Wednesday, February 6, 2008

#25 Harvest Pancakes for the Poor


I did Pancakes for the Rich a while ago, and so as it was Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday yesterday. I thought I'd do the Grigson's recipe for (#25) Harvest Pancakes for the Poor. [I don't know why the pancakes were meant to be for harvest time, seeing as that's in September...] Jane Grigson's recipe is pretty much the same as everyone else, except she puts in ground ginger into hers; which was quite pointless since as you couldn't taste it! Hey-ho. Anyways, many different fillings were made by me and Greg - some English, some not so English. No matter what fillings I try, nothing beats my two favorites: lemon and sugar, or butter and sugar. Yum!
For the pancakes, make a batter by whisking together 5 ounces of flour with half a pint of either milk or mild ale (!) and an egg plus half a teaspoon of ground ginger. Fry over a high-ish heat using lard or cooking oil to lightly grease the pan (pour off any excess and re-grease for each pancake).

FYI: Shrove Tuesday is the last day of Shrovetide which was a long festival that built up to the forty days of fasting in the lead up until Easter. I wonder if the 40 day fast thing is also a Pagan thing taken over by the early Roman Christians like Easter was? Anyone know??

Also I tried to make ice-cream to go with it, but my ice-cream maker is broken - what a crock of shit. I have had soooo much bad luck lately I'm beginning to think I'm cursed...

#25 Harvest Pancakes for the Poor - 8/10. A very good recipe, though I prefer using some water as well as milk, but that's what I'm used to. Why-oh-why is there ginger in it?

1 comment:

Manhattanchester said...

The feasting bit is definitely pagan but the fasting bit is as Chirstian as Jesus himself. The number 40 turns up variously in the Bible, the 40 day fast being one of them. Self-denial: has to be Christian!