HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!
Tomorrow - February 12 is Pancake Day! Pancake Day is also known
as Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent
because they were a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar,
before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. It
often coincides with or falls close to the dates for the winter carnival
celebrations that occur in the January/February period. Pancakes
are traditionally eaten on this day and are sometimes served with maple syrup. In
Newfoundland, small tokens are frequently cooked in the pancakes. Children
take delight in discovering the objects, which are intended to be divinatory.
For example, the person who receives a coin will be wealthy; a nail that they
will be (or marry) a carpenter. Enjoy!
Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/3 cups milk
- butter for frying
The easiest way to make these is to put all the ingredients into a blender and
blitz. But if you do mix up the batter by hand in a bowl, make a well in the
flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, beat in the eggs, melted butter and milk,
and transfer to a pitcher (it’s much easier to pour the batter into the pan
than to spoon it). I like to leave the batter for 20 minutes before using it;
and you may then want to add more milk to the mixture if you’re frying in the
frying pan, so that it runs right to the edges. When you cook the pancakes, all
you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering
and bubbling it’s time to cook the second side, and this needs only about 1
minute, if that.
