Guest Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 That's because it was traditional, particularly in the Catholic communities (so France, Spain, South America etc) not to eat any animal products for the whole of Lent. Therefore on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent starts, all animal products had to be eaten. Just open your fridge and have a look - margarine, eggs, cheese, meat, yoghurt, milk, cream. Now open your cupboards and find all the biscuits, cakes, chocolate bars etc. You would have to eat all of those tonight. Hence a party and a chance to indulge in a last night of merriment before the 6 weeks of fasting and prayer begin. Pancakes are a good way of using up lots of eggs. My guess is that they would be cooked in fat rather than oil as well. Poorer people wouldn't have so much to use up anyway, so pancakes and pancake races are traditional here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 That's because it was traditional, particularly in the Catholic communities (so France, Spain, South America etc) not to eat any animal products for the whole of Lent. Oh I know why but WHY? Perhaps we could move the Notting Hill Carnival from August Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 because Lent remembers the time when Jesus spent 40 days in the desert before beginning his ministry, a sort of retreat. I do understand your question though and I can't answer why the South Americans have a big Mardi Gras festival and we eat pancakes! I guess the weather might have something to do with it, but that doesn't explain the continent. Maybe because we split from the catholic church and it was seen as a Roman Catholic custom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Does anyone have a really good pancake recipe? I can't find any good ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 OH is the pancake chef in our house - we use Delia's recipe Fred, it's always been a good'un. I've just eaten a stack of pancakes with lemon and sugar and now I feel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missuscluck Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Just done ours to this recipie 150g plain flour 2 large eggs 300ml milk 150ml water 1x 5ml spoon of veg oil A pinch of salt. Mixed altogether. You are supposed to leave the mix to rest for an hour or so. Makes 12. We have just doubled it YUMMY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillfamily Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 No pancakes tonight.........I'm on a very strict weight loss diet (lost 18lbs so far :D ) so will be steering clear of all things yummy and pancake like DS dosen't like them and DD has gone to a friend's house to make loads of pancakes (and mess ) so I'll just wait for next year :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 I've just done ours. James came home today asking if I would make them as "Mr Garner" (a mates dad) had come into school and made them for them and they were yummy. They were also SMOTHERED in sugar - this from the school who wouldn't let him eat an iced cupcake for his break snack So I thought he would turn his nose up again when I made them and made enough batter to do my dinner. Made him a thin smal one, put just a litle sugar on it and the sausage ate the lot! There was enough batter left for my planned 3 more (last year I didn't have any as I was on lighterlife). I had the first one with a lightly dressed salad in. The second one was tomato, goats cheese & caramalised onions - I cooked the second side of that one on the aga hot plate so that the chees could be melting on top....not too much mess! The third one was currants, sugar substitute and lemon - and I shared that one with James. Poor mother really wanted one so she retreated to her living room wiht a bowl of soup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moochoo Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 No pancakes for me this year as I'm still doing Lighterlife. It's no big deal as it saves me having to cook them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebe Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Wikipedia says Shrove Tuesday is a term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada[1] and Australia[2] for the day preceding the first day of the Christian season of fasting and prayer called Lent. The word shrove is the past tense of the English verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that English Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide", somewhat analogous to the Carnival tradition that developed separately in countries of Latin Europe. I take this to mean that shrove tuesday is a day to get all excess out of the system - whether it be food or dance. I can only think that Puritanism/Protestantism (being more sober and serious than catholic feast days) meant we (and other prostentant countries) concentrated on food instead of partying. Or it could be the fact that its freezing in England in February and not a night for carnival !! I like what WikiP says about Iceland In Iceland the day is known as Sprengidagur ("Bursting Day") and is marked by the eating of salt meat and peas I have sometimes felt the same after pancakes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..lay a little egg for me Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Does anyone have a really good pancake recipe? I can't find any good ones. My recipe always works: For each egg, add 100 ml of milk and 100 ml of flour...mix well with a whisk or fork until it is smooth. Add more milk or water, stirring, until the mixture is the about thickness of single cream. You can up the quantities to 150 ml milk, 150 ml flour per egg if you like. Doing it this way means that it doesn't matter how big the egg is or how absorbent the flour... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I used 450g flour, 2pints of milk and 6 eggs and that made 2 litres of batter and it all got eaten very quickly this year All of the children cooked quite a few pancakes and ED is really good at tossing them. All sweet fillings here so we were all a bit sugared out by the end, so some nice healthy salmon and veg for tea tonight and no pudding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Well I was going to make chilli for dinner until DD started going on about pancakes. So we had pancakes - but then we have pancakes any old time. I don't work to any measurements, but generally I use plain flour in a bowl and then I decide whether I need one or two eggs, then mix and add milk until I think it is ready. Then leave a while to "prove" then if necessary I add more milk. Yesterday I added some buckwheat flour to my mix - it makes the batter slightly sweeter. If you use buckwheat flour on it's own those pancakes are best eaten with chocolate sauce or spread Green and Black's spread on it - or Nutella. But we had ordinary lemon and sugar. My old cat used to love lemony pancakes too, daft animal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutrix Farmers Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 OH declared that this year's pancakes were the best ever - I did point out that this year they were made with our own eggs!! Son likes to experiment with fillings but always comes back to good old lemon and sugar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 My pancakes came out perfectly - more like crêpes. (thanks to Tefal® Pancake Pan) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 My pancakes came out perfectly - more like crêpes. (thanks to Tefal® Pancake Pan) I've got that pan too, it's fab isn't it . I've still got some batter left from last night mmmmmmmmmm pancakes for brekky tomorrow methinks . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
