Sunday, October 2, 2011

Buckwheat Festival: Sunday!

Off to church we went this morning...drove through some rain trying really hard to be snow!  Gotta wait to love the snow until I get a roof on.
Anyway, at church, a friend put out a plea for help in the buckwheat kitchen for his wife who is the  co-director of the high school band who was in charge of 2 kitchens today.  So, rushed home, changed clothes, rushed to the buckwheat eating place for our final feast of the year and then started helping in the kitchen...flipping the cakes.  I so much prefer working at the frantic pace in the kitchen than being on the eating floor trying to keep everyone happy. 
Here's a quick look at the process...which is all done in a sort of neverending (if you are doing it right) assembly line.

Step #1    Stab a piece of pork fat, left over from the sausage making process, and slather the hot grill as soon as it is empty.
                    (see the lady in the dark blue shirt)


Step #2    Pour the batter as close as you can without touching...if you are really good you can get 21 on the grill at a time!  (except for that skinny first grill that only handles 2 rows)

Step #3    Flip the cakes.  The first flip comes when the wet part of the batter is about the size of a silver dollar in the middle.  The second flip comes about 1 minute after that.
Hmmm.  Did I flip one too high?  Or am I just waiting for my silver dollar?

Step #4    Stack them 3 high and hold them out for a plate.
Step #5   The one I have been doing all weekend...ENJOY eating them.

So, I was happy to help and I got out before I had to be on the clean up crew!  A little chocolate milk and a nap for me.
Thanks to Stevie for the pictures.

Oh, we ordered our metal roof on Saturday!  Soon, very soon.


9 comments:

W-S Wanderings said...

LOOK at those grills! I could use one of those to get my family of 7 fed in short order. I say "I", but I really mean my husband. He's the cook.

You look very lovely and confident with your stack of buckwheat cakes. I wish I could have been there to sample some.

Tanna said...

You are a hotcake flipper for sure!! Man, those look good. I'm sure you needed a nap after that! Yea, for the metal roof! blessings ~ tanna

Donna said...

***WSW- Yep. That is exactly what your husband needs! I'm not a cook, but even I like to work on this beast! Even without the giant grill you want to try to cook your cakes in some cast iron.
***Tanna, the nap was so nice...cold and rainy outside, and warm and toasty inside. Sweet.

K said...

Yep - my husband needs one, too - he cooks for the entire clan every Sunday, a thing I swore I would never do again after the twenty five plus years I was stuck with spending the Sabbath wiping my forehead with my church clothes sleeve. Now, my mama taught me to turn pancakes when the bubbled in the batter all begin to break open. I wonder if that would work with buckwheat? I did SO enjoy watching those bubbles. And HURRAY for the metal roof. We got rain like somebody was throwing it at us last night and this morning. I'm off to buy fertilizer for the field -

Donna said...

I don't think that I have ever made pancakes or buckwheat cakes at home...I know. Hard to believe. Real buckwheat cakes have a starter that you keep forever???? for a long time at least.

K said...

Starter? How cool. Sourdough bread is like that. There are starters that are over one hundred years old. Weird. But it's also weird that you have never made PANCAKES!! Woman - REPENT!!!! THey're easy, and WONDerful.

Donna said...

hmmmm. Well, maybe I will when I live in my new house. Can I add blueberries? Is Bisquick cheating?

W-S Wanderings said...

Yes, Bisquick is cheating! I cheat regularly :-)

But here's what I really came here to say - I got Buckwheat flour!!!!! Yeah. So, now I've got to find me a buckwheat cake recipe. And I'm thinkin' that maybe you're not the person to ask afterall
;-)

Donna said...

WSW, I would be exactly the wrong person to ask. Why do I need to make them when so many other people around here already do??? But, I bet I can find you a recipie. I think they are on the bags of flour here...
Need me to do that?