00:05My name is Jake Lieber.
00:06I am the chef and owner of Chez Matin
00:08here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
00:10Today, I'm going to show you how to make my perfect pancakes.
00:17Chez Matin has been open for nearly nine years now.
00:20It was inspired by the nouveau bistro scene in Paris.
00:23Pancakes are probably the most popular dish.
00:26They make literally like 1,200 pancakes on a weekend.
00:28They have this great crispy edge.
00:30Pushing the color on them to get that toasted marshmallow flavor
00:33is transcendent.
00:38So I'm going to start by cracking all my eggs.
00:41If you get shells in your bowl,
00:43there's this lovely trick that if you use a shell,
00:46it scoops it out really easily.
00:48If I tried to use my fingers for that,
00:51it would just slide around and avoid my fingers
00:53like my children avoiding going to bed.
00:56I'm going to do eight and eight eggs and egg yolks.
00:59I'm just using my hands to separate the whites from the yolk.
01:03I'm letting the whites slip through my fingers,
01:06my very clean, recently washed hands.
01:09You do not have to waste your whites at all.
01:12You can make an omelet out of them.
01:13You can save them to make meringue.
01:15Extra yolks contribute richness.
01:18I'm going to cream my sugar a bit,
01:20just to make sure that it's evenly distributed.
01:24I'm going to go in with salt and baking powder to make them rise.
01:29Probably the most important thing about the batter,
01:31we're mixing our ingredients evenly
01:33so we don't have some that end up flat
01:35and some that end up fluffy.
01:37But look at it already.
01:38It's starting to activate.
01:39I'm going in with about half the milk.
01:41I'm using whole milk.
01:43Skim milk is bull .
01:45By adding milk in stages,
01:47it helps me make my batter a little bit more even.
01:50This is leached all-purpose flour.
01:53Adding the flour bit by bit helps to avoid lumps.
01:57Now it's getting tight.
01:58I can feel my arm like it's starting to feel like cement a little bit.
02:00I'm going to add a little bit more of my milk.
02:03Kind of got to use your eye a bit.
02:05If the batter is super wet,
02:07your pancakes are going to be flat.
02:08And nobody wants flat pancakes.
02:11One of the special things about this recipe
02:13is that we use clarified butter.
02:15Butter that has been separated from the milk solids.
02:18And once I add the fat,
02:20don't be scared if you see it broken.
02:21It will incorporate.
02:23And that's about the consistency we're looking for.
02:25A little bit like a drippy sand castle.
02:27Any like decent supermarket has clarified butter these days.
02:31It's called ghee.
02:33G-H-E-E.
02:35If you don't have clarified butter,
02:37you can use literally any oil that you have in your pantry.
02:41We also use a little bit of lemon zest.
02:44Zest doesn't add acidity, but it adds brightness.
02:47It helps cut the richness of the pancakes.
02:50Some people ask me why I put my microplane in my belly button.
02:54It's like my fishing rod anchor.
02:56I wasn't thinking about it, but then somebody called me out.
02:59They're like, are you, is your microplane in your belly button?
03:02And I was like, yeah.
03:05I've been talking a lot and my batter is tightening.
03:08It's holding even longer than it would before.
03:10That's partially because I emulsified some fat into it.
03:13And the fat is cooling in the cold egg and the cold milk.
03:17You can make your batter in advance.
03:19You probably should actually at least even an hour in advance.
03:22You can rest it in the fridge.
03:23I actually have a batch of rested pancake batter right here.
03:27By resting your batter, it hydrates and it cools.
03:30The fat is super like congealed in here and it's going to hold its shape when it hits the hot
03:38griddle.
03:41So what really sets this pancake apart is what I'm about to do right now.
03:47I know you saw me putting clarified butter into the batter.
03:49I'm going to fry them in an ocean of clarified butter.
03:53And that's what really makes them special.
03:55Super crispy.
03:56Clarified butter has a much higher smoke point than traditional butter.
04:00We don't run any risk of burning our fat, making the fat bitter in the pancake.
04:04As it warms, the fat is shimmering and it's just barely starting to smoke.
04:09The griddle should be at a good temperature.
04:10If you do not have a griddle like this at home, you can use literally any frying pan.
04:16It doesn't matter, especially, it doesn't matter because you're using this much fat.
04:19So I have my rested batter here.
04:21This is maybe a four ounce ladle, but it's dropping in and it's sizzling right away, which is exactly what
04:26we're looking for.
04:27And I'm going to give them enough space because they're going to expand.
04:31These generally take eight or so minutes to cook this very cold, thick batter all the way through.
04:37I have eight on here.
04:38They're nice and evenly spaced.
04:39This one is frying more.
04:41Obviously, it's hotter in the middle.
04:42That's because the rim is absorbing heat, but they're setting.
04:45I don't want to disturb them too much just yet.
04:46And we want it to set almost like a custard.
04:49Once they set, I'm going to move them around because I have this really nice pancake in the middle.
04:55It's getting a little bit too much heat.
04:56And the other ones need a little bit of heat, too.
04:59These generally take eight or so minutes to cook.
05:0180% of the cooking on the first side.
05:03This one's pretty much ready.
05:04The bubbles are not nearly as active and it's like kind of tacky up top.
05:09Looks dry.
05:10So that when we flip it, it doesn't flatten and eject the raw batter on the other side.
05:17I like a smaller turner because I'm going to gently flip from one side over to the other.
05:22I'm seeing a pancake now that's a shade or two darker than golden brown.
05:28I'm seeing double rings.
05:31I'm seeing a double rainbow right now.
05:32See this ring here and this ring here?
05:35That's magic.
05:36And this right here is super crispy and super fluffy.
05:39I'm going to start looking at my other pancakes.
05:41They're all looking really nice.
05:43I'm going to flip this guy right here.
05:45That's a nice color too.
05:45Look at that one.
05:47I like my pancakes dark because they end up having this like almost burnt caramel flavor to them.
05:53You don't want it to be like soft and anemic looking.
05:56I just splattered the shit out of myself, which is par for the course.
06:01You can see, okay, so now look at this.
06:03It's splattered out a little bit.
06:05It's just under set just a tiny bit.
06:07It's a usable pancake.
06:09Also, it's going to rise on its second side.
06:10It's going to keep rising.
06:12Pancakes are like snowflakes.
06:13They're all beautiful in their own way.
06:15And then once you flip them, they need time to rise again.
06:18This is the first one.
06:18I know this one's cooked.
06:20If I tap on my pancake and it doesn't like compress at all, it's cooked all the way through.
06:24They should sound like patting a baseball mitt or someone's tushy.
06:29So they're all sounding pretty good to me.
06:31Let's go with the biggest ones on the bottom.
06:34These are hot off the griddle.
06:35I'm going to cover them in butter and maple syrup.
06:39Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
06:45I've got my plate here.
06:46We have five pancakes.
06:48Normally we serve two.
06:49I'm going to put a heaping ice cream scoop of salted butter.
06:52It's whipped.
06:53You might not need more fat, but if you're counting calories, like, get the .
06:58We used to serve them covered in maple syrup.
07:00Now we pour them table side.
07:01I'm going to drench them in this lovely Pennsylvania maple syrup.
07:05I don't like random all over my pancakes.
07:08You don't need nuts.
07:09You don't need fruit.
07:10You don't need anything.
07:11You just need butter and maple syrup.
07:13They look gorgeous.
07:15They're dark.
07:16They have this wonderful ring, this shattering glass-like crispy edge.
07:21They're absolutely perfect.
07:22You can see how fluffy it is.
07:27They're sweet, but they're not too sweet.
07:29The lemon, like, you might not think it does anything, but it really comes through.
07:32They're really nice and crispy.
07:34It has that almost barely burnt flavor.
07:37And then you get a little bit more salt from the butter.
07:40Look at these layers.
07:41Look at that.
07:42It's like a harp.
07:49Comments below.
07:50If you would buy my pancake mix, I'll make it.
07:52I'll make it.
07:53Let's make some money.
07:56Make some money to me.
07:58I'm losing money.
08:00Make money.
08:01Making pancakes.
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