If there’s a big, fat lie in waffledom, it’s that good waffles can be made from pancake batter. Sure, pancakes and waffles both contain eggs, flour and leavening, and they’re both served for breakfast. But differences abound.

Pancakes may be brown on the outside, but they’re floppy, soft and spongy, with an interior that looks a lot like cake.

Waffles, on the other hand, are crisp on the outside and light on the inside, like beignets, funnel cakes, hush puppies or doughnuts. In short, waffles are fried, only instead of being immersed in hot oil, they are encased in hot-oil-covered metal.

A few more key differences: Waffle batter contains a higher percentage of sugar (for caramelization) and a bit more fat (for a crisp exterior) than pancake batter. In short, no, the batters are not interchangeable.

Even with all of this knowledge concentrate, I don’t think one breakfast item is better than the other, so make both: