Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day in the UK, wouldn’t be the same without the traditional pancake with lemon and sugar. These are just perfect for that occasion.
For the second of the pancake recipes for Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday, I made the traditional British type of pancake which is thin and flat rather like a French crepe.
These are the pancakes which I grew up knowing. We had them every pancake day, but never at any other time. They were sprinkled with a little sugar and then had lemon juice squeezed over the top before being rolled up for serving, with a little more sugar on the top. They really were delicious and we always looked forward to Pancake Day.
I haven’t actually eaten these pancakes for many, many, years now. In fact when I think about it I guess it is about 50 years since I had one. So I was looking forward to them. I wasn’t disappointed. The first mouthful brought back all the memories from my childhood. They were exactly as I remembered and I could easily have eaten every one of the 14 I made.
As I mentioned in my blog entry for Staffordshire Oatcakes I wanted to do 3 different types of pancake, so there will also be the Scotch Pancake(also known as a drop scone) recipe to follow. The three recipes together will give 3 different ways to celebrate Pancake Day with whichever you might prefer.
The recipe for these traditional pancakes is actually very simple to make and doesn’t take much time at all.
For the recipe below I am making one change from the video. That is to add the wet ingredients a little at a time at first into the flour, to make a thick roux type batter. Then add the remaining liquid to achieve the very thin consistency required. I think that will help eliminate any little lumps of flour. Whisking well will actually break any lumps down too, of course. The important thing is to whisk until the batter is entirely smooth.
Mine turned out very well indeed and, as I mentioned earlier, they evoked so many memories from my childhood.
Much as I love these pancakes when I am really hankering for something with lemon I will usually opt for Lemon Tart – Tarte Au Citron.
Ingredients:
- 110g(2/3 cup, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
- 2 large eggs(XL in USA) (mine weighed 115g out of the shell)
- 200ml(1/2 cup+1/3 cup) milk
- 75ml(5 tbsp) water
- 50g (3 1/2 tbsp) butter
- caster sugar(to taste) for sprinkling over the pancakes
- lemon juice(to taste) for drizzlling over the pancakes
Method:
- Place the flour into a large bowl.
- Mix the milk, water and egg together.
- Add a little to the flour and whisk it, drawing more flour into the wetness.
- Add more liquid a little at a time until the batter is formed, quite thickly.
- Whisk vigorously for a few seconds to eliminate as many lumps as possible.
- Add the remaining liquid and whisk again until the batter quite thin and has no lumps in it.
- Melt the butter and add 2 tablespoons of it into the batter and whisk until combined.
- Heat a frying pan on high until nice and hot.
- Reduce the heat to medium and take some paper towel, dipped in the remaining butter, and lightly wipe over the surface of the hot pan.
- Spoon about 35ml (just over 2 tablespoons) of batter into the centre of the pan and immediately turn the pan from side to side and back and forth to spread the batter all over the surface.
- Allow the pancake to cook for between 30 seconds and a minute(depending on how hot the pan is), until the underside has started to colour, giving a lacy look to it.
- Gently flip the pancake over and cook on the other side for up to about 30 seconds to cook it through.
- Transfer the pancake to a damp towel and cover while you wipe the pan with the kitchen paper again and make the remaining pancakes.
- To serve sprinkle some sugar over the surface of a pancake and then drizzle lemon juice over it. Either roll the pancake up into a sausage shape, or fold in half and then in half again to form a triangle. Sprinkle with a little more sugar.