Harvey Girl Special Little Thin Orange Pancakes

**See the bottom of this post for an update!

My most favorite guest taster, WB, has quite a collection of books relating to trains:  their history, their construction, the personalities that influenced their expansion, and much more.  He is the reason my cookbook collection has train-related recipes.  

The other day I was looking at one of his books about one of those personalities:  Fred Harvey, restauranteur extraordinaire.  

Image credit

I think this picture shows a man of pleasant character; he is someone I would like to meet.

Click here to see his article in Wikipedia:

Fred Harvey is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the United States. He was also a leader in promoting tourism in the American Southwest in the late 19th century. Fred Harvey and his employees successfully brought new higher standards of both civility and dining to a region widely regarded in the era as "the Wild West."

The restaurant chain was the Fred Harvey Company, and was comprised primarily of "Harvey Houses", eating places associated and coordinated with the railroads.  He created it because "Harvey traveled frequently while working for the railroads and found himself deeply dissatisfied with the food served to travelers."

Along with good food and reasonable prices, 

Harvey also gained a boost in business with his incorporation of the "Harvey Girl". He hired women between the ages of 18 and 30 and did not permit them to marry until they had put in a full year of work. Harvey Girls resided in housing adjacent to the restaurants, where they were supervised by the most senior Girl, who enforced curfews and chaperoned male visits. Roughly 5000 Harvey Girls moved out West to work and ultimately marry.

My guest taster had this book in his collection:

No ISBN to be had...

Written by James David Henderson, Meals by Fred Harvey was first published in 1969.  This is a reprinting from 1985.  It chronicles the accomplishments of Mr. Harvey from his arrival in the United States through his development of his company.  It includes correspondence, menus, poetry about the Harvey Girls, and lists of all the businesses associated with the company.  There are also photographs of buildings and china patterns the company used.

What caught my attention was two pages of recipes, found in the photograph section, pages "n" and "o".  There are six recipes listed:  Braised Duck Cumberland, Curry of Lamb, Harvey Girl Special Little Thin Orange Pancakes, Chicken Cacciatore, Lobster Americaine, and Guacamole Monterey.

My orange tree is loaded with fruit so I was inspired to recreate the pancake recipe, from page "n".

Harvey Girl Special Little Thin Orange Pancakes

1/4 cup diced orange sections and juice (1/2 orange)

1 teaspoon grated orange peel (1/2 orange)

1 cup pancake mix

1 cup orange juice (about)

Combine all ingredients.  Bake small pancakes on hot griddle, using 1 tablespoon batter for each pancake.  Serve with maple syrup, honey or jelly.  Yield:  12 servings, 3 (2 3/4-inch diameter) pancakes per serving.

Fred Harvey Restaurants
St. Louis Union Station
Henry Stovall

Don't judge the premade biscuit mix...

My Notes

It took four oranges at about the size you see in the picture to make one cup of juice (about).  The pancake mix called for milk, so I decided to use the canned milk in my cupboard instead of buying fresh.

The griddle was preheated over a low fire on the stove.

First I mixed up the pancake batter, with 8 ounces of milk, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of the premade mix.  Once that was hydrating, I got the zest from the orange.  Yes, it took about 1/2 orange to get the 1 teaspoon zest.

Then I found it took two oranges to get 1/4 cup of diced orange sections.  I cut them fairly small because I thought that thin pancakes would not want thick chunks of orange in them.  Here is what I had:

Note that I had two cups of batter, not one.

Next, I put all the orange components into the batter.  At that point I realized I was supposed to use only half of the batter I had mixed up, but it was too late to change direction.  I decided to keep going and to see how this ratio would taste.

The pancake batter was very thick before I added the orange juice.  I thought it was thinned out by the orange juice to just right.  

After stirring the mixture well, I let it sit while I greased the griddle with a tiny amount of butter and turned up the fire to about 3 on a scale of 10.  I noticed the batter was getting bubbly when I was ready to make the pancakes.

I estimated a tablespoon of batter for each pancake, instead of measuring.  I aimed for small pancakes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

Maybe not so many at once.

The diced orange sections were distinguishable chunks but didn't seem to cause a problem with pouring the batter or cooking the pancakes.

The fire under the griddle should have been around 3 1/2 or 4 instead of 3 to get even cooking, but level 3 worked for the first few batches.  I noticed the pancakes were ready to turn when they looked orange and dry on the surface.

Turn them!

After some experimenting with the fire level, I got some good coloring on the pancakes.

Dark but not burnt

Honestly, not burnt!

The Verdict

We had them with butter and our choice of maple syrup or cinnamon sugar.  I tried both toppings, but not both together.

They were little.  They were thin.  They were orangey!  

Really, the pancakes were tasty.  The orange flavor came shining through, and the bits of orange section were a nice texture change as well as a little burst of orange juice flavor when I bit into them.  My guest taster and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  We did not limit ourselves to a serving of three pancakes, though.  

I liked them with the toppings, and just with butter, and, when the extras were cooling off, just plain.  The orange flavor was dominant and just right.  

I have to wonder how strong the orange flavor would be had I not inadvertently doubled the amount of pancake batter.  I also wonder how thin the batter would have been, and how that would have affected the texture of the pancakes.  Well, I still have a little canned milk left over.  Perhaps I should try again.

I deem it a success!  Worth making again, especially for a break in the "usual" pancake routine.

Update, 2024:  I realized that I had misinterpreted the recipe in that I started with pancake batter when I should have used pancake mix that was rehydrated with orange juice.  I tried it again and the pancakes were even better.  Be sure to cut the orange into tiny pieces since these pancakes are so thin.