I love pancakes. I’ve been making pancakes since I was a kid, and the recipe has been tattoo’d onto my brain since I was about 11 years old. In all honesty, I’ve made and eaten thousands of pancakes in my lifetime. I even joke with my nieces about how I have a separate pancake stomach where I fit them all in, and every market visit becomes a competition to see who can eat more of them. I always win. I don’t know how it works, but it’s wonderful.

So as a self-proclaimed GrandMaster PancakeMaker, I early on in my pancake-making journey understood the standard element of the “First Pancake”. Either too greasy or too dry – depending on your first lubricating layer – the First Pancake never makes it to the table. It’s tasty-enough (of course you have to eat it while you’re making the Second Pancake) but it’s not winning any awards for design or structure. However, the First Pancake – while not being the pancake that shines – is crucially important.

Why?

It’s the pioneer! It’s the pancake who goes out and sets the scene. It gets the pan (and you) ready for the next few. It gives you insight into the temperature of the pan, lubrication in the pan, consistency of your batter, and total volume of batter placed into the pan for each pancake. It’s the one that paves the way for the rest of them to be as majestic and delicious as they should be.

So why am I telling you about the First Pancake?

I’m hoping that you see your first day, or days, or weeks starting out the New Year as not the days you’re going to come out guns blazing and changing the world. We all need that First Pancake day or week to ready ourselves for the year ahead. The day or week to set ourselves up, to get ready, so that when the second ladel of batter hits the pan, we’re ready to rock.

So if you’re in you First Pancake week right now, don’t be too hard on yourself. You need this time to get ready. And if you, like me, are onto the Second Pancake, let’s keep flipping, rolling, and smash this year!