Recipe: American Pancakes

Updated 6^th August 2026 | Words by Matt Jones & Harrison Ward (Fell Foodie)

The American pancake has a longer history than its diner-counter ubiquity might suggest. Thick, leavened griddle cakes – made with flour, egg, milk and a raising agent – appear in cookbooks on both sides of the Atlantic from the eighteenth century onwards, but it was in the United States that they became embedded in the culture of the morning meal, served in tall stacks with butter and maple syrup, at truck stops, hunting camps, and breakfast tables from Maine to Montana. The campfire version is entirely in keeping with that tradition: this is honest, uncomplicated food that rewards a decent fire and a well-seasoned pan.

This recipe comes from Harrison Ward – better known as Fell Foodie – whose approach to outdoor cooking is built on the conviction that good food and wild places belong together. The method is straightforward by design: six ingredients, one pan, and a batter that comes together in minutes. The key, as with any pancake, is heat management – a pan that’s too cool produces pale, dense results; too hot and the outside colours before the inside sets. Medium heat, a little patience, and the confidence to leave the batter alone until the bubbles tell you it’s ready.

Bacon and maple syrup is the obvious serving suggestion, and there’s a reason it’s become a classic – the salt, smoke and sweetness work together in a way that’s difficult to improve on. But the batter is a versatile base: fresh berries and nuts such as pecans drizzled with a little honey work equally well, as does a straightforward knob of butter if you’re keeping it simple. Whatever you’re cooking over – Trangia, gas stove, or the embers of last night’s fire – this is as good a reason as any to be outside before the rest of the campsite wakes up.

American pancakes amidst English fells, by Harrison Ward.

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-raising flour (approx. 150g)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk (approx. 130ml)
• Butter

Equipment

• Cup/mug
• Bowl
• Balloon whisk
• Frying pan
• Camping stove
• Fish slice

Method

Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl (no need to sieve – this is the outdoors!) In a separate container, or reusing your cup, add a cup’s worth of milk (about 130ml) and crack an egg into it. Lightly mix and slowly add to the dry mixture whilst whisking. Once combined, continue to whisk until no lumps are left. The mixture should be like a runny custard consistency. Heat a pan on your stove and add a few cubes of butter, allowing it to melt without letting it burn. Pour a small amount of the mixture into the pan so it forms a circle in the centre of it. Don’t touch it – wait until bubbles appear on the surface and then, using your fish slice, flip it. Cook for a further 30 seconds and remove from the pan. Repeat until your mixture has all been used. You should get eight decent-sized pancakes out of it.

Bacon, maple syrup, and a stack of Fell Foodie’s campfire pancakes – the case for an early start.

Six ingredients, one pan, and the best breakfast in the campsite.

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Harrison Ward, better known as Fell Foodie, is passionate about cooking outdoors. "I’ve always been a keen cook," he says, "and with a recent love of the fells being ignited, it seemed only right to take the pots and pans outdoors. There is something primal about cooking over a real fire in the wilderness, often quite simply with a stove, a pan and your respective ingredients. The homage to ancestors of old is certainly not lost on me."