Sometimes a recipe is more than a set of instructions for a certain dish. It's a gateway to something else — a person or place that existed once, but is now gone. It doesn't matter if infinite iterations exist, or even if the method has changed over time.
For Robbie Tutlewski, the chef and owner behind Little Donna's catering in Washington (who is also working on opening a restaurant by the same name), The Recipe happens to be one of the first things he learned to cook: palacinke, a thin style of pancake that belongs in the large canon of such griddled goods as blini and crepes. "Palacinke are the Serbian Croatian version," Tutlewski says. "This and pierogi were the first things I made with my grandmother."
Both of his grandparents moved to the United States around World War II — his grandfather from Warsaw, after the war, and his grandmother, Donna, from Zagreb, the capital of what is now Croatia, before. Though Donna Tutlewski was just 4 ½ feet tall (hence the designation "Little Donna," by Tutlewski's sister, Jill), she was a force, always making enough food to feed her family in Gary, Ind., and then some; visitors took home enough for their families, too. Donna let her grandson cook with her from a young age because, Tutlewski says, she considered his small hands perfect for making pierogi, pastries and palacinke. Learning to cook from her was like learning from a chef, he explains; she never sat down and told him how to make palacinke. It was more a trial by grandmotherly fire: "When I was adding the milk the wrong way, that's when I got, 'No, no don't add it like that, add it like this.' We worked the process out together."
He prefers to mix with fingers swirling directly in the batter — which also makes it easy to break up large flour clumps — though you can use a fork if you are gentle. A blender would introduce too much air and make the texture too smooth, too one-note. The milk is added warm so that the eggs start to cook and thicken — just a little bit — without curdling. A small pinch of freshly grated nutmeg means the pancakes can lean savory or sweet.
Do you have a sourdough starter? If so, add a spoonful (ripe or not) to the batter, too. “It’ll caramelize a bit more without having to add sugar to it,” the chef says. He recommends you let the mixture rest for at least a few hours, but you can make them right away, or, better yet, keep the batter for up to five days in your refrigerator, then let it come to room temperature for an hour.
As for fillings, any number of leftovers or odds and ends would do, including roasted vegetables, sliced roast beef, mashed beans or saucy shredded chicken. "I like eating them wrapped around ricotta. It's like a little gift," says Tutlewski. "Every time I make these, it starts a conversation."
Serbian Croatian Pancakes
(Palacinke)
2/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
¼ cup any flour
Pinch kosher salt
Small pinch cracked black pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg
1 to 2 teaspoons neutral oil, for cooking
In a small saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave-safe bowl, warm the milk and butter, stirring a few times, just until the butter melts. (Do not let the milk bubble.) Remove from the heat and set aside for 2 minutes.
In a small bowl, using a fork, very lightly stir the eggs just to break them up; do not whip too much air into them. Gradually, add the warm milk and butter, stirring to combine. The eggs might start to cook a little, but they shouldn't curdle. (If they do, you can strain the batter later.)
Put the flour in a medium bowl, then slowly pour in the milk-egg mixture, stirring gently with a fork. Stir in the salt, pepper and nutmeg. The batter should have the consistency of heavy cream. If needed, strain the batter through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any clumps of egg.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside for 30 minutes to 6 hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight in an airtight container. If you've refrigerated the batter, let it set at room temperature for about 1 hour before proceeding.
When ready to cook, lightly stir the batter and have a clean, damp kitchen towel at the ready.
In a 7- or 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat 1 teaspoon oil until shimmering. Pour about 3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan as you tilt the pan in a circular motion, coating the surface evenly and going up the sides about ½ inch. Your first pancake could turn out lumpy.
Cook the pancake for about 1 to 2 minutes; as the pancake cooks, its surface should be shiny, taut and slightly rippled. (If tiny bubbles appear on the surface of your pancake, the pan is a little too hot.) When the pancake is ready to be flipped, its edges will be lacy and the bottom light brown. Loosen the edges with a spatula, then flip to cook the other side for 30 seconds to 1 minute. (If you want to fill and bake the palacinke, then cook to a pale golden color. If you want to eat them without baking, you can let them go until they're a patchy bronze.)
Transfer to a flat surface to cool. If you'd like a thinner pancake, stir 1 to 2 tablespoons water into the batter. If your pan was too hot, let it cool a bit before proceeding. (Add more butter or oil to the skillet only if the palacinke begin to stick.)
Repeat with the remaining batter; if tiny bubbles keep appearing, keep adjusting the heat. As you turn out finished pancakes, lay them out separately on a flat surface for about 5 minutes before stacking them on a plate (otherwise they can stick together).
Nutrition information: Each plain palacinke contains approximately 122 calories, 4 g protein, 8 g fat, 7 g carbohydrate (2 g sugar), 92 mg cholesterol, 80 mg sodium and no fiber.