Brunch or Lunch

How did we get to our current brunch culture?

I have been thinking about the phenomenon of what has been dubbed brunch culture for the past few weeks. Which, is somewhat strange for me, since I’m not really drawn to brunching. I know, some of you just gasped in horror, but invite me for a 1 pm lunch with cold, crisp Sauvignon Blanc and a 1000-calorie salad and I am your girl. 

This is not the case for many, and I was curious how we got to this culture of Saturday, Sunday, and even some Monday all-day brunching with bottomless mimosas. So I did what any sane human does and turned to the internet, obviously! I started with a poll on my Instagram story, “Do You Brunch?”...” Yes Mimosas”...” Lunch please!”. And, I will tell you…I was not at all surprised at the results. My industry people were solidly on the “Lunch Please” side, and my friends who maybe have never worked a brunch service or any service in their life were singing mimosas all day!!! 

As I said, I was not surprised by the voting. It is humorous the reaction you get when talking to chefs about their personal brunch feelings. You see a very visceral reaction, the distaste on their tongues just from the mere mention of the word.  If you have never worked a brunch service or worked in a restaurant that serves brunch, you have no idea the toll it takes on the staff to run a special menu, and special drink menu, that only gets served once or twice a week, and then has to get flipped for a regular dinner service that night…then there’s the customers, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole today. 

When I was a kid, I don’t remember restaurants serving brunch every weekend day, maybe on Sundays, but mostly special occasions like Mother’s Day, and Easter. Also, my family didn’t really brunch so my memory research on this should be taken with a grain of salt. On the rare occasion, we did go out for brunch we went to this French restaurant called La Petite Maison. I don’t remember what I would order for my meal, but I do remember that we always got broiled grapefruit with a luscious layer of caramelized brown sugar on top. I loved this so much, I started to replicate this at home. Then, like many things, I forgot about it, until a few weeks ago when I saw it start to pop up online and reminded me that I needed to add this back into my repertoire. 

This brought me back to my internet research, again, why brunch? The term originated in 1895 by a British dude, Guy Beringer. Beringer published an article in Hunter’s Weekly, titled “Brunch: A Plea”. It was coined to describe a Sunday meal for “Saturday-night carousers”! The word brunch is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch. It did not become popular in the United States until the 1930s when it supposedly became a trend with Hollywood stars who were making transcontinental train trips. Europeans and Americans are not the only ones enjoying a mid-morning to mid-afternoon specialty meal, the Chinese have been enjoying dim sum since the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD) and I’m going out on a limb to say this is 100% more superior to brunch. There I said it, come for me!!!

While dim sum is best enjoyed at a Chinese joint, brunch is best served at home, when all my people are around, in my humble opinion. Most of my crew are late sleepers anyway, me too, but I am still usually the first one up on the weekends. I love quietly enjoying the morning, making a small feast of pancakes and bacon, eggs benedict, waffles, or omelets, and waiting for them to slowly wake up and wander out to the kitchen as the smells of food entice them out of their slumbers while sipping on a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee.

Now I know brunch culture is more about the social aspect…an automatic activity where you can hang out with your people every weekend, and have an acceptable excuse to drink starting at 10 am.  For me being at home in my jammies with my people is the best way to spend a weekend morning, and call it what it is…breakfast! 

And, that brings me to my weekly recipe. Call it breakfast, call it brunch, or serve them for lunch, 2nd lunch, or dinner, pancakes are always a win. They can be sweet or savory, topped with an egg or maple syrup, loaded with fruit and whipped cream, or filled with berries, chocolate chips, or scallions, they are all delicious. The best pancakes are fluffy and light, not thin and chewy. They should have a crispy ring around the edge from maybe just a tad too much butter in the pan (my 2nd quarter chef instructor would have failed me for that infraction), but that makes the perfect pancake for me.

PDF Version-Perfectly, Crispy Pancakes

Perfectly, crispy pancakes

Yield 8-10 (3”-4” diameter)

2 ½ cups AP flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups whole milk, more as needed

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons melted butter, plus more for cooking

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk to completely break up the egg into the milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. There should still be some lumps, do not mix until smooth as this will create a tough pancake. Fold in the melted butter and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Preheat a cast iron pan or a griddle over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until thoroughly hot. You should be able to feel the heat radiating off the surface when you hold your hand an inch or two away. Place a Tablespoon of butter in the hot pan and heat until melted and the foam subsides. Drop about ⅓ of a cup into the center of the pan and push into a circle. Cook on the first side until golden brown, a crispy ring has developed around the edge, and bubbles are bursting all over the top, about 3-4 minutes. The pancake should be cooked ¾ of the way through on the first side. Flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. You may need to adjust your heat if the pancakes are getting too brown too quickly.

Note: If you are using a pan I recommend cooking one pancake at a time for even cooking. You can preheat your oven to 175 degrees and keep the pancakes hot until they are all cooked, or serve pancakes one at a time as sleepy heads meander out of their rooms. 

Bonus recipe: