean I have blobs of paste in my fridge too. I can't get rid of it! Reminds me of a fairy tale from when I was a child...

...The magic porridge pot.