Did you know that waffle has become a verb? Not as in “to waffle” (prattle, babble, drone on and on), but in the context of making one. That it’s no longer just a waffle, but something to waffle? Language changes every day, hence dictionaries announcing new words every year.
And this week, I went a-waffling. And thereby I’ve added a new variation to the dictionary. Maybe.
I wasn’t expecting to waffle this week. Had no plans to do it at all. I had thought I would be a-boiling. Or a-steaming, perhaps. But no: what was in that big box was going to point me down a road – one to waffle along.
Oh, and it sent me down another rabbit hole too, and you know how much I love going down rabbit holes. But this would take me down a very different kind of rabbit hole: I would find TikTok down there.
Tick tock, tick tock… it’s never too late to waffle
You kind of feel your age when all the TikTok videos you can find, every last one of them, is inhabited by somebody who doesn’t seem to have reached their 22nd birthday yet. How could you possibly fit into this world?
Well, the way I see it relates to the inescapable fact that, after 47 years in journalism, I am doing the job of a 35-year-old, and the reason I’m saying this in print is that I’m bloody proud of it. The world has changed, and many of those of us who have reached this stage of our lives, if we still have our wits about us, which thank Dionysus I do, are still working, still being productive and even thinking: why not? I’ll have a go at that.
This train of thought, and my decision to sign up with TikTok and try my hand at a video, was prompted by the arrival at my front gate of a large box with all sorts of goodies inside it. It was sent by Spekko rice in terms of a trade arrangement between TGIFood and them (you’ll find their banners and advertorial in my newsletter and elsewhere in the TGIFood section of Daily Maverick too).
I had thought it would be full of packets of rice and not much else. We were going to be having rice cakes and paella and nasi goreng and biryani and rice pudding for weeks on end. But there was just one, very specifically: extra long grain parboiled white rice; single grain premium grade Thai.
Everything else was a big puzzle, at first. The packet of rice was surrounded by a can of sweetcorn, half a dozen eggs, an avocado, red spring onions, a lemon, a tub of crème fraîche, a punnet of coriander leaves, some grated cheddar cheese, and three tiny jars, containing salt, black pepper, and red chilli flakes; even a can of olive oil spray.
Once I’d taken all of these out of the box, I’d thought that was it, but it was still fairly heavy. Hidden at the bottom, covered, was a waffle maker. Or what used to be called a waffle iron. Only they don’t seem to be made of iron any more.
Question marks filled the air all around me. I know there are savoury waffles, but it is not something I’ve ever thought about, ordered in a restaurant, or cooked myself. Many years ago I cooked waffles on occasion, always with a sweet treat in mind. Waffles with syrup, honey, chocolate, caramel; with fruit, ice cream, sweetened crème fraîche. The nearest I’ve been to a savoury waffle has been a mildly sweet cinnamon waffle with bacon and scrambled egg, and maple syrup poured over. Talking of which, I think that will be coming up soon as a Lekker Brekker Monday recipe (we publish breakfast recipes every Monday).
But, nah. Something else was going on here.
So I headed to TikTok, instinctively sensing that this would have something to do with a current TikTok craze. And so it was. TikTok videos about savoury rice waffles are everywhere.
Some current examples:
@feelgoodfoodie Try the viral crispy rice waffles but with cheese! I’m using @cabotcreamery Cracker Cut Vermont Sharp White Cheddar Cheese which has 0g of lactose per serving because it’s naturally aged! It’s an award winning cheese that makes a real breakfast of champions with some mashed avocado and fried eggs. AD #cabotcreamery #ricewaffles ♬ original sound - Feel Good Foodie
@butterdaysofficial 5 MIN KIMCHI BUTTER RICE WAFFLES ✨???⬇️ Mix rice, Butter Days Kimchi Butter, one egg, gochujang and sesame oil in a bowl and scoop onto a waffle maker. Make sure to brush on some sesame oil onto the hot waffle pan before adding the mixture. When the pancake turns crispy, plate it up and layer with some melted cheese (???) and spring onions! #kimchi #sgfoodie #homecooked ♬ Sex and the City (Main Theme} - Chick Flick Soundtracks
Coincidentally, I had finally bought myself the ring light I had promised myself since last December. Or what my local tech store guy called “a TikTok light” when I asked him to show me how to use it. I didn’t want it for TikTok purposes, but to use it as a light for my food photography. [And I am doing that. It’s a great hack for adding light to a close-up food photo, and it steadies the phone camera too.]
Time was ticking for a TikTok sea change
But, a few days into this little adventure, I thought, the hell with it, I’m going right in. I’m going to try to make a little TikTok video.
Setting up a part of the kitchen for making even such a tiny video as this took some thinking and effort. I rearranged everything on the kitchen table, and shifted things around on the countertops opposite, which would be in the picture (air fryers, kettles and the like).
I balanced the ring light on the table, switched it on, and practised its settings; and I was pleasantly surprised that it had several light options – brighter, dimmer, and even an opaque, muted setting. And that on top of this there are plus and minus arrows for making whichever setting you’ve chosen brighter or dimmer.
With some fumbling at first, I figured out how to clasp my iPhone in the little clamp attached to the ring light, so that it would hold, and how to manipulate it left and right, forward and back without the ring light toppling over. After a few attempts at photographing random things just for practice (the butter dish, a punnet of eggs, one of the cats), I soon got the hang of it. Oh, and then I put the cats in a closed room.
The light it gives is just right. A boon for my food photography. (This after having photographed many dishes during load shedding, you have no idea what I have had to do. If you want to know how to photograph food in darkness, I’m your guy.)
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Anyway, the hour came. I set up a preparation area which would double as the spot where I would film. I decided not to film myself for this video, that might come later. I would focus on the food prep, shooting each group of ingredients separately, then somehow splicing it all together into a video. I had no idea if I could pull it off.
There was a set-up shot of the drained sweetcorn kernels in a bowl, another with grated cheese, two eggs, the avocado, some spring onions, the lemon, some crème fraîche in a bowl, coriander, and the little pots of seasonings.
In a second shot, there were only the salt, pepper, some grated lemon zest, and the crème fraîche, but this time with zest and seasoning stirred into it.
A third shot was composed of the seasoned crème fraîche, avocado slices drizzled with lemon juice (that was what the lemon was for), and sliced spring onions.
Feeling pretty chuffed with myself by now, and hopeful of possibly, maybe, perhaps, ending up with some kind of video that I wouldn’t be too embarrassed about, I released the phone from its ring light grip and crossed the kitchen to photograph the setup with the ring light in camera.
Meanwhile I had cooked the rice and cooled it down.
Then came a short video of me mixing the rice with the corn and cheese, but I’ll spare you that. (I learnt that you need to keep your hand out of the picture when adding ingredients. I won’t forget that; anyway, the whole point of the exercise was to learn.)
The rice mixture was ready to go into the machine: I changed the given recipe slightly. It had called for all the spring onion to be served separately, and the chilli flakes only as a garnish. I put them both into the rice mixture, with salt and pepper. The recipe provided had not included any seasoning in the mix itself. Yet it was crying out to be seasoned.
The TikTok moment of truth
And finally, it was time for the waffle maker to make its debut. The chopping board was removed, the granite slab cleaned, the beast was plugged in and switched on. The cats were yowling in the study. Lights, camera… and then a bit of a wait for it to heat up.
A quick spray, and I piled great wads of cheesy rice mixture in, closed the lid and waited.
Four minutes later, this:
Savoury rice waffles with avocado, spring onion, cheddar cheese and crème fraîche. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Am I chuffed? Pretty much. My little video came out okay, I think: maybe, perhaps, possibly… you tell me.
@tones71♬ original sound - Tones
Don’t ask me how I did that. I have no idea. It’s amazing what can happen when you randomly click here and there in the TikTok app. ??? DM
Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here
Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.