Pancakes get rice, oatmeal infusion | The Republic

20.05.12

When cooks travel, they inevitably bring back recipes as souvenirs. A trip to central Italy might mean a wonderfully simple braise of fennel in olive oil. Go to southwest France and come back with pork confit. Visit Tokyo and you find a twist on the savory custard chawan mushi. When I hit the road, I usually seem to come back with pancakes.

Several years ago in Mendocino I discovered one of my absolute favorite pancake recipes, from Ole’s Swedish Hot Cakes at the Little River Inn. They’re rich — 1 ½ sticks of butter! — and delicate in texture. What’s not to love? My newest pancake passion, though, is neither rich nor delicate, and I love it just as well.

I found these pancakes during a summer road trip through northern Minnesota at a sweet little coffee shop in Bemidji called the Minnesota Nice Cafe — just steps from the giant Paul Bunyan statue. It was a chilly morning (do they have any other kind there?), and I was torn between the wild rice and the blueberry pancakes. So I got both.

Source: The Republic