Does butter make a better batter, what’s the most ripping topping? Top tips for the perfect pancake recipe
- Nigel Slater’s favourite pancakes
- Oliver Thring’s history of a recipe
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s better batter
With hot cross buns already staling on shelves, and mince pies surely mere months away, plum pudding and pancakes are the only two foods I can think of that unite the nation for but one day a year. While more delicate sorts claim to find Christmas pud too “heavy”, I’ve yet to meet anyone, regardless of religious affiliation, who eschews a Shrove Tuesday treat. Why we don’t dare to bust them out at Easter too, or on fine September mornings, is a mystery to me.
Pancakes are a remarkably versatile foodstuff: French crêpes, Indian dosas, even Ethiopian injera, all fall under the same delightful banner. As Ken Albala, author of a gloriously comprehensive “global history” of the things explains, “any starchy batter … cooked in a small amount of fat on a flat surface” counts. But in Britain, as any schoolchild knows, modern pancakes are descended from those specifically designed to use up fat before the beginning of Lent, which means they tend to be heavier on the eggs and butter than, say, the fluffy American stack, or the squat Russian blini.
from Lifestyle | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TcbTEO