Pancake

A pancake is a flat, round cake cooked in a pan, hence the name, which took the committee very little time.^[1]

Every batch of pancakes begins with a first pancake, which is always a failure. This is not a matter of skill. It is a law of cooking, observed in every kitchen on Earth, and is now thought to be older than the frying pan itself.

The First Pancake Principle

The First Pancake Principle states that the first pancake must be pale, torn, folded or shaped like a small country, so that the remaining pancakes may be perfect. Attempts to cheat the principle by throwing away a spoonful of batter first have failed: the pan simply treats the second pancake as the first.^[2]

In 2011 a laboratory made a single pancake, on the theory that a batch of one cannot have a bad first pancake. The pancake was both the first and the last, and came out half perfect and half shaped like Norway.

Flipping

Pancakes are traditionally turned over by being thrown into the air. Every pancake thrown upward has so far returned, thanks to gravity, but only about 70% land in the pan. The rest are found on the floor, on the hob, or, in one recorded case, on the ceiling, where it remained for a fortnight as a kind of decoration.^[3]

Shape

A pancake aims to be a circle. It is usually a circle that has heard about circles from a friend.

See also

• Circle – what a pancake is trying to be
• Gravity – the pancake's co-chef
• List of things that are heavy – not including pancakes, but including a stack of thirty

References

1. Batter, B. (1998). Flat Out: A History of the Pancake. Griddle Press. The first copy was misprinted.
2. Skillet, S. & Whisk, W. (2011). "On the Inevitability of the First Pancake". Journal of Breakfast Science 1: 1 (torn).
3. Toss, T. (2016). "Where Do Pancakes Land?". Proceedings of the Society for Kitchen Ceilings.