Savory Dutch Baby

This savory Dutch baby is like Yorkshire pudding meets a popover meets a gougère, flavored with browned butter, Parmesan and thyme. You can serve it for brunch, pancake style. Or try it as an hors d’oeuvre. Bring the whole thing out to your guests and let them tear it apart with their hands. Salty, cheesy and delicious. 

A big poufy pancake, served hot from the oven with its loft still intact, is a classic brunch dish with several evocative names. Call it a Dutch baby, Dutch puff, German pancake or — as we did when I was growing up — David Eyre’s pancake (from the version printed in these pages in 1966), it’s a satisfying and dramatic dish that’s absurdly easy to make.

When I was a kid, I ate it on Sunday mornings drenched in lemon and powdered sugar. I’ve since had it smothered in fruit compotes, drizzled with honey, and glazed with jams and dulce de leche. It’s always been something sweet to start the day.

But this recipe is different. It turns the basic puffed pancake formula into something savory, cheesy, herby and peppery. It’s for those who prefer potato chips to cookies, the salty-toothed of the world.

With eggs and cheese as the focus instead of sugar, this pancake is like Yorkshire pudding meets a gougère meets a supersize popover. Crisp on the outside, steamy and custardy within, it’s coated in grated Parmesan that crisps up into a lacy, crunchy surface as it bakes.

To give it even more depth of flavor, I’ve browned the butter instead of just melting it. (Why wouldn’t you, when it adds only five minutes to the cooking time?) Browned butter tastes like roasted nuts and adds character to the mix. I also stir in a few pinches of fresh thyme for its earthiness. Sage and marjoram would be fine substitutes.

You could serve this savory Dutch baby for brunch with a side of bacon or sausage in the name of happy overkill, and maybe a fruit salad to balance out the richness.

It also works for an elegant lunch with a bracing, bitter green salad (think watercress and radicchio).

And it’s cozy yet impressive as a light supper, perhaps served alongside a big pot of soup.

But for something completely unexpected, whip this up for your next cocktail party. Time it so you can pull it out of the oven once everyone’s one drink in. Offer it up and let your guests tear it apart with their hands (have napkins at the ready).

Puffed, browned and ethereal, it can be as much a conversation piece as it is an hors d’oeuvre.