Cooking Class Series: Cooking with Eggs

Plus, a recipe for Japanese Soufflé Pancakes with Strawberries and Whipped PB & J Butter.

Our Cooking Class series aims to teach you tips, tools, and techniques to make you a more confident cook so you can in turn share it with others at your own table. If you are new to the community, welcome! If you want to be a part of our food community, make sure you subscribe.

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What came first, the chicken or the egg? Although this question has plagued elementary students for centuries, does the question really matter? After all, they are both delicious.

Human beings have been eating eggs for 6 million years. In Hunan, China during the Ming Dynasty, they discovered and popularized “century eggs,” eggs preserved for up to 100 days in clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls. The Ancient Romans and Egyptians used eggs as binding agents in cakes and bread from the beginning. The Ottoman empire popularized, Shakshouka, a dish of eggs stewed in tomato sauce that is now seen in some form all around the world from Mexico’s huevos rancheros, Spain’s pisto manchego, to the Italian’s ova ‘mpriatorio.

We love eggs, so today in our cooking class series you’ll learn how to make Japanese soufflé pancakes made with fluffy egg whites served with strawberries and PB & J whipped butter.

For our paid subscribers, you’ll learn tips for working with egg whites and how to make an aioli with egg yolks.

Our paid subscribers will also get access to our curated list of egg accessories for the table, the Dine-In Collective (weekly curated menus to cook from), and first access to our monthly Cookbook Club.

Japanese Soufflé Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce and PB & J Whipped Butter

From the French word “souffler” which means “to blow,” “to breathe” or “to puff,” soufflé pancakes have become a global trend and trace their roots to Hawaii in 1974 when Jan and Jerry Fukunaga established their diner Eggs N’ Things and made their fluffy pancakes a world trend.

**Note: Why are our recipes in grams? It is so much easier to measure in grams versus using cups and tablespoons/teaspoons. Everyone measures a cup of flour differently so working with grams will give you the most accurate amount, plus it’s so much easier! Just tare to zero and pour. We love this scale for all our cooking.

Ingredients:

For Soufflé Pancakes:

• 227 grams of all-purpose flour

• 25 grams powdered sugar

• 9 grams of baking powder

• 3 grams of kosher salt

• 290 grams milk

• 57 grams of melted butter (about 4 tablespoons)

• 3 grams vanilla bean paste or extract

• 1 large egg yolk, plus 3 large egg whites, separated

• 2 grams of cream of tartar

For Whipped PB & J Butter:

• 134 grams of butter 

• 27 grams of creamy peanut butter 

• 17 grams of strawberry jam 

• 50 grams buttermilk 

For Strawberry Sauce:

• 180 grams strawberries, quartered

• 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam

Directions:

For the pancakes:

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt). 

2. In a second bowl mix together the melted butter, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. 

3. In a third bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) use a beater to whip the egg whites and cream of tartar for 3-4 minutes until stiff peaks form. 

4. Now stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients until they are combined (a few lumps are fine).

5. Gently fold whipped egg whites into the batter until just incorporated (be careful not to overmix because it will deflate the egg whites.

6. Preheat a deep skillet with a lid over low heat and spray the inside of a 3-inch baking ring with nonstick spray or butter and place them in the preheated pan.

7. Fill each ring halfway full with batter. Place the lid on the pan and allow them to cook for 5 minutes.

8. When the pancake is set (you should see large bubbles at the surface), slide a spatula underneath to lift the pancake and ring, and then use tongs to quickly flip it over. Allow the soufflé pancakes to cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Repeat with the remaining batter.

For the strawberry sauce:

1. In a saucepan on low, heat strawberries and strawberry jam until strawberries are soft. If the mixture is too thick, add lemon juice or water.

For the whipped pb&j butter:

1. In a stand mixer, whip butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

2. Add in peanut butter and mix thoroughly.

3. Add in buttermilk and mix until mixture is combined and is light and fluffy again.

4. Add in jam.

If you make this recipe tag @thegatherhouseco so we can share it with the community!