Get Your Durkenunder On

When I was a kid, my dad used to fry up these things called Durkenunders.  I have no idea if I'm spelling it right, but it doesn't matter, because it seems like our little family is the only one in the world that has these fabulous little hunks of scrambled pancakey goodness.  I have Googled and Googled, but I've never found even a single mention of them.  And more's the pity, really.  So, here you go, World Wide Interwebs.  Get you some Durkenunders.

My dad's mom used to make them... her mother and mother in law made them... their mothers made them... they're apparently an old German recipe that's (maybe) somewhat common to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.  I know that my grandmother's great-grandmother (that's... uh... 5 generations back?) came over from Bavaria when she was 4 years old, and she made them.  That's about as far back as I can trace them, given that we are most likely pronouncing and spelling the name wrong.

We always had our Durkenunders with pure maple syrup from Jasper's Sugar Bush (best maple syrup in the world, hands down!) but I'm told that they can be served with gravy, with vinegar, with jam... whatever you would put on pancakes or potatoes.  My favorite ways to top it are with Jasper's Sugar Bush maple syrup (for breakfast) or with a sprinkle of vinegar (for a quick side dish when you realize you forgot to scrub the potatoes), but you can do what you want with the toppings.

The recipe is very simple.

DO NOT change the recipe to make it healthier or lighter or whatever.  If you do, don't call it Durkenunders, 'cause it just won't be Durkenunders if you mess around with it.  I don't much care what you decide to top them with (if you can resist munching on them right out of the pan), but please, for the love of all that's delicious and good in this world, don't screw with the recipe unless you're going to rename it.

Take about a cup of flour, two eggs, a pinch or two of salt, and enough milk to make a thick batter.  It will look like pancake batter, but it should be thicker.  The more you beat it up, the better it will be, so don't wimp out.

Now, melt some butter in a frying pan.  Yes, it has to be butter.  Again, don't go trying to low-calorie-ify my childhood, please.  It's best if you use real salted butter in a real cast-iron frying pan.  If you absolutely must use something other than butter, please stop making this recipe right now.  If you can't help yourself, fine, proceed... but don't call whatever you're making Durkenunders!

OK, so you've got your butter melted in your cast iron pan.  Dump all the batter in.  Yes, all of it.  It should be about 1/2 inch thick in the pan.

Wait for the edges to get bubbly.  Keep waiting.  No, not bubbly enough yet.  OK... now.

Attempt to flip the whole thing over.  If you get it over in one piece, hats off to you!  If you don't, don't sweat it; you're going to start hacking away at the whole thing anyway.

Start hacking with your spatula and break the Durkenunder into a lot of little Durkenunder pieces.  Get them to about the size of pieces of scrambled eggs.  When they're all hacked up, they should be just about cooked through.  Stir them around while they finish cooking, and then turn off the heat.  They can stay in the cast iron pan to keep warm.  If you're cooking on an electric cook top, make sure you remove the pan from the heating element you just used.

These are the absolute best with maple syrup.  Get some from the Sugar Bush!

Happy breakfasting!