Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday)

Pancake Day is the name that Shrove Tuesday is known by in the UK.  Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Christian festival of Lent.  Lent is the period of forty days before Easter when traditionally one would fast and pray, in remembrance of the forty days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert whilst being tempted by Satan.

Since the date of Shrove Tuesday is governed by the date of Easter, it occurs on a different day each year.

So what has that got to do with pancakes?  Well, traditionally one would want to eat up all the rich food in the house and have a really good meal before the fasting began.  Pancakes would use up eggs and butter and any other leftover food could be added to the pancakes.

A great British tradition on Pancake Day is that of pancake races, where racers compete against one another to run over a certain distance with a frying pan and pancake, the pancake being tossed a certain number of times during the course of the race. 

Races are held all over the UK, the most famous being one held in Olney in Buckinghamshire, where according to legend, a housewife who was making pancakes heard the bell calling her to church and ran to church still wearing her apron and holding her frying pan.  Consequently the participants in such races usually wear an apron.

In many countries Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as the festival of Mardi Gras. This will be the culmination of the festival of which may take place over days or weeks before Shrove Tuesday.  Mardi Gras may be celebrated with street festivals and parades, dancing, music, most famously in New Orleans USA and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In other countries it is known as Fastnacht and may also be celebrated with carnivals and parades, or as a Women’s day where women take charge!

Pancake Recipe

Ingredients
125g plain flour
A pinch of salt
1 egg
300ml milk
A little oil for frying

Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle of the flour.  Add the eggs into the well and whisk them into the flour.  Then add the milk and keep whisking until all the lumps have gone.  Leave the batter to stand for at least half an hour in the fridge.

When you are ready to cook, heat your frying pan up and add a tiny amount of oil.  The best way to do this is to put the oil on a piece of kitchen towel and wipe the surface of the pan (carefully it’s hot remember) so that only a very thin coating covers it.  Now add the batter (whisk it again if it has separated) until it just covers the bottom of the pan.  When bubbles appear in the surface of the pancake turn it over and cook the other side for the same length of time.

Of course you should turn it by tossing the pancake; however if you hope to actually eat any of the pancakes you will need to turn the pancake with a slice of some kind, or make at least twice as much batter to give you a chance to practice!

Serve with sugar and lemon juice.

Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) Colouring Pages