How to make pancakes, with Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck, chef founder of CUT at 45 Park Lane in London, opened his first restaurant, Spago, in Hollywood, California in 1982. He now has more than 30 restaurants around the world, with three Michelin stars among them, and an appearance on Keeping up with the Kardashians on his CV too. We met with him at CUT at 45 Park Lane to learn how to make the best pancakes in the world.

HOW TO MAKE PANCAKES, a recipe by Wolfgang Puck

INGREDIENTS

4 large egg whites
2 large egg yolks
60 grams buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
60 grams pastry flour
60 grams wholewheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Non-stick cooking spray
Optional: blueberries, raspberries and walnuts

Start with flour, the dry ingredient, and mix in the eggs, then add buttermilk, milk and cream, stirring continuously.
Add a little sugar (this is optional), followed by vanilla extract.
Add spices. Wolfgang recommends a little ginger and cinnamon or nutmeg (but don't add too much, as it's strong).
Add baking soda and baking powder. This is key to getting fluffy pancakes. They take a little time to work, so leave the batter to sit. You’ll see it’s getting fluffy when bubbles begin to appear. Aeration = fluffiness!
Add a little butter to a non-stick pan and heat on medium/medium-low.
Spoon batter on to the pan. You can make them as thick or thin, big or small as you want. When bubbles start to appear, that’s your cue to wait a little bit before flipping it over.
Once you’ve turned it, add in any extra ingredients you want, such as chocolate chips or banana pieces.
Flip the pancake on to the other side to cook. The secret to the perfect flip is that it's all in the wrist.
Once they’re done, pop them on a plate and add your toppings.
The final stage is perfecting the presentation. Arrange your favourite berries - cherries, blueberries, strawberries - around your pancake.

Wolfgang Puck at 45 Park LanePress

An interview with Wolfgang Puck

Are you a breakfast person?

'I like breakfast but I have to be awake an hour before, have my coffee slowly, and then I like to eat. I’m slow with food. But I love pancakes, I love everything sweet. So for me that’s really a great way to start the day, because where I grew up in Austria we ate a lot of sweets.'

Are pancakes your favourite breakfast dish?

'I love variety. I don't want to have pancakes every day because I’ll get bored with them. I like some egg dishes. At home my children like egg and bacon, but my wife doesn’t like the smell of bacon in the house - she says it even smells in the closet. So we try to make egg and bacon when she’s out of town. Breakfast has to be something that is spur of the moment. It really depends on the weather, the time of the year. In the winter I like a bowl of oatmeal, in the summer, or later in the day, I eat pancakes and omelettes. I’m easy, though. My wife and kids are the picky ones.'

Do your sons each have a sweet tooth too?

'My children have the same DNA as me, so they all like sweet stuff.'

What’s the strangest thing you’ve put on a pancake?

'For me, the strangest thing is when there’s nothing on it. I think pancakes are a great foundation to build upon. Sometimes when I have pancakes with no sugar and with smoked salmon, people look at me and say ‘how can you eat that?’ But it’s delicious. Naturally, everyone wants maple syrup on their pancakes. Today we’re using maple syrup from Canada, a place that’s very famous for its maple syrup.'

How many restaurants do you have now?

'I have places all over the world… London, Istanbul, the Middle East, New York, Los Angeles. We have restaurants in airports. We keep busy! We’re still young. And cooking is about love; having other people enjoy your food.'

Who is the most famous fan of these pancakes?

'When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stayed at 45 Park Lane with their kids [when they were together], we had to send up a ton of these pancakes. They got all the toppings… berries, bananas, smoked salmon, chocolate chips!'

How often do you travel?

'I travel to a different place every week. After this, I’m going back to New York. I’m on the road for 150 days of the year.'

Wolfgang Puck and David McIntyre at 45 Park LanePress

How do you deal with jet lag?

'When I go somewhere with eight or nine hours’ time difference what bothers me the most is waking up at 4am after I only went to sleep at 1am. I take half a sleeping pill at night to help. In the afternoon, if I sit down, I get sleepy. So I go to the gym, work out for half an hour or 45 minutes, take a shower, and I feel brand new - for me, working out when the jet lag hits worst is perfect.'

Where do you go to relax?

'I love to go on holidays just for food, but my wife gets upset and says she’ll gain 10 pounds with me. So we go to Sardinia, and it’s great for the kids because it’s got beautiful beaches and water sports. There’s a bit of something for everyone. I could eat my way around London or Paris, but it’s good to go somewhere there’s stuff for the children to do too.'

What do you love most about Italy?

'Italy is beautiful, but it’s mainly about the people. They are so friendly. When you go to a hotel or a restaurant, they really welcome you. They know about hospitality better than any other country, so for me and my family it’s a really special place. When we go to our favourite restaurant in Sardinia, in Porto Cervo, we sit down, the waiter comes over, says hello to my sons and tells them 'I have your favourite pizza cooking already!’ Five minutes later they get their pizza without having to order it, and for me he brings me a glass of rosé.'

Where do you go for winter holidays?

'I always go skiing somewhere in the Rocky mountains in Colorado or Utah. We even had a restaurant up in Vale for a while, which was nice because I could ski in and out. I really like winter holidays because in Austria, where I grew up, we had long winters.'

What is a must-have ingredient in your kitchen?

'Champagne. A glass of Champagne makes almost everyone happy. If you have Champagne, a little butter, a little cream, caviar or smoked salmon then you can have breakfast, lunch, friends over. I remember once, a long time ago, I took a girlfriend home, and she looked in my refrigerator, wanting to make breakfast for me. But all I had in there was Champagne and sparkling water. She said ‘You’re a chef, you should have food in your refrigerator!’ I said, ‘I have food in my restaurant, I don’t need it at home!’'

What Champagne do you drink?

'I like Lanson and Krug, but also Champagne with some age, at least 12 to 15 years old. Right now I drink Champagne from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, that way it has less bubbles and tastes a little more rounded and a little more ‘old’.'

Is there anything you should never put in an omelette?

'An omelette really goes well with a lot of things because eggs are like a base, like pasta.'

Wolfgang Puck and executive chef David McIntyre cooking at CUT at 45 Park LanePress

How to make the best omelette in the world

Begin by heating up the fillings separately. Ham, onions and mushrooms go into one saucepan on low heat - you want them to cook slowly, so keep tasting as you go along.
Break a couple of eggs into a bowl, seasoning them with a little salt and pepper. Add fresh herbs (chives, parsley, whatever you like) and mix well.
Put a little oil into another saucepan and throw in some heirloom tomatoes. Add jalapeños, season with a little salt and pepper. (Wolfgang only uses tomatoes in the summertime as in winter they have no flavour).
Now make the omelette. In a separate non-stick saucepan, add oil and a touch of butter. Add the eggs on high heat.
It should still be soft when you put the ham, onions and mushrooms carefully into the middle. You can also sprinkle cheese in here too.
Fold each side of the omelette over using a fork, and then flip it upside down on to a plate. Again, it’s all in the wrist.
Finish it off with a line of tomatoes on top.

Read our review of 45 Park Lane in our round-up of the best hotels in London.

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