The mistake everyone makes with pancakes
Meet Melissa Clark’s best buttermilk pancakes.
Cooking
June 21, 2026

Good morning! Today we have for you:

A stack of buttermilk pancakes topped with butter and maple syrup are shown on a white plate.
Melissa Clark’s best buttermilk pancakes. Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Perfect pancakes, every time

Good morning and happy Father’s Day! It’s quiet in our house since our teenager is 900 miles away at a summer program. But just because the kid isn’t here doesn’t mean we aren’t eating a big, celebratory Father’s Day brunch, complete with our favorite buttermilk pancakes topped with fresh strawberries (they are so good right now), with extra-crispy oven bacon on the side.

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Melissa Clark’s Best Buttermilk Pancakes

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About those pancakes: I went deep on them for our Cooking 101 series, analyzing the common pitfalls and explaining the path to making truly great ones. You can read more about it here. There’s a video, too, in which I get to nerd out a little on the science behind leaveners. Remember making homemade volcanoes in chemistry class? It’s all there, fizzing away. Check it out; your pancakes will thank you.

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Also on the menu

BBQ chicken: If you’re making dinner to celebrate Dear Old Dad, consider grilling up Sam Sifton’s classic recipe. The technique of thinning out the barbecue sauce with water before basting the chicken keeps the meat from burning while flavoring it through and through.

Grilled salmon: Or would Dad prefer seafood? Try Ali Slagle’s perfectly simple salmon recipe for the best and easiest grilled fish imaginable. Her trick? Skip the flip.

Zucchini salad with basil, mint and feta: This summery salad from David Tanis is a perfect match for the above chicken or salmon — or pretty much any protein you’d cook on the grill (or in the oven or on the stove for that matter).

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Article Image

Christopher Testani for The New York Times

BBQ Chicken

By Sam Sifton

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

2,856

45 minutes

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Article Image

Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Greg Lofts.

Grilled Salmon

By Ali Slagle

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

346

35 minutes

Makes 4 servings

Article Image

David Malosh for The New York Times

Zucchini Salad With Basil, Mint and Feta

By David Tanis

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

569

15 minutes

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Reading and eating

Not a book recommendation, but Lauren Collins’s brilliantly nuanced article in The New Yorker about a heated controversy in France about chocolate hazelnut spread just won a James Beard Award. I also loved listening to Collins talk about her life as an American journalist living in Paris in this excellent conversation she had with David Lebovitz on his podcast.

And speaking of chocolate hazelnut spread, it goes exceptionally well with pancakes. Or use it to make Jessie Sheehan’s Nutella brownies with their fudgy, almost puddinglike texture.

Read anything good lately? Let me know at hellomelissa@nytimes.com. I’m always on the lookout for suggestions.

That’s all for now. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Fresh, delicious dinner ideas for busy people, from Emily Weinstein and NYT Cooking.

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Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.

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Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.

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