Cricket pancakes?????
I know what all ya'll are thinking. And don't be haters.
It's interesting to see folks getting their knickers twisted in a knot over eating bugs, and yet not bat an eyelash over all the mystery meat scraps from dubious sources and marginal amounts of rat shit approved by the FDA found in the all-American hotdogs they like to chow down.
Insects are eaten all over the world. They are a sustainable source of high protein. And adopting the habit of eating insects would have a positive impact on the environment as it would reduce the need for resources that are consumed and not easily replenished in large livestock farming.
Anyhow, I was looking for a source of high density protein to help fuel me through my long workday, where I easily go for 8 hours in between meals. So I set about researching what sort of high density protein was available.
And I found Bud's Cricket Power 100% Pure Cricket Powder. (FYI: It's actually a dollar cheaper on this site than on Amazon.)
People have asked me how cricket powder (which is finely ground up whole crickets) tastes and what kind of texture it has. Just like the multiple sources online that describe the taste and texture of cricket powder, I can verily concur that it is extremely mild in taste, with a very slight nutty flavor. The texture is very fine, but not the sort of "fine" you would find in white flour.
The next step was to find a recipe that I could try, using the cricket powder. The Cricket Flour Pancakes and Waffles recipe seemed promising. So I decided to give that a go. It called for chia seeds, another source of high protein, and that was fine by me.
Let's get cooking!
The first part of the recipe called for whirring the eggs, chia seeds, cricket powder, ghee, and powdered cinnamon in a blender at medium speed until everything was blended into something that resembled a batter.
The next step was to let the batter sit for about ten to fifteen minutes to let the chia seeds congeal and do their thing. Because I didn't want to go through the hassle of cleaning out stuck-on chia seeds off the blades of my Vitamix, I poured the mixture into a small bowl, where it could sit for the allotted time.
(And while it was sitting, I was frying up some bacon in the pan, as well as some Bilinski's Organic WIld Mushroom with Italian Herbs Chicken Sausages.)
Once the meat was all cooked up and removed from the pan, I had a nice puddle of bacon grease for cooking the pancakes.
The recipe mentioned that these pancakes cook up just like regular pancakes, but did not give any cooking times. Well, when regular pancake cook, you can see the bubbles rising to the surface that lets you know that it's time to flip the pancake. The chia seed batter is a bit too dense for that to occur. So I had to summon my inner Jedi and use the Force to determine when was the proper time to flip those buggers.
Mind you, these pancakes aren't going to cook up light and airy like a usual pancake. The recipe was for three servings, but it didn't mention how many pancakes that would make. I wound up making four fat pancakes, with the fourth one being a bit smaller than the others.
I put two pancakes on my plate and set the rest aside.
Not being one who cares much for maple syrup, I was really looking forward to having my pancakes with St Dalfour Red Raspberry Fruit Spread, which I love because it contains no added sugar. (I found it, and other St Dalfour fruits spreads at my local H-E-B.)
Here's breakfast!
(Blueberries were on sale at H-E-B for $1.77 for an eighteen-ounce container. I couldn't resist, so I bought two containers!)
Now for the moment of truth.
The pancakes were tasty. And they were dense as I expected. In fact, I could not finish my breakfast and had to pack it up to save for tomorrow morning.
Overall, this wasn't a bad recipe. And it's one that I may make again.
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