Jacques Pépin is proof that stunning cooking doesn’t have to depend on extra or luxurious substances in an effort to be scrumptious. 

The famend chef grew up in France throughout World Conflict II’s rationing, an expertise the place meat was typically scarce, and his mom needed to get artistic with what was accessible within the kitchen. Within the years afterward, Pépin continued to advocate for minimizing meals waste all through his profession and lots of cookbooks.

This strategy to meals fosters creativity by inspiring a need to make use of up each scrap potential, typically leading to scrumptious dishes. In consequence, it’s no shock that Jacques Pépin has an ingenious approach to repurpose stale bread with a no-recipe recipe that I’ll be making for years to come back.

The cookbook writer, tv host, and 11-time James Beard Award winner transforms just a few slices of leftover bread into pancakes — or as he additionally calls them, flapjacks — in underneath 5 minutes. It’s a customizable dish that calls for under 5 substances, and also you possible have every little thing you could make it already in your kitchen.

The right way to make Jacques Pépin’s bread pancake

Moreover salt, pepper, and oil, you’ll want 5 substances on deck to whip up Pépin’s savory bread pancake: two or three slices of leftover or stale bread, milk, an egg, an onion (yellow, white, or a shallot would work), and your herb of selection.

As Pépin explains in a clip shared on-line earlier this yr, it “may very well be any sort of bread,” and he seems to be combining two totally different breads. Dice the bread; goal for about two ounces or one cup as soon as it’s chopped. Pour 1 / 4 cup of milk right into a bowl, then add the bread.

Subsequent, the French chef roughly chops some onion and parsley — you could possibly substitute any tender herb, and Pépin notes that “I exploit a number of herbs when they’re plentiful in my backyard — and provides these to the bowl of bread.

Pépin suggests utilizing about three tablespoons of onion, however there’s no have to measure the aromatics exactly. Belief your judgment on how a lot onion and herbs you’d like per serving.

He seasons every little thing with salt and pepper, then begins to “crush it up just a little bit with my hand,” utilizing his fingers to mix the substances and break up the cubes of bread.

If the combination is simply too dry, the chef suggests including just a little extra milk. Pépin then cracks an egg into the bowl, utilizing his fingers once more to combine it into the opposite substances. (Contemplate this a reminder {that a} chef’s greatest software within the kitchen is their fingers.)

From there, it’s time to prepare dinner. Pépin heats a beneficiant quantity of oil in a pan — he suggests olive or peanut oil, something that may deal with some warmth — and scoops the pancake combination into the skillet utilizing a measuring cup, urgent the thick batter right into a pancake-like form. (He makes three small pancakes, however if you would like extra, you could possibly simply scale this “recipe” up. Simply be sure you’re utilizing a ratio of 4 components bread to 1 half milk and one egg.)

As every pancake turns a deep golden brown on one aspect, he flips it to prepare dinner the opposite aspect. These crispy, browned, savory flapjacks resemble fritters as soon as they’re finished. Pépin even gives a simple approach to serve them: with a dollop of bitter cream or crème fraîche on prime. As he mentions, these make an incredible breakfast or appetizer.

You’ll be able to put a candy spin on these pancakes

Not craving one thing savory? Don’t fear, the legendary chef factors out that these flapjacks can simply be custom-made to create a candy rendition of the dish.

As a substitute of salt and pepper, use two tablespoons of sugar or honey as a seasoning, and change the onions and parsley with fruit, equivalent to half a peach, pear, apple, or banana. Pépin says to “chop it coarsely, put it within the [pancake mixture], and do the identical pancake after which serve it with maple syrup.”

Stale bread, eggs, and milk are what you additionally use to make French toast, so pairing them with fruit can be scrumptious. In case you really feel like mixing it up, you could possibly add a sprinkle of cinnamon into the “batter” too — Pépin would undoubtedly encourage you to make this dish your personal, so long as you’re using substances you have already got.