HN Explorer

Show HN: I Derived a Pancake (absurdlyoptimized.com)

340 points by bkazez ↗ HN
After 25 years of making other people's pancake recipes - always yearning for more tang, more fluff, and more predictability - I decided to derive the pancake recipe from the chemistry.

You mark checkboxes for what you have on hand (ricotta, sour cream, kefir, buttermilk, yogurt, cottage cheese, lemon, cream of tartar, etc.) and it computes the best recipe based on targets for acid, fat, salt, sugar, and CO2.

My particular favorite are the yeast-raised lemon ricotta kefir pancakes - the best I've ever had.

The math is done in a small pure-ESM library: ingredient composition to component masses and acid moles, a stoichiometry layer, and a bisection solver for the target deficits.

I'm not a chemist, so if something is off, tell me and I will fix it!

76 comments

[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 66.6 ms ] thread
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
thechao
A ten hour wait doesn't really strike me as a pancake? You should have a "it's 730am, there's four screaming girls, only two of which are related to me, the dogs are begging for scraps, and the demand for pancakes has crossed into Veblen goods territory."
Ntrails
Man, at the rate I can generate pancakes I fear four children would murder me and just drink the batter raw. Though maybe I'd buy a second pan in advance xD
sastra
Yes! The world needs more Parametric-driven recipes. This is fantastic. Love it.
fathermarz
This is what life is about right here
moron4hire
> the use of imprecise cup measurements rather than weights

It really does not matter. Both because variation doesn't matter and because weights vs volumes are not going to give a big enough variation to really be detectable.

seszett
It's true. But it's also so much easier to measure weight that I don't understand why some (mostly American) recipes still use volumes for solids. In practice most people I know also measure liquids by weight when cooking, anyway. You you put your bowl on a scale and everything's easy and you don't need to make a measuring cup dirty.
Finnucane
I will do yeast-raised waffles but usually don't bother with pancakes. I usually don't have buttermilk so I mix yogurt and milk. I just eyeball it, about 1/4-1/3 yogurt makes a good consistency. While food science is fun, there's no way I'm doing that much work on a Saturday morning.
einpoklum
That's serious commitment for sure, but - I don't know, the image makes it seems like he low-key burned his pancakes 8-\",
stonogo
I agree, this seems like a lot of really excellent work from someone with a completely different pancake baseline than I have. The word 'crispy', in my world, has no business applying to pancakes. That's what bacon is for.
gblargg
Maybe he needs to optimize the frying part now. Looks burned to me.
JeremyHerrman
when I saw those pics I thought: all this effort in the ingredients just to burn them

light blonde pancakes taste the best IMO, but char being carcinogenic seems compelling enough on its own to warrant turning down the heat

bkazez
I made them again this morning and took a new photo that's not overcontrasted from iPhone's built-in photo contrast. I'll get my fancier camera out like a real food blogger next time!
chickensong
> My particular favorite are the yeast-raised lemon ricotta kefir pancakes - the best I've ever had.

As a lemon ricotta pancake and yeast enthusiast, I look forward to trying your recipe! Thanks for sharing!

iwassayinbourns
I would love to see the gluten and dairy free pancake recipe incorporated into this one for additional customizability. For example, what if I’m gluten free but not dairy free? Or happen to only have soy milk on the day but I’ve got plenty of butter?
saxonww
You've covered dairy and acid ingredients, but I honestly have no idea what "Unrendered Berkshire pork fat" is or where I would get it. Is that bacon grease? Saltpork? Lard is common but rendered.
telesilla
For us vegetarians/vegans, butter (preferably clarified) or coconut oil.
mrmincent
This is awesome, chefsteps should hire you to do their parametric recipes.
sohex
Well I have a new favorite website. I don’t know the last time that I read something that was so thoroughly and multidimensionally my shit.

Not actually measuring crispness when you self report having the perfect equipment to do so is a cruel, cruel tease though.

bkazez
Hahaha, glad you're enjoying it as much as I did! I will have to add a crispness slider and then validate it with expensive audio equipment.
chrysoprace
Awesome work. I'm really interested in the parametric-driven recipe card. I wanted to do something like this for bread recipes where you can tweak the hydration / salt levels to alter the recipe but still get a traditional recipe card. I would be really curious to hear about the approach in more detail.
bkazez
Thanks a lot! Good idea re bread - can you link me to your favorite more general recipes that show all the extremes/variables? I've skimmed some bread textbooks re enriched doughs and have made some Italian breads with sourdough starters, enriched doughs like challah, and once tried the NYT Dutch oven bread, but I don't make bread as often as I make pancakes.
jtbayly
Wow. I really like this, but I want it to support non-dairy options.
slopdetector
Related somewhat: has anyone read the sci fi book “deep crossings” and if so they remember the discussion of a pancake?
marticode
This is great but at this point you should also give the calories since you have all the precise ingredients
pants2
This is incredible. I wish it had a dairy free option!
paulorlando
Nice... Would be interesting to connect this to pancakebot.com