Roll-coil-roll: making scallion pancakes
It's fun and easy and oh-so-delicious — love the flaky texture
📺 Join my Substack Live event with
on Thursday, March 13 at 2 p.m. EST. It’s kitchen to cookbook → we’re chatting about how we cook, write and eat, and hope you’ll join us. To watch, just download the Substack app and subscribe to me for FREE at substack.com/@doriegreenspan🍰 If you’re crazy about food and curious about the world, then I’m so happy and grateful to welcome you as a slice of #TEAMCAKE.
Hello! Hello!
This isn’t at all what I expected to be sharing with you this week, but spontaneity — a word that sounds better than indecisiveness or wishy-washy-ness — is my middle name. I’m a tinkerer and a changer, a whim baker and an oh-I-can-make-this-instead cook. And I’m easily swayed. Which is why today’s recipe is a Scallion Pancake from a new book by the crew at ATK, America’s Test Kitchen: Baking for Two. Never mind that you don’t have to turn on the oven to make a scallion pancake — maybe its bona fides come from the fact that it’s “baked” in a covered skillet. And never mind that I had something sweet in mind when I riffled through the book. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it and didn’t want to. Also, Michael loves scallion pancakes.
A taste that goes back decades for us
When Michael and I got married and moved to Manhattan’s Upper West Side, my cousin quipped that we’d moved to a neighborhood where the zoning board decreed that there had to be a food store, a dry cleaner and a Chinese restaurant on every two-block stretch. It was a joke that was almost true and how I wish it were almost true again. There were greengrocers galore. There were small specialty food shops — I loved the one that sold butter cut from a mountain of the stuff, eggs from local farms and curd cheeses that were freshly made and spooned out to order. I learned so much from the French butcher just steps from my apartment — I never bought anything from him that didn’t come with a suggestion for how to cook it from him or his wife, who was a caterer. There were supermarkets. There was Zabar’s, of course — in those long-ago days, they flew baguettes in from Paris every morning. A few blocks away was Murray’s Sturgeon Shop, which still has great smoked salmon, and a few more blocks away was, and still is, Barney Greengrass, another revered outlet for smoked fish. It was a wonderland for a foodlover and the best classroom for anyone like me, who was eager to discover everything I could about food and how to cook it. And then there were the Chinese restaurants.
From the streets around Columbia University at 125th Street down to about 86th Street, my neighborhood, there were Chinese restaurants that drew connoisseurs from all over the city. They weren’t big, they weren’t fancy, and they weren’t pricey — many of them were barebones, many had “specials” handwritten in Chinese on paper taped to the walls. There were restaurants that specialized in Szechuan food, the foods of Hunan, Cantonese food and even restaurants where the food was a mélange of Cuban and Chinese (the deeply smoky lo mein at what was La Victoria-China was fabulous — so was the flan!). There was Tsingtao beer and the imperative to learn to use chopsticks quickly and efficiently or miss out on the good food. There were more chile peppers than this girl from Brooklyn had ever seen — they were piled on top of the chicken like kindling for a bonfire. There was tofu — another food that was new to me — and the thinnest sheets of bean curd filled with vegetables.
❗️Check out a review for La Victoria-China, Cuban/Chinese cuisine, New York City, 1970 from New York Magazine in VintageMenus
And there were scallion pancakes. And there have been ever since. I don’t think that Michael or I have ever been to a restaurant that had scallion pancakes on the menu and passed them up. Even when they’re not great, we still lick our fingers and go back for more. It’s the heat — you’ve got to eat the pancake when it’s so hot you risk burning your fingers; it’s the oiliness — it’s got to glisten just a bit; it’s the scallions and the salt and that splash of fragrant sesame oil; and it’s the dipping sauce based on full-on umami soy sauce. (Scroll down for the recipes.)
I made them because I could
I’d just unpacked my suitcases from Paris and restocked the fridge (I bought/splurged on eggs, but I’ll still be making these eggless sugar cookies) when Baking For Two landed on my doorstep. I immediately started to make a list of what I wanted to bake from it — I was also quick to notice all the helpful info, the instructions for swapping pans, using an air-fryer or baking in your toaster oven; and the charts that tell you what the ATK house weights are (fyi: 1 cup all-purpose flour = 142 grams/5 ounces). The olive oil cake looked great; the Basque cheesecake looked even better to me. I had my eye on the pear crumble with miso and almonds (mention miso in a sweet and I’m there) and the French Apple Cake (which is reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite recipes, Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake from Around My French Table.) So many choices presenting so many chances to use my adorable 6-inch cake pans and mini-sized gear. But when I got to the savory chapters and the scallion pancake turned up, I was measuring out flour in a flash.
Roll out/round around/spiral in/roll out: How you get the flake
While I’d never made a scallion pancake myself, I’d watched one being made a few years ago (thank you, Linling Tao). But watching isn’t the same as doing — do it and it all makes sense. Do it and you’ll understand why the pancake is flaky and layered. Do it and, if it’s your first pancake, you’ll be so proud of yourself. (I kind of felt the way I did when I finally made French fries.)
The way you get the signature flakiness is simple, ingenious and fun. You make a simple dough of flour and water, roll it out to a round, brush it with a mixture that’s got oil, sprinkle it with scallions and salt (I forgot the salt the first time I made it, so I seasoned the pancake before digging in), fold the round into a cylinder, coil it, snake-like, around on itself and then roll it out again. Kind of a play on puff pastry, but faster and easier and a lot less fussy. In fact, the make-it process takes just a few minutes (if you don’t count the half-hour rest).
Such fun and such deliciousness. And while I know that the book is called Baking For Two, I’m doubling the recipe tonight so that more of us can dip and munch and dip and munch again.
Dip and munch. Bake and cook. Share, share, share. These are rocky times around the world for many of us — I hope you can find a steady spot. For me, it’s the kitchen and the community we’ve made. Thank you for being here.
⏰ Get ready for Dorie’s Anytime Cakes by pre-ordering at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
💜 xoxoDorie is a reader-supported newsletter. Upgrade or invite more friends to dip and munch.
ℹ️ Click here for helpful links while using Substack.
SCALLION PANCAKE
Adapted from Baking for Two: 200+ Small-Batch Recipes, from Lazy Bakes to Layer Cakes by America’s Test Kitchen
Get your copy at Bookshop.org | Barnes & Noble | Amazon
GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START
Total time: 35 minutes, plus 30 minutes resting
Sesame oil: Please use Asian toasted sesame oil — it’s a lovely dark brown and wildly aromatic.
Scallions: The recipe calls for two, but I think the pancake is good with 3 or 4 — decide for yourself.
Dipping sauce: ATK recommends soy sauce and that’s a fine dipper, but if you’d like something with a bit more depth and some acidity, scroll down for a different recipe.
Making ahead: You can roll out the pancake, keep it in the fridge for a day and fry it when you’re ready to eat.
Doubling: The recipe doubles easily — double the ingredients and you can make two pancakes — just make them one after the other or in two different pans. (I doubled the recipe and made 4 smaller pancakes so that I could have one per person the other night.)
The pan: First choice is a cast-iron skillet, but ATK gives instructions for how to make the pancake in a nonstick pan. I made my first pancake in a nonstick pan and it was great. I made all my other pancakes in a cast-iron skillet and they were greater. The cast-iron gave them terrific color.
This is what ATK has to say:
Why this recipe works
Savory, deep golden-brown, crispy, flaky, and delicately chewy all at once, Chinese scallion pancakes are a treat you want to eat right from the pan. The shaping might look complex, but it’s really just a few steps to savory pancakes whenever the craving strikes: First, use boiling water; it decreases the elasticity of the dough, which allows you to roll out a nice thin pancake. Next, for the hallmark flaky shards, roll a thin round of dough into a cylinder, coil the cylinder into a spiral, and then roll it out into a round again – instant layers. Finally, cover the pan for the first few minutes to aid in even cooking and then uncover it so the pancake develops a gorgeously brown, crisp exterior. For an accurate measurement of boiling water, bring a kettle of water to a boil and then measure out the desired amount.
Pan swap: Recipe can be made using a carbon-steel or nonstick skillet; adjust the heat as needed to prevent scorching. For a non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat in skillet until shimmering.
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces; 106 grams) plus 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour, divided
6 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil (see above)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 scallions, sliced thin (see above)
Soy sauce (see above)
DIRECTIONS
Using wooden spoon, mix 3/4 cup flour and boiling water in a medium bowl to form rough dough. Once cool enough to handle, transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead until tacky (but not sticky) ball forms, about 4 minutes (dough will not be perfectly smooth). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, stir together remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil, and sesame oil. Set aside.
Roll dough into 12-inch round on lightly floured counter. Drizzle with reserved oil-flour mixture and use a pastry brush to brush evenly over entire surface. Sprinkle with salt and scallions. Roll dough away from you into cylinder. Coil cylinder into a spiral, tuck end underneath, and flatten spiral with your palm.
Roll spiral into 9-inch round, then cut 1/2-inch slit in center of pancake. Cover with plastic. (Pancake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.)
Place 10-inch cast-iron skillet (or other pan; see above) over low heat and preheat for 10 minutes. Place 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in skillet and increase heat to medium. Place pancake in skillet (oil should sizzle). Cover and cook, shaking skillet occasionally, until pancake is slightly puffy and golden brown on underside, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. (If underside is not browned after 1 minute, turn up heat slightly. If it is browning too quickly, turn heat down slightly.)
Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over pancake, then use pastry brush to brush over entire surface. Carefully flip pancake. Cover and cook, shaking skillet occasionally, until second side is golden brown, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Uncover skillet and continue to cook until bottom is deep golden brown and crispy, 30 to 60 seconds longer. Flip and cook until deep golden brown and crispy, 30 to 60 seconds. Cut pancake into 8 wedges and serve with soy sauce. [DG: Or dipping sauce.]
DUMPLING DIPPING SAUCE
Adapted from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes by Peter Meehan
Get your copy at Barnes & Noble or Amazon
Makes 1/3 cup
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
Couple drops of toasted sesame oil
DIRECTIONS
Stir together the ingredients in a small bowl.
Scallion pancakes are truly irresistible!
Thank you so much what an awesome recipe just made it and I am enjoying it immensely. What a keeper!