Today, I’m going to talk about one of my favorite breakfast items: A Dutch Baby. While Dutch Baby’s originated in Germany and were traditionally served as pancakes made from eggs with lemon juice and powdered sugar, they have evolved over time to become both savory and sweet. If you see a Dutch Baby, it almost looks like a flattened souffle, or it’s sometimes referred to as a “popover”.

Actually, you can add any big ingredients you like to it. I prefer a Steak an Egg Dutch Baby for breakfast.

To make a real Dutch Baby, some old fashioned techniques are best used. A good Dutch Baby is typically made using a cast iron pan, for instance. Cast iron pans, while being very heavy, heat evenly and keep their heat for a while.

For the savory version of a Dutch Baby, you leave out the sugar from the recipe. Many of the other ingredients stay the same.

Here is a Dutch Baby recipe that includes steak and eggs.

Ingredients:

6 Large Eggs

1  cup whole milk at room temperature

3 tbsp unsalted butter that has been melted and divided into three

1 tbsp salted butter

1/2 cup flour

2 tbsp rosemary, thyme or chives as desired

kosher salt

black pepper

1 lb flank steak

1/4 cup parmesan cheese (if desired)

 

How to:

Steak

Turn on broiler. Salt and pepper both sides of steak an place on a cookie sheet. Place in broiler for 3 – 4 minutes. Flip steaks and broil an additional 3 – 4 minutes. Remove steak and let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting into strips against the grain.

 

Dutch Baby

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Place cast iron skillet in center of the oven and let it heat for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, blend eggs in a blender or with a whisker until frothy. Slowly add the milk, 2 tbsp of the melted butter, salt, pepper, herb(s) and flour. Blend/whisk well.

Remove the hot skillet from the oven and add the remaining tbsp of butter to the pan. Swirl the butter around skillet until butter completely coats it.

Immediately add the batter before butter goes brown. Return skillet to oven and cook for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Eggs

While the Dutch Baby is cooking, melt salted butter into a pan on lowest heat. In a bowl, whisk 3 eggs and 1/4 cup milk until fully mixed. Pour into saucepan and stir for 5 – 6 minutes until eggs are cooked but still a bit moist and creamy. Remove from heat and cover.

Remove Dutch Baby from the oven. Add the eggs, steak, and cheese to the top and serve immediately. Typically, the Dutch Baby stays in the cast iron skillet when served.

The Dutch Baby is an old world recipe that started in Germany but flourished throughout Europe. America embraced the Dutch Baby (even giving it it’s anglicized name) and developed variations to the recipe.

I hope you try this at home and enjoy it as much as I do. If you don’t want to cook it yourself, we at Cafe 21 also cook Dutch Baby’s depending on the season. Keep checking back to our menus to see if we are featuring them.

At Cafe 21, we use locally-grown, organic ingredients for a socially conscious farm-to-table San Diego dining experience. We use hormone-free meats and yeast-free bread in our dishes, and we hope you’ll visit us soon to see how a meal with us will transform how you think about food.