Here it is: The second video of Food with Alessia! This week, we will have pannenkoeken (pancakes) with a variety of toppings!

De Pannenkoek

The pancake is originally from Asia, but came to Europe already in the 12th century. The original did not have any eggs, but boekweitmeel (buckwheat), some milk, water and butter. It is quite easy to make the dough and make them yourself. The main difference with American pancakes are that these are not as fluffy and thick and the dough is much more liquid. The Dutch ones taste better, I think.

Below a quick recipe:

400 grams of bloem (flour);

3 eieren (eggs);

8 dl (26 oz) melk (milk);

a snufje (pinch) of salt;

roomboter (butter) to bake them.

Mix all ingredients, and for a fluffier dough, use a mixer as well.

Appel en kaneel (apple and cinnamon)

Starting off, we have appel en kaneel (apple and cinnamon), combined with some bruine rietsuiker (brown cane sugar). Where does this combination come from? First of all, it must be acknowledged, the combination itself is just awesome as such. No denying that. We also added some rietsuiker (cane sugar) to finish it off. It does not matter much what kind of apple you use.

Ham en kaas (ham and cheese)

Ham en kaas is quite a frequent combination for pannenkoeken, although spek en kaas (bacon and cheese) can be found a lot as well.

Sugary stuff poedersuiker en stroop (powdered sugar and syrup)

Of course, you all know powdered sugar, and you even know that on a pancake. So that is not much new under the sun. However, the syrup is interesting. It is in between the consistency of maple syrup and molasses. Back in the days, and some versions, still used apples to produce the syrup. This so called appelstroop (apple butter) is still available, but is now used more often as a bread topping. Appelstroop is thicker than normal stroop and is more like molasses.

Pannenkoekenhuis

In the beginning of the video, I briefly mention the pannenkoekenhuis in Chicago. Canada also has a chain that is called The Dutch Pannenkoeken House. A pannenkoekenhuis (pancake house) is a restaurant that specializes in pancakes, with all kinds of toppings, from sweet to savory. There are restaurants in the US that are similar, like IHOP. But IHOP does not serve the kind of pancake and the variety of toppings that these pannenkoekenhuizen normally do. There are also pannenkoekenboten, which are pancake boats. The idea is the same, just that these restaurants are located on boats.

The Pannenkoekenboot in Rotterdam. This is probably the most famous one! (Image by Roel Hemkes at flickr.com)

Pannenkoekendag

The last day of March is pannenkoekendag (pancake day)! It was started in 2007 by Tefal and Koopmans, one of the major industry players when it is about pancakes. On this day, there is also attention for people around you. School children will, for example, bake pancakes for elderly people. What a great day that must be!

Any suggestions for further videos, other foods, recipes etc. that are typically Dutch and Alessia (and I) just have to try? Let me know in the comments below!

Also any feedback enzovoorts (etcetera) is always welcome!