Illustrators and artists have long been called upon to help sell a food product or make the pages of a cookbook more instructive and enticing. Maxfield Parrish, of the Golden Age of Illustration, created Art Nouveau advertisements for Jell-O in the 1920’s. Today, anyone can walk into the bar at the St. Regis hotel in New York City and order a Red Snapper, essentially a Bloody Mary that is made with gin, beneath his luminous mural “Old King Cole”. The original Joy of Cooking published in 1931 is full of simple and crisp line drawings by Ginnie Hoffman and Beverly Warner. The charming drawings echo the words in the recipes. If you are about to bake a yeast bread, you can follow along with drawings of hands kneading, punching the dough after the first rising, and checking for doneness. An ability to draw hands was definitely a prerequisite. Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook published in 1961 was illustrated with the line drawings of Andrew Warhol (yes, Andy!) and again drawing hands was a prerequisite. Warhol was looked down upon by the Abstract Expressionists of his day for being a commercial artist, but soon remedied that situation when his paintings of 32 varieties of Campbell’s soup cans were shown in a Los Angeles gallery. He was now considered a fine artist of the pop art movement, but food was still the focus.
Buckwheat Oatmeal Pancakes is adapted from a recipe for oatmeal pancakes found in Alpha-Bakery, a children’s cookbook published by Gold Medal flour, and served many times in our kitchen. The oatmeal pancake recipe is the one illustrated in my button book in the video. I decided to experiment with buckwheat flour after reading about some of the health benefits. It definitely makes a hearty pancake that is a good start to a frosty, winter day.
Ingredients
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/2 c. quick cooking oats
3/4 c. of buttermilk
1/4 c. of milk
2 T. of vegetable oil plus extra to grease the griddle
1 t. of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 t. of salt
2 eggs
Directions
Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a smaller bowl beat eggs. Add oil, buttermilk, and milk. Mix wet ingredients together, and then pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Hand beat. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Add vegetable oil to the griddle with a pastry brush. Reduce heat to medium and let the oil warm for about a minute. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle for each pancake. They are ready to be flipped when they begin to puff up and bubbles appear on the surface. Lift up an edge to make sure that they are ready to flip. Cook until the other side is golden.
Serve with warm maple syrup. Make 8 to 10 pancakes.
Buckwheat Oatmeal Pancakes