Savoury American Pancakes with Sausage

Ingredients

• 500g sausage meat
• 450g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 600ml buttermilk
• 50g butter, melted, plus a little extra
• extra butter or lard, for frying
• maple syrup, to serve

Method

1. Put the sausage meat in a frying pan and break it up with a wooden spatula or the edge of a spoon. Fry the meat, stirring regularly and continuing to break it up until it is all well browned and cooked through. If there’s a lot of fat in the pan, drain it off, then set the sausage meat aside until needed.

2. Put the flour in a large bowl with the baking powder and salt. Whisk briefly to combine and remove any lumps, then make a well in the middle. Whisk the egg yolks in a jug with the buttermilk and add the melted butter. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff.

3. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour and whisk until well combined. Add a large spoonful of the egg whites and fold them in with a metal spoon, just to loosen the batter a little. Stir in the rest of the egg whites, keeping as much of the air as possible, to make a fluffy, bubbly batter.

4. Warm a frying pan (a 20cm pan works well) over a medium heat and rub a little butter or lard over the base. Pour about a ladleful and a half of batter into the pan – it should spread out to cover the base. Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of the sausage meat over the batter. The pancake will rise up around the sausage as it cooks.

5. When the pancake has browned on the bottom and is firm enough to flip (when it’s cooked more than halfway through), turn it over quickly and cook for another minute on the other side. Turn it out and keep it warm in a low oven. Repeat with the rest of the batter and the sausage meat until you’ve used everything up and you have a lovely pile of pancakes. Serve with a generous puddle of maple syrup.