Pancakes

This is my Great Grandmother's pancake pan. If you'll take note, it's a long piece of tin with three round pieces. Each round piece opens up, like the center one.

My Great Grandma Berends cooked many a pancake on this. She'd put batter into each individual section and when they were ready to flip, she'd flip each pancake onto the long, solid section to finish cooking. Then, she'd fill up the round section and start cooking 3 more pancakes in assembly line fashion.

I'm sure it was a labor saving device for her, after all she had 12 kids and a husband to cook for on a wood burning or coal burning stove. And, yet, I imagine that someone was always waiting for pancakes to finish cooking.

Grandpa had this, and it was one of his most prized possessions. Grandma never used it, because they retired it and let it earn its rest. Grandpa said that he saw many a pancake cooked on this. He also said he'd never seen another one like it.

It now hangs on my kitchen wall as a decoration. It's in good shape, nothing broken, warped or bent. Every time I look at my pancake pan, I remember and honor Great Grandma Berends. I'm very proud and honored to have this piece of my heritage--a humble pancake pan.