Monday, February 04, 2008

Get your frying pan out ready.

As you probably know tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day - the day before 40 days of Lent and 47 days before Easter Sunday.

The pancake is featured in cookbooks as far back as 1439 and the tradition of tossing or flipping them dates back at least as far as the 17th Century.

Supermarket Morrisons estimated 5 million people in Britain have never made a pancake and did not know which ingredients to use despite the age-old recipe being made by families for centuries.

Just so you have no excuse, here is Delia Smith's recipe to make about a dozen pancakes.

Ingredients for the pancakes
110g plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
50g butter
To serve:
caster sugar
lemon juice
lemon wedges

Method
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets a airing. Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs - any sort of whisk or even a fork will do - incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.
Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream. Now melt the 50g of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.
Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct amount of batter. 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. Flip the pancake 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, sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or else simply roll them up. Serve sprinkled with a little more sugar and lemon juice and extra sections of lemon.

* The brave ones amongst you will want to toss them in the traditional way.

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