The Boggy Brae: Berry pancake/soufflé/omelette

I tried a new technique for making Mark Sisson's berry pancake. His method is to cook the berries first in butter in a frying pan and then add the eggs (whites beaten to a froth, cinnamon and vanilla added to the yolks and all mixed together). The trouble with this method, I have found, is that the fruit tends to if not quite burn, then at least get slightly overcooked, and some of it sticks to the pan when you tip it all out onto a plate.

My first attempt to overcome this problem was to change the cooking fat to beef fat because butter burns at a lower temperature, relatively speaking. This didn't make a significant difference. I concluded that the problem was the method of having the fruit in contact with the hot pan for too long while the egg cooked above it.

My next attempt was to slightly cook the fruit and then transfer it to a soufflé dish, add the egg mixture, and bake the whole lot. That solved the sticking problem but the egg texture wasn't as nice.

What I did a couple of days ago when I made this pancake was to cook the fruit in the frying pan in a little beef fat, then tip it out into a bowl where it stayed until the egg froth had started to cook in the pan. Then I tipped the fruit (blueberries seem to work best, though a mixture of blackberries and raspberries are good too) on top of the eggs, as for an omelette. The visual effect was fun to watch, as you see from the photos below and the colours are wonderful.

This is definitely the best treatment for the fruit – it keeps its taste and juiciness and doesn't get overcooked. Toad was less keen on the egg texture this time, which was different again from the other methods. I liked it but perhaps will try getting the eggs almost completely cooked before tipping the fruit on another time.

I suppose one could just cook a plain frothy omelette and eat it with the stewed fruit. Unless someone has a better idea.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them