Jump-start diners' day with renewed focus on breakfast menu

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 6, 2003 by Michael Schrader

Several large chains are giving more attention to the breakfast daypart. The following cookbooks may help you to do the same.

THE PANCAKE HANDBOOK. Second Edition, Steve Siegelman, Bette Kroening and Sue Conley, 116 pages, Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, $12.95.

This is a second edition of a 1993 cookbook inspired by the pancakes at Bette's Oceanview Diner, founded in Berkeley in 1982 by a breakfast-loving group of chefs.

No ordinary diner, Bette's is located near UC Berkeley, arguably one of America's finest universities, which means it plays host to a discerning customer base. Pancakes have been morning staples there since the restaurant's inception. As the pancakes' popularity has grown, so has the variety. And the menu is not set in stone; substitutions are allowed.

The authors point out that pancakes are healthful and rich in carbohydrates. Furthermore, as they were made in most of the ancient cultures, they have a long history. For example, the American pancake can be traced back to pancakes made by the Narraganset Native Americans.

The 75 recipes include 15 that are brand-new, but many have been revised. Such treats as Bette's Diner buttermilk pancakes, spiced pumpkin pancakes and San Francisco sourdough pancakes are comfort food at its best.

A REAL AMERICAN BREAKFAST. Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, 454 pages, New York: William Morrow Inc., $34.95.

The Jamisons are known as experts in American regional cooking. Their previous cookbook, "American Home Cooking," earned both Beard and IACP awards.

This one offers 275 recipes of traditional classics, regional favorites and ethnically inspired dishes and is enhanced by a group of four-color illustrations that show how colorful breakfast can be. The cookbook starts with egg dishes, and there are surprises here, such as omana hoppelpoppel, a German chunky hodgepodge of eggs, milk, parsley, bacon, onion and potatoes, and eggs goldenrod, in which grated hardboiled egg yolk is dusted over a creamy base. Next come morning meats, including pan-seared Iowa breakfast chops, Philadelphia scrapple, and country-fried steak and onions. Then there are waterfront pancakes, like creamed finnan had-die and sunrise crab cakes.

The real palate pleasers are the stratas and sandwiches. Stratas, casseroles with eggs, cheese and bread, started appearing in American cookbooks a century ago. Examples are artichoke-goat cheese strata and Kentucky hot brown strata. And sandwiches for breakfast? Why not--especially when they can be as tasty as the maple-glazed ham, cheese and leek sandwich?

MAPLE SYRUP COOKBOOK. Ken Haedrich, 135 pages, North Adams, Mass.: Storey Books, $10.95.

This collection of 100 recipes using the popular sweetener includes 23 breakfast dishes. Among them are maple French toast, banana crepes in maple rum sauce and maple bread pudding. The dishes are easy to prepare, and you'll learn a lot about maple syrup.