Blue Buck Pancakes, The Market Lunch, SE DC

One of our favorite things about summer is Farmers’ Markets. And one of our favorite Farmers’ Markets is Eastern Market in our very own D.C. Few markets are as iconic as this, with a history spanning nearly 150 years. While EM is home to dozens of vendors on the weekend selling everything from Amish ice cream to re-purposed industrial furniture, the food at The Market Lunch keeps us coming back weekend after weekend.

The Market Lunch’s menu is varied, featuring local seafood favorites, Southern staples and no frills fare, but the famous flapjacks are the pièce de résistance.  On Saturday mornings you’ll find lines wrapped around the building for the famous Blue Bucks (blueberry buckwheat pancakes for those unfamiliar with the lingo). It’s a common pitfall of more savory or whole grain pancakes to come out dry and chewy, but Market Lunch very cleverly avoids this mishap. The sweet-tart-juicy blueberries cut through the buckwheat, leaving diners with a much more nuanced flavor and texture compared to the standard pancake.

Like most secrets in D.C., the Blue Bucks recipe is on a pure need-to-know basis (aka a few select employees). So as the Metro continues to be unreliable at best, we had to try and develop our best imitation.

Recipe (Inspired by Cooks Illustrated)

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
1 cup blueberries (or more/less – you do you)

1. Combine dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda), mix ’em up.
2. Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl (buttermilk, milk, egg, melted butter), whisk together.
3. Slowly pour wet mix into dry mix, stirring gently together until fully incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX! LUMPS ARE YOUR FRIEND!
4. Ladle mix onto a pan or griddle on medium-high heat. Make it rain blueberries before flipping.
   
5. Once you see a nice edge forming…
6. Is it worth it? Lemme work it, I GET MY PAN HOT FLIP IT AND REVERSE IT (just flip and monitor heat level)
7. Continue cooking to a nice golden-brown color.
8. Enjoy! (And obvi add some bacon)

There’s no replacement for the beloved Blue Bucks, but we achieved what we set out to with this fluffy, grainy, fruity imitation. Our pancakes were savory without being too bread-like, and the fresh blueberries added a nice ‘pop’ to the buckwheat backdrop. For the six days out of the week we can’t get Blue Bucks from The Market Lunch, these will do just fine.