Pancake Day Is Always Shrove Tuesday

Pancakes are wonderful and a real treat. Strangely though, I only ever seem to have them on Pancake Day which is Shrove Tuesday. It makes a change from all the chocolates and fizz on St. Valentine’s Day (14th February). Incidentally, the date changes every year because of where Easter falls so we need to observe the waxing and waning of the moon to know when.

In this article we also discuss ways to make pancakes too.

The meaning of Shrove comes from the English word ‘shrive’ which means “to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and penance”. The intention of the custom was for Christians to be shriven before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday which literally implied wearing sack cloth and ashes.

We flip pancakes because we can! Actually, the pancake has an ancient history being written about in an ancient scroll of 1439. Tossing the pancake comes from the old legend when in the 1400s, a lady of the county of Buckinghamshire hurried to church to confess her sins while part of the way through making her pancakes. 

The reason for pancake day comes from the intent of preparing for Lent which is 40 days of abstinence. It means clearing the kitchen and cupboards of all goodies like sugar, fat and eggs. A pancake batter is made of these, heated before tossing to obtain an even cook on both sides. Incidentally, Pancake day is celebrated by all of different religious faiths.

In the USA, pancakes have become a staple breakfast dish and so I’m looking out for recipes which exploit the pancake dough and other delicious ingredients. Fruit seems a suitable choice. Having it smothered in maple syrup appears the other sweet indulgence.

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Serving: 10 – 12 pancakes

Equipment:

• kitchen bowls
• skillet or frying pan
• wire whisk

Blueberry, Bacon And Maple Syrup Topped Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter with some left over for frying
• 1 cup of blueberries which are fresh or frozen

Preparation

1. Into a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift with your hands by which mixes all these ingredients together.
2. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the yogurt, sour cream and melted butter. Combine the dry and wet ingredients into a lumpy batter  but be careful not to over mix.
3. Melt some butter in a skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Spoon in about 1/3 cup of batter onto the frying pan and add the blueberries. Spread as best as possible around the pan. Cook for 2 or three minutes on each side and serve the whole lot warm.
4. Pour over some maple syrup and add a couple of streaky rashers of bacon for good measure if the heart can stand it bit it seems fitting for such a great feast.  To make sure the rashers are ready, just prepare the pancakes as usual whilst they are cooking/frying, grill that bacon until crisp. Keep warm and once done add to the blueberry and syrup topping.

Updated 1st March 2022 – includes new recipe material on pancakes.