My great-grandmother, Effie Preston Alford, passed the recipe down to her daughter Cly, who passed it on to me, my parents, and I believe to all my cousins and their parents. As to whether my Preston or Alford relatives know the recipe, my assumption is that many do as Effie had a very generous and loving spirit.

One other who knew her recipe was Loren Wrisley, known for his wooden skis and who made his living as a caretaker for various seasonal residents such as W. Alton Jones and the Edgertons. Wrisley apprenticed as a guide and caretaker under my great-grandfather Harvey Alford. One of his many tasks was to help care for the horses that Alford used on Lake Placid Lake in the winter to haul cut ice to fill ice houses around the lake. Spending so much time with Alford, provided him ample opportunities to enjoy Effie’s cooking, once bragging how he could put away a dozen flapjacks and be ready for more.

Harvey “Harv” Alford, husband to Effie, was a guide, one of, if not the most well-known and sought-after guides in the first half of the 20th century in Lake Placid. Hunting and fishing were big business back then. Harv had a wide array of well-established clients, all of whom liked and expected a hearty breakfast before they went out into the woods or on the lakes seeking the wily and elusive game. Effie cooked those breakfasts which always included her beloved flapjacks. Harv provided the maple syrup as he and his relatives had one of the largest sugar works in the area out in Averyville, where many had farms.

So, what’s a flapjack, you might ask? In the Isle of Man, Ireland, Newfoundland and the United Kingdom, they are sweet oat bars made out of rolled oats, brown sugar, butter and syrup rendered from cane sugar or molasses. They often included raisins and nuts and are considered a precursor to the granola bar.

In Ontario, Quebec and New England, flapjacks are between a crepe and a pancake, closer to a pancake than a crepe. They are lighter and thinner than a pancake, but heavier than a crepe. Depending on how you serve them, they can set back your diet, but even so, as my father Happy Jack (aka HJ) always used to say, “Everything in moderation included moderation.” Some times you’ve got to live a little, especially on a rainy day.

If you are planning to make flapjacks, I encourage you to have family and friends over; they’ll thank you. Homemade flapjacks blow away any pancake made from a mix.

We always cooked our flapjacks on a well-seasoned griddle or iron frying pan. Wrisley, like Effie, could cook them over a large griddle heated by a wood fire, a hot bed of coals really. Getting the heat just right by that method can be tricky. I recommend using a frying pan, especially if this is your first attempt.

If you don’t have a seasoned cast iron frying pan, buy an iron skillet (they are usually sold at most hardware stores, McDonough’s in Keene Valley has a terrific array along with Dutch ovens). Coat your new iron skillet with cooking oil and bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour before you use it; this will start the process of “seasoning” your pan. It won’t have that dark patina yet, but that will come with time.

Each time you use the pan, as soon as you are finished, clean it with hot water and a nonmetal brush. Stay away from soap. If it needs scrubbing pour in some coarse salt, and then scrub away; that will provide sufficient abrasive to clean the pan. Once clean, dry with a paper towel and rub in a thin amount of cooking oil to keep the pan well-seasoned and prevent rusting. In time you’ll have a great cooking surface.

The following recipe is for four hungry people and can be scaled up depending on how many you are serving.

Start with four large eggs at room temperature, yes organic eggs, butter and milk improve the taste. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until they are stiff. Set them aside. Beat the egg yolks separately in a large bowl with two cups of whole milk and six tablespoons of melted butter. Set that bowl aside.

In another bowl, thoroughly mix two tablespoons of sugar, one-half teaspoon of salt, two cups of flour, and two teaspoons of baking powder. Now slowly mix the dry ingredients in with the egg-milk mixture, you can use an electric beater if you wish though on a lower speed. Once those ingredients are well blended, slowly fold in the stiff egg whites being careful not to beat the mixture as the stiff egg whites will result in an airy light batter thinner than traditional pancake batter.

You want to cook the flapjacks on a hot pan or griddle. We always brushed the pan with clarified butter before ladling in the batter, which enhanced the flavor while keeping the flapjacks from sticking to the pan. Often you have to toss away the first flapjack until you get the temperature of the pan just right. The surface of the flapjack should bubble a bit all over and be light brown underneath before you flip the flapjack and cook the other side. For an added treat, as soon as your pour in the batter, sprinkle it with wild blueberries. Frozen is OK. Once you flip it and cook the other side, they’ll be fine.

Serve the cooked flapjacks with a lightly buttered surface and warm maple syrup. Climena added a dollop of whipped cream (homemade, of course) to each plate of along with a lit sugar cube that had been soaked in Absinthe; it will give off a blue flame.

Enjoy.