Sometimes you luck out and find an easy-to-follow recipe that you execute perfectly on the first try. It’s instantly added to your menu rotation and becomes a family favorite. This, sadly, is going to take a bit more work.
At first glance, this Tasty video makes cooking Japanese souffle pancakes look easy enough to follow, and the pancakes in the video do look fluffy and appetizing. But, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find some major problems.
Of course, filtering through the comments is the first thing you do when scouting out a new recipe. Did people love it? Do they have suggestions on how to make it even better?
The comment section on this video, however, was filled with people who had tried it and failed. If not discussing their failures, they were directing people to watch the debunking video.
But in the video, How to Cook That with Ann Reardon, Reardon tries the recipe and discovers something that changes everything. But before we dig into brilliant findings, let’s talk about some of the problems with the original Tasty video.
Tasty’s Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes
In the original viral Tasty video, the chef makes two Japanese souffle pancakes in about 15 minutes using tall cake molds. The outsides are perfectly browned and the insides look airy and fluffy. However, when everyday people videotaped themselves trying the recipe, the results were disastrous.
“They’re both overcooked and raw at the same time,” one Youtuber exclaimed while attempting the recipe. Even on the Tasty series, Eating Your Feed, it took the cook four attempts to make the pancakes from the video.
But bear with us, because this is where things start to get better.
Enter, Food Scientist Ann Reardon
How To Cook That, an Australian Youtube baking channel by Reardon, has gained millions of viewers since its launch in 2011, when she started her website and Youtube channel to stay awake during night feedings with her third child.
In her debunking video, she stated that she decided to try the recipe because one of her subscribers tried the Tasty recipe, which resulted in inedible pancakes.
After Reardon scours videos of other Japanese souffle pancake recipe fails and studies videos of professional chefs cooking Japanese souffle pancakes, she has an epiphany!
In restaurants, they use a stabilizer in the recipe, which is something the Tasty recipe was lacking.
First, she tries cream of tartar, which makes the recipe “unpleasant” and acidic. She finally settles on egg white powder, which makes the batter more stable.
Another difference, after many attempts, is that Reardon bakes her pancakes instead of cooking them on the stovetop. Cooking them in the oven ensures that they will cook through.
With these modifications, the end result is a perfectly fluffy puff of pancake, this time cooked all the way through.
So, it may take some practice, but you can be earring fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes in no time. Find the full recipe by Reardon here. Happy baking!