How to Make Pancakes!
Teach Your Kids How to Make Pancakes
Teach your children how to make pancakes - English style. Kids love them and making pancakes is child's play! why is making English pancakes so much fun? The secret is in the tossing!
One of the first cooking basics that I taught my son was how to make English pancakes, so why not teach your kids to cook them too?
This is a very standard recipe and comes from my Grandmother's recipe book. Pancakes are just so versatile that it's well worth having a good pancake recipe up your sleeve. You can make savoury pancakes and sweet pancakes. They can be simple snacks or desserts for kids, or you can make much more sophisicated, gourmet pancake dishes for adults or even dinner parties. Pancakes make a delicious supper snack.
Pancakes mean different things to different people - these pancakes are the English pancakes that we eat on Shrove Tuesday, (or Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday), but of course you can eat them whenever you like. Scottish pancakes and American pancakes are different again. In France, where I live now, pancakes are called 'crepes' and are much thinner and lighter.
This is dedicated to my son, and his French friend who stayed at our Bed and Breakfast in France, Les Trois Chenes in Videix, Limousin, South West France. Our young French guest loved our English pancakes so much that he asked me to show him EXACTLY how to make them.
This is what they did .... EXACTLY
This work by Barbara Walton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Please note that all images, unless otherwise attributed, are the property of Barbara Walton
Pancake Toppings - Sweet or Savory
Let your fancy get the better of you!
When we we little, my Mum used to serve the pancakes with sweet toppings, lemon juice or orange juice with sugar, and golden syrup were our favourites, but you can also make savoury pancakes. I had wonderful savoury pancakes in a Dutch pancake shop. They sprinkled the tops of the pancakes with Dutch cheeses and ham - gorgeous!
You can really just put on whatever you fancy but here are just a few ideas:
Savoury Pancakes:
Cheese, ham, chicken, asparagus, ratatouille and just about anything!
TIP: If you're using cheese as a topping, put it onto the pancake once you have turned it over so that the cheese can melt into the mixture. You can do the same for the meat. (This was how they made it at the Dutch Pancake house!)
Sweet Pancakes :
Lemon juice, orange juice, fresh fruit, cream, fruit or other syrups, jam, chocolate spread, honey and just about anything!
Kids love pancakes - so teach them how to make them!
Everything You Need to Make Pancakes
Cook Time
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 4 oz flour / 100g / 1 cup
- 1 egg
- 1/2 pint milk / 300ml / 1 1/4 cups
- pinch salt
- Light oil like sunflower
Instructions
- Put the flour and salt into a bowl and make a small well in the centre.
- Add the egg and slowly mix it into the flour.
- Add the milk a little at a time, drawing the flour from around the edges of the well.
- You should now have a smooth batter without lumps
- Heat a little oil in a frying pan - a bout the size of a small wrist watch
- Drop a tiny bit of the pancake mixture into the oil - it should sizzle around the edges when hot enough. (Remove)
- Quickly add three tablespoons of the mixture to the oil and swirl around the pan to make an even, round pancake
- Cook until the pancake is browned underneath and just cooked on top
- Turn the pancake with a spatular or by tossing (if you dare)
How to Make English Pancakes ....... Exactly
Put the Flour, Salt a Bowl - Make a well in the centre and break in the egg
Using a Spoon Mix the Egg into the Flour - Then Mix in the Milk A Little at a Time
As you mix the flour should be drawn in from the walls of the well. The point of all this is to make a smooth batter - ie NO LUMPS!
If You Do Get Lumps - Don't Panic! - Squash them out with the back of the spoon
If it's really bad, you can press the mixture through a sieve.
The Pancake Batter Should be Thick Enough to Coat the Spoon - But thin enough to pour
Put a Tiny Amount of Oil into a Frying Pan - About the size of a small wrist watch
It's important that there is JUST enough oil to cover the base of the pan once you have spread it out with a spatula. Heat it up and then test it ....
PS You might do better if you have a nice, new, non-stick frying pan. This is the pan that I've had for as long as I can remember!
Test the Temperature of Your Oil - Put in a drop of your batter mixture
Your mixture should begin to sizzle and bubble around the edges. Remove the drops of mixture when this happens and swiftly put in the main mixture.
The first one doesn't always work so don't worry - give it to the dog!
Quickly Put Three Serving Spoons of Mixture into the Pan - Swirl it around until it's round and thin
Let it cook until it turns a darker colour and begins to cook through. In the picture you can see that on the right hand side is still not cooked through and is still a paler colour.
Lift Your Pancake and Check that it is Turning a Golden Brown Underneath - If it is, it's ready to turn
You can turn you pancake by using the spatula, or by tossing ... see below ...
It's Ready to Serve When Both Sides Look Like This - Check underneath again
Tossing Pancakes - Do you have the nerve?
Pity I couldn't catch this pancake in mid-air! Perhaps next time.
Gently shuffle the pancake around the pan to make sure it's loose, then shake the pan and tip it away from you until the pancake slips to the edge of the pan furthest away from you. Then you flick the pan up towards you and flip the pancake over.
Make sure you do it over the table - just in case!
A Great Collection of Pancake Recipes - These will help you teach kids to cook
Have Fun Adding Your Own Toppings - Use Your Imagination!
We served ours with honey, jam, lemon juice and sugar
We Eat Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday
Also known as Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday
Why Do We Eat Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday
What is Pancake Day all about?
Really, the tradition of making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday was all about eating up the foods that were 'banned' during the fast of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent. It's a day that changes from year to year as it's linked to Easter.
Pancake Tuesday is celebrated in United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In other countries, especially the Spanish and Italian speaking countries, Pancake Day is known as "Fat Tuesday" or "Mardi Gras" or "Carnival" (English-language spelling). Carnival comes from the words carne levare, (to take away meat) - not eating meat is another part of the Lenten fast. Carnival is celebrated with street processions, loud and cheerful music, fabulous fancy dress and gorgeous foods. The Brazilian Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is one of the most famous carnivals and it's been exported to Notting Hill in London. In Itlay the Venetians have their famous masqued balls.
All the world over, 'Pancake Day' is a day to be celebrated, and who couldn't do with a bit of celebration in the middle of February? If your country doesn't celebrate it - why not take it over? All the best clelebrations are kept on, given new names and meanings. Make up your very own Pancake Day celebration and use it as an excuse to EAT PANCAKES!
Image: A girl in costume for the Notting Hill Carnival in London courtesy of C. G. P. Grey Wikimedia Commons
As You Can See I Need A New Frying Pan - I turned to non-stick frying pans on Amazon
Having the pleasure of living miles from anywhere in the French countryside is certainly a great joy, but it also means that I use Amazon a lot. I'm so pleased that I bought a brand new non-sticke frying pan!
What Are Your Favourite Pancakes? - Sweet pancakes or savoury pancakes?
Do you prefer sweet or savoury pancakes?
Where in the World Are We? - In Limousin, a hidden corner of South West France
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