Traditional Pancakes for Shrove Tue

Traditional Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday – which is the first day of Lent in the Christian faith. It's a day of penitence, to clean the soul, and, in ancient times was seen as a day of celebration and the last chance to feast before Lent begins. Dates vary from year to year but Shrove Tuesday usually falls in February but sometimes early March.

Shriving

To shrive someone is to hear their acknowledgement of their sins, to assure them of God's forgiveness, and to give them appropriate spiritual advice.

In medieval times shriving was carried out by a clergyman, priest or sometimes a pardoner who was a medieval cleric who raised money for the church (and sometimes for themselves) by selling papal indulgences.

The term survives today in the expression "short shrift". To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to their excuses or problems.

A longer expression rarely heard today is, "to give them short shrift and a long rope," which meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay.

Pancake Day Traditions

Shrove Tuesday is also called Fat Tuesday or in French, Mardi Gras (Mardi means Tuesday and Gras means fat, as in "pate de foie gras", which is liver paste and very fatty).

On that day a thrifty medieval housewife would use up the fats in her larder as she would not be allowed to use them during her family's forty day Lenten fast.

Since pancakes are a tasty and easy way of using up fat, the day became known as Pancake Day.

In the UK we often celebrate Pancake Day with pancake races. Contestants run a course while flipping a pancake in a frying pan. Sometimes points are awarded for speed, for number and height of flips, and number of times the pancake turns over. There are of course penalties for dropping the pancake. Mostly it is just done for fun.

The origin of pancake racing

Pancake races are thought to have begun in 1445. The story goes that a woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday, and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen.

Suddenly she heard the church bell ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church; still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron.

One of the most famous pancake races is held at Olney in Buckinghamshire over a 415 yard course.

The rules are very strict; contestants have to toss their pancake at the start and the finish, as well as wearing an apron and a scarf. The race is followed by a church service.

Ingredients

110 g (4 ozs) plain flour

½ tsp Salt

2 Large eggs

½ pint mug of milk

50 g (2 ozs) butter

To serve:

Caster sugar

Lemon Juice

Lemon Wedges

Method

First sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with the sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets plenty of air into it.

Now make a well in the flour, break the eggs into it and whisk thoroughly. Don't worry about lumps as these will vanish as you continue whisking.

Slowly whisk in small quantities of milk, then when all the milk has been added whisk again until the batter is smooth, with a consistency like single cream.

Melt the butter (we use the microwave to do this) and put a large splash (about 2 tablespoons) of it into the batter and whisk thoroughly, then use the rest, a little at a time to grease the pan and stop the pancakes from sticking.

Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat to medium and, try a test run to see how much batter you need for each pancake. (If you have a big family then this one definitely needs to be eaten by the cook as it may be the only one they get! )

As you pour the mixture into the hot pan, swirl it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should only take half a minute or so to cook the first side (you can lift the edge to see if it's golden brown).

Flip the pancake over, but be careful as the other side will need less cooking time – then simply slide it out of the pan on to a plate.

To serve, sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form neat triangles (I have to say we just roll them up!) Serve sprinkled with a sprinkle more sugar and another squeeze of lemon juice and decorate with extra wedges of lemon.

Traditional Pancakes for Shrove Tue8.7103