8 easy pancake recipes, fluffy on the inside and crispy on the edges

A fluffy stack of pancakes, dripping with maple syrup and topped with a square pat of butter, is an icon of culinary Americana. Almost every culture has its own version, and eating pancakes dates back tens of thousands of years to prehistory, when humans mixed patties prepared from plants or rudimentary flour and cooked them on hot rocks.

Pancakes (whether proto or modern) are elemental and universally loved. Food writer and cookbook author Khushbu Shah recently penned an L.A. Times guide to her favorite pancakes in the city, including: cornmeal mochi pancakes at Yang’s Kitchen; crispy-edged ones that soak up blueberry compote at Telegrama; a single burnished, yeasted cake at Cafe Tropical; and the massive stack, maybe mounded with whipped cream, at the Griddle Cafe.

But making your