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Comment by gk1 | Hacker News Reader

It's like making pancakes. The first pancake is always going to suck. Just accept it and get through it so you can make a great batch of pancakes, or blog posts, or products, or...

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I've heard lots of people say that, but it almost always just means the pan isn't hot enough! Wait an extra minute and the first one will usually be fine.

I'm not sure how that translates back to writing, though...

I pride myself on my pancake-making ability, and I completely agree with you: The pan is usually not hot enough. What I like to do is use Kerrygold butter, turn the heat on the burner higher than it should be, and wait until just before the butter starts to burn. Remove the pan from the heat, turn the burner down, and put your first batch in the pan. Also, make note of the temperature settings you use for next time.

Perfect batches with no waste!

I bought a infrared thermometer as a gadget, and have found it to be invaluable for cooking.

You can get a less precise version of that by holding your hand over the pan. After a while you get the hang of it.

The butter itself can also be your guide, the best temperature is a little after the butters smoke point. Too hot is better than too cold, as the cold batter will drop the temp anyway.

Hand under running kitchen sink.

Shake on frying pan

If droplets wiggle and bounce -> pan hot enough.

Just be sure to do that before adding oil to the pan!

(I know you know that...)

(The Leidenfrost effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect))

Direct, working link, parent includes one of the parenthesis it seems: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect

Non-mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect

Some people edit the first bit in their brain, which sort of translates... but not quite the same.

Especially when you use stainless steel pans. That shit gets stuck. Just heat up the pan, throw some oil on there, and watch it change. The oil usually looks a lot less viscous and that's when you know it's ready.

All these years I thought I was spreading wisdom, but it turns out I just don't know how to make pancakes. :|

Make some pancakes! That'll cheer you right up :)

I first heard this expression in Russian, "первый блин комом", is it actually used in English as well?

Interestingly, Google actually translates this to "better luck next time" instead of "the first pancake will be a lump/clod"

It's not used in English. All we have is the more forgiving "third time's the charm".

I love the Russian expression and we should steal it.

We do use "better luck next time," so perhaps the translator is trying to be idiomatic.

It isn't quite as bad as "we will bury you", but still not a great translation.

Perhaps that was the first cloddy attempt?

Woah, that's a fun one to play around with. Pancake must be commonly used in idioms. Try deleting each word individually, it's pretty hard to get it down to pancake.

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