N° 55: Millet Porridge Pancakes

whole grain, gf, sweet or savory

Good morning,

The truth is I don’t think I ever went to Café Orlin when it existed; I was a devotee of Café Mogador (which does still exist), a block further east on St. Mark’s Place. But a few weeks ago, at a Good & Sweet event at Milton Market, an affable attendee asked me if I’d ever had Orlin’s millet pancakes — and if I had a recipe for them. The answer to both was no. But, so effusive was this pancake fan that I was impelled to search for any online trace of a recipe. It appeared the Orlin recipe was once published, but the host site no longer exists, and even the Internet Archive couldn’t save the day. But — eureka! — an adapted version appeared in a 2008 post on Flickr, of all places. I simply reverse-engineered that recipe to return it to what would logically have been the original, tested it, and made necessary adjustments.

I’m embarrassed to admit that when I flipped the first of these pancakes, I said Wow aloud, so weightless and pillowy was the flapjack as its second side alighted on the pan. The final result was a stack of golden-yellow cakes, custardy but light, deeply flavorful (buttered corn came to mind) with a satisfying cornmeal texture.

Unrelated: Should you find yourself in Provincetown, Massachusetts (and you should) between late spring and early fall, do call Sal’s Place and make a dinner reservation. A few nights ago, my group walked a narrow crushed-seashell path into the restaurant’s atmosphere of rare geniality and generosity. The Italian-inspired food was good — but, honestly, all it needed to be was not bad, lest it detract from the delight of the setting and its warm characters. Even a wait for the bathroom offered unexpected pleasure thanks to a soothing view of Cape Cod Bay and the furthest-flung tip of land that tapers to nothing within it.

Have a nice Sunday. Talk to soon.

Brian

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Cafe Orlin-inspired millet porridge pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries

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MILLET PORRIDGE PANCAKES
Adapted from Cafe Orlin, New York
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Word is, Cafe Orlin (1981-2017) served these uniquely flavorful and textured pancakes with pickled beets and chicken sausage; it’s no wonder I relished my savory version, with cherry tomatoes and grated parmesan, as much as the sweet, with blueberries and maple syrup.

For simplicity, I indicate “half-and-half” as the liquid component; in fact, I used half heavy cream, half whole milk. If you want to go a bit lighter, you could use all milk, no cream; and if you prefer unsweetened nondairy milk and/or cream, I imagine those would work, too. The tiny amount of flour in the pancakes means that gluten isn’t a necessity, so I used my favorite gluten-free flour blend.

To take the more savory route, omit the optional sugar and vanilla.

Makes 8 pancakes
Total time: 1 hour

Millet porridge pancakes: with tomatoes and parmesan (L)

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