German Pancake with Smoked Pork and Peach Chilli Chutney
we out here making German pancakes with smoked pork and a peach Thai chili chutney! come through and get some!
A savoury German pancake, which almost nobody makes, and it works because the batter is barely sweet to start with — four eggs, flour, milk and salt is closer to a Yorkshire pudding than to a dessert.
The sugar comes out of the batter entirely here and the pancake becomes a bowl. A high crisp rim and a soft middle, filled with smoked pork and covered in chutney.
Peach and Thai chilli is mine and it is correct. Hot, sweet and sharp against smoked pork, and chunky enough that you get a piece of peach in some bites and not others.
- Feeds
- 4
- Hands-on
- 35 minutes
- Chutney
- 25 minutes
- Batter
- No sugar
What you need
The savoury batter
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup flour
- 2/3 cup whole milk, warmed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 tbsp butter, for the pan
The peach and Thai chilli chutney
- 5 peaches, in 3/4-inch chunks
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 4 Thai chillies, sliced (from my garden)
- 1 thumb ginger, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp mustard seed
- 1 tsp salt
The filling
- 1 lb smoked pork, shredded and warmed
- Coriander, to finish
How it goes
1 — No sugar in the batter
This is the whole adjustment. Salt and pepper instead. It makes a pancake that behaves like a vessel rather than a pudding.
2 — Chutney first — everything in one pan, 25 minutes
Onion, vinegar, sugar, chillies, ginger, garlic, mustard seed and salt brought to a simmer, then the peaches in. Twenty-five minutes until it is thick and glossy and a spoon leaves a track on the bottom of the pan.
3 — Stop while there are still chunks of peach
The picture has visible pieces. Cooked until smooth it is a sauce and it loses the point.
pro tip — It thickens a lot as it cools. Take it off looking slightly loose.
4 — Batter rested, pan screaming
Blended, rested thirty minutes. Cast iron in a 425°F oven for fifteen, butter in until foaming, batter straight in.
5 — Twenty minutes for a high rim
Without sugar it climbs higher and crisps harder. A deep bowl with steep golden walls. Door stays shut.
6 — Shred and warm the pork while it bakes
Pulled into threads for once — this is one of the few places shredded is right, because it has to sit inside a pancake and be eaten with a fork.
7 — Fill it immediately and spoon the chutney over
Out of the oven, pork into the well while the walls are still standing, chutney spooned over the top, coriander scattered. It sinks around the filling and that is correct.
8 — Cut it in wedges at the table
Straight from the skillet. It holds for about ten minutes and then the rim softens.
Come through and get some. There is a whole pork butt behind this one. LFG.