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It is a well-known piece of folk-wisdom that when making a batch of pancakes, the first one is always a dud.

It is widespread enough that Urban Dictionary and others use it as an analogy for dating.

There are several articles and posts that take it as a given, and try to explain why the phenomenon exists (often using it as a hook to just give general pancake cooking tips):

But I am not convinced. Anecdotally, my first pancake frequently is not the worst of the batch. Could it be that like 11:11 it is just confirmation bias that makes people remember the times the first pancake is the worst?

I don't know, and worse, I can't figure how to find this out! This might be a tough one to answer, despite its frivolousness.

[I am talking domestic kitchens here; I suspect large pancake houses spend a lot of effort on ensuring the repeatability of their cooking processes.]

Oddthinking
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    I used to make pancakes (or rather crepes but my family always called them pancakes) my dad's way, with an oral recipe. The first was always the worst, either too thick or too thin, and I would adjust the batter after it. Now I follow a good recipe I found online, and the first is just as good as the second and third. – Luke Sawczak Sep 11 '22 at 12:19
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    If you're cheapster (and you use all your materials), the last one is usually the worst in terms of looks. – Fizz Sep 11 '22 at 15:58
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    It's certainly true for the pancakes that I cook, but that's anecdotal. I inevitably have the temperature wrong or the batter wrong. The first pancake tells me what to do with the rest to make it so the others come out much better than the first. Except maybe the last one (I do use all my ingredients). – David Hammen Sep 11 '22 at 20:57
  • Too small for me to edit myself: the singular of _phenomena_ is _phenomenon._ – phoog Sep 13 '22 at 19:01
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    For what it's worth, there's a Russian proverb: Пе́рвый блин ко́мом (according to one translation: "the first pancake turns out to be a lump"). This suggests that the claim exists in other cultures as well. – Schmuddi Sep 14 '22 at 13:33
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    I am not sure what kind of answer you would hope for. This seems highly dependent of who is doing the baking, and the recipe followed. It is clear, that for some procedures it is almost inevitable that the first pancake is bad. (It is certainly the case when I bake pancakes.) It seems equally plausible that there are procedures for baking pancakes where the first one is fine. So, it is likely true for some people and not true for others. – TimRias Sep 14 '22 at 16:10
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    "I suspect large pancake houses spend a lot of effort on ensuring the repeatability of their cooking processes" - I worked at a chain breakfast restaurant. The first pancake is the worst, because after you clean a steel flat-top grill, there's no seasoning to prevent sticking. So, either you throw down oil/butter and fry the thing (not really how a pancake is meant to be) or it sticks/doesn't brown. Once you've been cooking on the grill a bit, you get a seasoned coating of oil/butter that's non-stick and perfect for 'cakes. – Bryan Krause Sep 14 '22 at 18:32
  • @Schmuddi: although it seems disputed what that means https://lidenz.com/first-pancake-always-lumpy/ – Fizz Sep 15 '22 at 19:46
  • @BryanKrause: wiping the pan with a paper towel (or piece of bread if paranoid about bleach etc in PT) dipped in oil works fine for me. – Fizz Sep 15 '22 at 20:18
  • @Fizz I'm not talking about a pan, I'm talking about a ~3'x4' flat top grill. And yes, you can put some oil down, but those first cakes in even a very thin coating of oil will not be the same as the ones once a bit of seasoning builds up. You'll always get some residual oil or butter into the cake, and they don't brown up evenly the same way. By no means are those cakes inedible, they just won't be the same as the ones cooked later. – Bryan Krause Sep 15 '22 at 20:25

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