THE BEST RECIPES HAVE A STORY
We’ve survived Capone’s pasta and smashed Hemingway’s burger. Today we re-create the seriously delicious pancake recipe of the one and only Mrs Rosa Parks.
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Recipe Vault Rating: 9.9/10
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Pans Required: Lil Legacy
Welcome back to Heirloom Recipes, an Ironclad series that delves into the kitchens of history’s most iconic people. Unwrapping their stories, their lives, and the dishes that connected them to the people they loved.
We’ve explored the surprising subtleties of Al Capone’s pasta, the vibrant flavours of Frida Kahlo’s Fish Veracruz, and the hearty warmth of Johnny Cash’s Iron Pot Chilli.
Today we’re having breakfast with Rosa Parks. A woman who changed the course of history by staying seated. History tends to flatten her into a single moment on a single bus, but Mrs Parks lived a full and complicated life long before that day, and long after it.
She worked as a seamstress. She organised boycotts. She investigated sexual assaults against Black women when no one else would. She wrote letters late into the night at a small kitchen table. And, like most people carrying the weight of a community, she found steadiness in the ordinary rituals that no headline ever mentions.
One of those rituals was breakfast.
Mrs Parks loved cooking for her family. Her Featherlite Pancakes weren’t a performance. They weren’t a “famous recipe.” They were simple, soft, quick to make, and always eaten fast. Fuel for unimaginable days.
As we remade the recipe, it wasn’t hard to picture Rosa in her kitchen. A quiet Sunday morning. Pancakes crisping in a warm pan. Music low on the radio.
Ordinary.
And that’s the part we forget.
Mrs Rosa Parks wasn’t born an icon. She was an ordinary woman with unmovable principles. And when the time came to be extraordinary, she was.
Plus, her pancakes are absolutely kick-ass.
So gather your people, warm your pans, and prepare for the best pancakes ever.
The original handwritten recipe for Rosa Parks' Featherlite Pancakes.
1 egg
1¼ c milk
⅓ c smooth peanut butter
1 T vanilla essence
1 c white flour
2 T baking powder
½ t salt
2 T sugar
Butter and oil to fry
Banana
Lime juice
Maple syrup
Whisk together the milk, egg, vanilla essence and peanut butter until well mixed. There will be small lumps of peanut butter in the batter. Don’t worry about this.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the wet mixture, whisking as you go. Whisk until the batter is smooth.
Leave the batter to sit, covered, for 15 minutes.
Heat your Lil’ Legacy Pan on medium, hot enough to sizzle butter without burning it. A mix of butter and oil helps prevent burning.
Ladle enough batter into the pan to make one pancake, slightly smaller than the base of the pan for easier flipping. Wait until bubbles appear evenly on the surface, flip, and cook for about 30 seconds on the second side.
Transfer each pancake to a warm oven while you cook the rest.
To serve, slice the bananas, toss with a squeeze of lime juice and pile them on top of the pancake stack. At the table, pour maple or golden syrup over the top for maximum "ooohs" and "ahhhs".
Here’s a soundtrack to go with your pancakes. A mix of songs that Rosa loved to transport you to 1950s Montgomery, Alabama. And feel, even just for a moment, the warmth of Rosa Parks’ kitchen.
