Be prepared, o denizens of the Internet!

National Pancake Day is nearly upon us! Next Tuesday, February 28!

And to help you get into the spirit, here are some oddball facts you ought to know about pancakes. Well, actually, that’s not true . . . you technically don’t need to know any oddball facts about pancakes. In fact, learning oddball facts about pancakes is probably a colossal waste of time. But! There are a couple of recipes at that link. And nobody can have too many pancake recipes . . . oh, okay, I admit it. That’s not true, either.

In fact, one of the quickest ways to cut down on the hassle of making pancakes is to do away with the whole look-up-a-recipe step. Throw a good bit of flour in a bowl, pinch of salt, thumbnail of baking powder, bit of sugar to help them brown up, beat an egg into a chunk of melted butter (not too hot on the butter, this is pancakes, not Hollandaise), stir that into the flour, then add enough milk so it will spread out on the griddle. Or not, if you like your pancakes as high as they are wide.

Works for me. But I make a lot of pancakes. My daughter favors them for her breakfasts :-)

(Oh, one other thing. That last step — the adding milk part. That’s the only tricky one, because if you over-mix you’ll make the final product rubbery. So take a deep breath and imagine that you are a Bold Chef of Minimalist Action. Confident to complete the final mixing with a few decisive flicks of a fork. Leave the lumps. They’ll sort themselves out, they always do.)