So Flippin’ Easy
EDWINA HUGHES
It’s Pancake Tuesday on 17 February. If you always make pancakes then you’ll be bemused at my decision to share a pancake recipe – but I’ve seen pancake batter in the supermarket which suggests some of you out there are buying that stuff, and maybe you’re doing it because you think it takes more than five mins to make the mix (it doesn’t!). So if you’ve never made your own pancakes – here’s the very simple recipe:
Ingredients
Makes 12 pancakes
- 300ml milk
- 100g of plain flour
- 2 eggs
- Pinch of salt
- Butter for the pan
To serve
- Caster sugar
- Lemon
Prep
- Hot frying pan
- Greaseproof paper
What is the secret to great pancakes? Just a few simple ingredients – eggs, flour and milk and a pinch of salt. I’d suggest you sieve the flour, then mix in the milk bit by bit and finally add the eggs and salt. My mum would rest the mixture in the fridge overnight, but I never do and it doesn’t seem to matter.
The key to success is a really hot pan and a small dollop of butter; once the pancake is done on both sides, flip them out onto greaseproof paper to soak up any excess grease from the pancake.
I advise against high hopes for the first pancake. It’s often too fat or too pale, or it simply smells of the last thing you cooked in the pan – so give that one up to the pancake gods and enjoy the rest. Word to the wise: the pan can get very hot so take it off the heat in between each pancake and add extra butter every few that you make.
Where did Pancake Tuesday come from? The tradition to eat pancakes is tied up in a Christian holy day called Shrove Tuesday: other names include Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras and in Hastings we mark it with a festival of live music and partying. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent, marking 47 days to Easter.
The tradition in Christian faiths is to confess sins, to fast, to abstain and to pray during Lent. At one point meat, eggs and butter were forbidden during Lent so the intention was to use them up so they wouldn’t go off by Easter time. Thus the need to clear the cupboard of all the ‘goodies’ before the fasting commenced.
Modern Christian churches tend to be slightly more relaxed about Lent, but practising Christians are still encouraged to consider Lent as a time of restraint and penitence and some sort of abstinence which might relate to food.
Whether you’re observing Lent or not you can still enjoy pancakes – so what’s the best way to eat them?
I suggest you keep it simple: a sprinkle of caster sugar and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice gives you the sweet with the tart. You can add maple syrup for more sweetness but I’d suggest you pair that with an equal but opposite blast of tart with a raspberry or two.
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