A pancake machine is an electrically-powered machine that automatically produces cooked pancakes. [1] It is believed that the earliest known pancake machine was invented in the United States in 1928. [2] Several types of pancake machines exist that perform in various manners, for both commercial and home use. Some are fully automatic in operation, while others are semi-automatic. Some companies mass-produce pancake machines, and some have been homemade.
In 1928, a man in Portland, Oregon, invented an electric pancake machine that operated by the process of batter being dropped onto a revolving heated flattop grill from a storage cylinder atop the grill. The grill was heated using electricity. The amount of batter dropped was controlled by using controlled amounts of compressed air, which pushed batter out of the storage cylinder. As the batter revolved on the hot grill, the pancake was flipped halfway through the cooking process by a shelf atop the grill. After being flipped, the completed pancake was ejected from the machine upon contact with a gate. [2]
In 1955 in the United States, an automatic pancake machine was developed by Vendo, which used a specially formulated pancake batter mix that was manufactured by the Quaker Oats Company's Aunt Jemima branch. The Vendo machine could produce pancakes "in less than three minutes". It was a semi-automatic machine that performed all of the cooking functions except for the pouring of the pancake batter. [1]
Various types of pancake machines exist, such as those that run pancake batter through a heated conveyor inside of a box unit, and those that automatically drop pancake batter onto a flattop grill. Some pancake machines, such as one developed by Crepe-Coer, cook both sides of a pancake simultaneously. [3] Semi-automatic pancake machines also exist, which require some human interaction to function, such as the pouring of batter. Commercial pancake machines may be used in the foodservice industry, in cafeterias and by restaurants, and can serve to reduce the waste of stale pancake batter. [1] [4] Some hotels have pancake machines that guests are allowed to operate. [5] They are also used in other environments in a self-service manner, such as in upscale airport lounges [6] [7] and hotels. [8]
Homemade versions of pancake machines have been constructed. An example of a homemade pancake machine is one constructed in 1977 by Ken Whitsett of the Ocala Kiwanis Club in Ocala, Florida, which was used for the organization's annual pancake day. The Kiwanis machine utilized a hopper filled with pancake batter that was manually dropped onto a revolving griddle. The pancakes were manually flipped and plated when cooking was completed. It required four people for its operation, and could produce between 750–1000 pancakes per hour. [9]
Commercial pancake machines are typically used in the commercial foodservice and hospitality industries. [1] [3] [4] Popcake is an international company that produces Popcake-brand pancake machines, [10] [11] which can produce 200 pancakes per hour. Individual pancakes are produced in seconds by this machine. The machine was designed for use in commercial establishments such as cafeterias and convenience stores. [4] The Popcake machine was invented by Marek Szymanski in Australia, and as of July 2014 approximately 7,000 of them are used worldwide. [11] This brand has features that allow users to adjust the size, quantity and doneness level of the pancakes produced. [6] [12] [13]
In March 2015 in the U.S., the PancakeBot pancake machine received over $141,000 on Kickstarter. Its target donation request on the website was $50,000. PancakeBot can produce custom pancakes in various designs, which is performed by the use of pancake batter in a bottle that is moved by a programmable machine arm atop the griddle. The machine utilizes custom software to accomplish this. [14] [15]
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat and vegetables quickly. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill, using a cast iron/frying pan, or a grill pan.
Okonomiyaki is a Japanese teppanyaki, savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients cooked on a teppan. Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include okonomiyaki sauce, aonori, katsuobushi, Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger.
Teppanyaki, often called hibachi in the United States and Canada, is a post-World War II style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan, the metal plate on which it is cooked, and yaki, which means grilled, broiled, or pan-fried. In Japan, teppanyaki refers to dishes cooked using a teppan, including steak, shrimp, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and monjayaki.
A pancake, also known as hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan. It is a type of batter bread. Archaeological evidence suggests that pancakes were probably eaten in prehistoric societies.
A griddle, in the UK typically referred to simply as a frying pan or flat top, is a cooking device consisting mainly of a broad, usually flat cooking surface. Nowadays it can be either a movable metal pan- or plate-like utensil, a flat heated cooking surface built onto a stove as a kitchen range, or a compact cooking machine with its own heating system attached to an integrated griddle acting as a cooktop.
Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are staple foods of the Hopi people in Arizona. The Hidatsa people of the Upper Midwest call baked cornbread naktsi, while the Choctaw people of the Southeast call it bvnaha. The Cherokee and Seneca tribes enrich the basic batter, adding chestnuts, sunflower seeds, apples, or berries, and sometimes combine it with beans or potatoes. Modern versions of cornbread are usually leavened by baking powder.
Outdoor cooking is the preparation of food in the outdoors. A significant body of techniques and specialized equipment exists for it, traditionally associated with nomad in cultures such as the Berbers of North Africa, the Arab Bedouins, the Plains Indians, pioneers in North America, and indigenous tribes in South America. These methods have been refined in modern times for use during recreational outdoor pursuits, by campers and backpackers.
A barbecue grill or barbeque grill is a device that cooks food by applying heat from below. There are several varieties of grills, with most falling into one of three categories: gas-fueled, charcoal, or electric. There is debate over which method yields superior results.
Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavourings.
A crumpet is a small griddle bread made from an unsweetened batter of water or milk, flour, and yeast, popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.
A waffle iron or waffle maker is a kitchen utensil used to cook waffles between two hinged metal plates. Both plates have gridded indentations to shape the waffle from the batter or dough placed between them. The plates are heated and the iron is closed while the waffle bakes. Waffles are a quick bread with a light and sweet flavor, similar to pancakes. Their appearance is much harder to achieve than a pancake's without a waffle iron. Similar technology is employed to bake wafers, and several other snacks including kue gapit, a waffle-shaped but crunchy Indonesian snack which can be made with both sweet and savoury flavours.
A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread.
A Staffordshire oatcake is a type of dense, savoury pancake made from oatmeal, flour and yeast. It is cooked on a griddle, "backstone" or "baxton". The oatcake is a local speciality in the North Staffordshire area of England. They are normally referred to as Staffordshire oatcakes by non-locals, because they are made in and around Staffordshire and Cheshire; locally they are simply called "oatcakes".
A flattop grill is a cooking appliance that resembles a griddle but performs differently because the heating element is circular rather than straight. This heating technology creates an extremely hot and even cooking surface, as heat spreads in a radial fashion over the surface. Flattop grills have been around for hundreds of years in various forms and evolved in a number of cultures.
Lincat is an industrial catering and foodservice equipment company based in Lincolnshire that is represented on the Alternative Investment Market. The company claims to be the UK's leading manufacturer of commercial catering equipment.
Northern Irish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Northern Ireland. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but has also drawn heavily from Irish and British cuisines.
Pancake art is an art form in which works are created on a griddle or frying pan using pancake batter as the medium applied from a bottle with a nozzle, sometimes called a pancake pen. Batters containing different food coloring may be used to create a color piece, or contrasting shades can be achieved by allowing parts of the image to cook longer. When cooking is complete, the pancake is flipped over to reveal the final image.
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