Hip hugging pancakes

Today is Pancake day or to give it it's proper name Shrove Tuesday.

In the religious calendar the day before the start of Lent when families fasted and only ate very plain simple the rich food ingredients like milk eggs and sugar in their larders were used up and so pancakes were traditionally made.

A tradition all over Britian on this day is to hold 'Pancake races'. The beginings of these races go back to Olney in Buckinghamshire when in 1445 a woman cooking pancakes heard the 'shriving bell' summoning her to confession and so she ran to the church still in her apron and carrying her frying pan.

The 1998 Olney pancake race

The word shrove is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving (confession) that Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to receive immediately before Lent.

What a shame, Dave couldn't get a picture of the pancake in the air as I tossed them! This stack were eaten after a full roast pork and apple sauce dinner!................ I think I should now fast...................!

My recipe for Traditional British Pancakes
Ingredients - For the pancake mixture:
4oz plain flour, sifted and with a pinch of salt
2 large eggs
7fl oz milk mixed with 3fl oz water
2oz butter.
Method - Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Begin whisking the eggs - and gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking, whisk until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.
Melt the 2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake. Allow the pan to get hot, then turn the heat down to medium.
I find 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. It's also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Toss the pancake or flip over with a pan slice or palette knife - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate. Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest.
To serve:
Sprinkled caster sugar and lemon juice. Simple and just the best, but maple syrup comes in a good second.