The Great Apple Pancake Cook-off

Fellow Westborough Patch blogger , a writer, photographer, video producer, former Naval Intelligence Office, and current school board member does blogging around easy to make recipes under the moniker Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook. It’s worth checking out www.gotta-eat.com for the wealth of easy to follow recipes.

Since he prepares food, and , there’s an overlap. We talked about getting together, and a mutual friend suggested Bruce’s pancakes are fabulous.

We could have had a simple taste test. Bruce cooks, Gary eats. There was an opportunity to make it something more. With little more structure than that, a challenge was formed.

Bruce offered to make an apple pancake. Hmm.

The question then became what to compare his Apple Pancake with…..  What neighboring town revels in their apples?  Ahh….the competition was coming together. One reminiscent of many Thanksgivings, 58 Thanksgivings to be exact…..

It’s a Westborough/Algonquin competition!

Westborough

Algonquin

Represented by

Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook

Chef

Bruce Tretter

Ann Pantazis

Apples from

Nourse Farms - Westborough

Berberian’s - Northborough

Prepared

At Home

In Restaurant

Apple Fest

None

http://www.northboroughapplefest.com/

So on a Saturday morning, I headed off to one of my favorite breakfast places, Chet’s Diner in Northborough (aka Algonquin-land). While I was finishing my delightful hash and egg breakfast, I asked for a single apple pancake to go. One of the regulars quietly asked me what I was doing….and I said I was having a bake off…with pancakes. Great hilarity ensued as he thought I was taking the Chet’s pancake as my entry in a bake off…and I quickly let him know I was staging a bake off. The chef, Ann, insisted I try the pancake fresh from the stove, and I insisted I needed to get it home intact for pictures. Ann was immediately disappointed, and led the entire counter in a joint moan of disapproval.

Bruce humbly arrived at my house after his Saturday trip to Harvey’s dump. What confidence! 

As we arranged the food for pictures, he shared how his next Gotta’ Eat, Can’t Cook project is Stress-Free, Quick and Easy Thanksgiving Dinner.   He’s working feverishly getting it ready and will post on Patch when it’s out. This was amazing…he didn’t know he was already entering a pancake in a contest worthy of the Westborough/Algonquin Thanksgiving Football Competition!

The visible differences in the two pancakes were immediately apparent. Chet’s Pancake was a “normal” pancake with apple slices on top. Frankly, exactly what I would have expected. Bruce’s pancake was…amazing.

Bruce’s pancake was discernible by the neat apple arrangement on top of the pancake. Ann, preparing dozens of breakfasts on a busy Saturday morning, was at a decided disadvantage.

The Chet’s pancake was the thickness of, well, a pancake. Bruce’s was more reminiscent of a thin quiche. This was a little worrisome to me, as I generally find quiche too darned dry.

On to the tasting. Chet’s apple pancake was a pancake with some apples on it - the dominant taste being the pancake, with some apples for seasoning. With Bruce’s, the apple is by far the dominant taste, and each apple still had enough firmness to let you know they were an apple. Very moist.

The final judgment?

Chet’s has a very good apple pancake. Bruce has created a new type of food… one I am calling the panpie. With a panpie, the filling is what comes through, with the batter being a simple carrier.

Try Bruce’s panpie (apple pancake) at http://gotta-eat.com/blog/fresh-apple-pancake.   You’ll be happy you did!

The Author

Gary Kelley has lived in Westborough since 1994. His reviews are what he would tell friends, and are not an academic analysis. You can follow him @glkelley or www.garylkelley.com