Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday, or pancake day as it is lovingly referred to throughout the Christian world. This is the last day before Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. Traditionally on Shrove Tuesday families would use up the last of their flour and eggs before the Lenten fast by making pancakes for their families.
When I was growing up, this was the only day of the year where we got pancakes. My mother never cooked them at any other time. Hers were the big fluffy ones that you associate with North American pancakes and they were very good.
One year though, when we were visiting our French Grandmaman, we children all got very excited because our Grandmaman said she was making us pancakes.
They were not the pancakes we were used to however, they were French crepes. We were a tad bit disappointed because they were not what we were expecting! Naughty children.
As I got older I used to long for some of my Grandmaman's pancakes. Imagine my delight when I moved to the UK and on the very first Pancake Day discovered Traditional English Pancakes! These were just like my Grandmaman's pancakes! Heaven, heaven, heaven.
These are light and thin and ruffly and golden brown and delicious! Thinner and much larger around than the North American pancake, these have been gracing British tables since the 1400's, traditionally served with lemon and sugar.
