Bacon, Cheddar & Chive Savory Pancakes

The basic batter for this recipe is quite easy to make, but if you're looking for any tips, or if you need to troubleshoot a little bit, check out this main post in my savory pancake series.

A lot of pancake variations, and especially sweet ones, will tell you to sprinkle the extra ingredients onto the uncooked side of the pancakes once they're on the griddle.  That works very nicely with blueberries because it keeps them from bleeding colour into the batter, but I think you get a better overall pancake here by mixing the ingredients into the batter ahead of time.  The ingredients are distributed better, and as an added bonus, you don't need to be ready with handfuls of ingredients every time you pour another pancake.

That being said, if you're a big fan of crispy, browned cheese (and really, who isn't?) consider sprinkling a little extra cheese onto the batter side of the pancakes right after you flip them over.  This cheese will be in direct contact with the hot surface of the griddle, making for a nice, crispy, cheesy treat.

You can take this basic recipe in a lot of different directions.  One of the nice things about cheese is that there are so many wildly different varieties out there, meaning that you can explore all kinds of different flavour options.  I go into some tips for coming up with your own savory pancake ideas in the master post related to this one, so I'd encourage you to check that out if you're looking to experiment.  I'll also take a moment here to cover some specific variations you might want to try related to this particular recipe.

First of all, let's talk about the vegetarian version.  Of course you can just omit the bacon - but we can do better than that now can't we?  That's the kind of vegetarian option that drives vegetarians crazy.  To balance out the omission I'd start by adding a bit of extra cheese and chives.  A little added red onion would make a great touch too, especially if you're using a stronger cheddar.  But one of my biggest complaints about leaving out bacon is that you lose the smokiness, so to make up for that you could consider using a smoked cheddar (or gouda), or even adding 1-2 tsps of smoked paprika or chipotle pepper to the batter.  The latter spice options will obviously do more than add smoke, but they're wonderful and their complimentary flavours are worth trying out.

Now let's talk cheese.  Avoid mild cheddar in your pancakes.  I mean, if I'm being honest, I'd say avoid mild cheddar everywhere; cheese should have a flavour other than 'melty.'  I used a simple and easily found basic old cheddar cheese here, but don't be afraid to go to a very sharp aged cheddar if it floats your boat.  If you're looking to try something else I would stick with the firm (not hard) aged or semi-aged cheeses like gouda, gruyère, or edam.  Soft cheeses are great, but hard to incorporate into the batter nicely, and are often a bit too mild to stand out in the finished pancake.  Strong, very sharp cheeses like Parmigiano could work, though you'd want to use less of them overall, and possible explore different meat options like pancetta.

Finally, a note on chives vs. scallions (green onions) - as long as your scallion greens are fresh and fairly tender, you can consider these more-or-less interchangeable.