PILES OF PANCAKES: February 2009

Friday, February 20

ITS PANCAKE WEEK!!!

This Sunday is the beginning of pancake week. I ran across the story of pancake week on Allrecipes.com:

Feast Today, Fast Tomorrow

Pancake Week is grounded in ancient tradition. During the Middle Ages, it was common practice to prepare for the austerity of Lent by purging the pantry of luxurious foods such as eggs, butter and milk. These ingredients often became big batches of pancakes. To this day, many communities around the world feast on pancakes all the way through Shrove Tuesday--also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras--before the season of moderation begins on Ash Wednesday. In fact, another name for Fat Tuesday is Pancake Day.

Wednesday, February 4

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 C. Instant Pancake Mix (Bisquick)
1 C. Regular or quick-cooking oats
1 Egg
1/4 C. Sour Cream
1 1/2 C. Milk
1 Banana, sliced very thin
1/4 C. Walnuts, chopped

Directions:
Combine first five ingredients with a wire whisk or hand beater (I used my Bosch compact mixer) until smooth. If needed, you can add up to 1/4 cup of milk to make it a bit more runny. Pour scant 1/4 c. measuring cupfuls onto a hot griddle. Arrange the banana slices on top of the uncooked side immediately after pouring it. The thinner the better. Sprinkle the nuts on top of that. I hate walnuts, so I always skip that step. Drizzle batter over top of the bananas just to cover them. Don't pour too much, just coat the exposed bananas and nuts. Cook until the edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden brown. This makes about 12 pancakes.

Topping Suggestion: Serve with bananas, walnuts, and caramel. I also like peanut butter as a topping. For more of a dessert pancake- caramel, whipped cream, chopped nuts.

Welcome Sisters!

I started this blog quite a while ago, but I kind of stopped posting on it. While I was staying at my sister in-law Lydia's house, she made apple pancakes and mentioned that she wished I would continue my pancake blog. We decided to combine forces and work on this blog together! Then we decided to invite all of the sisters and sisters in law. I am so exited to have my sisters-inlaw as blog authors. Expect many piles of pancakes to come.

p.s. Check out Lydia's food blog at www.putalydonit.blogspot.com
and Chelsea's at
www.amyjorecipes.blogspot.com
and mine at
www.ediblexperiments.blogspot.com

Piles of Pancakes

I never really liked pancakes until I realized that there was more than one way to have them. I always had them just plain with maple syrup. I owe it to slumber party breakfasts. My good friend Chantelle taught me that they are great with sugar sprinkled on top, with peanut butter, or with jam. My friend Jessie taught me that crepes are good with powdered sugar and lemon juice. Since then I have noticed that there are savory pancakes, healthy pancakes, dessert pancakes, fruit pancakes, and I just love them all!!! I decided that it would be a fun thing to experiment with since I love learning new recipes and creating my own. I tend to get carried away in the recipes I try and I end up spending way too much on the monthly grocery bill (oops). So I think I'll perfect pancakes before moving on to Ratatuille. :)
~Amy Romney

Tips for the Perfect Pancake:

~Stir gently, just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Over mixing leads to tough pancakes because the gluten in the flour begins to develop as soon as liquid touches it, and the more you mix, the tougher the gluten becomes. There will be lumps in the batter. Don't worry about them.
~Preheat your griddle, heavy-bottomed nonstick pan or well-seasoned cast iron skillet to 375 degrees F (185 degrees C), or until a drop of water skitters across the pan.
~ Lightly coat the hot pan with vegetable oil, cooking spray or clarified butter (regular butter burns too quickly).
~Do a test run first. Before you load up the griddle, try it with one pancake. If your pancake is scorched on the outside and raw on the inside, turn down the heat.
~While you're waiting impatiently for the second side to cook, resist the impulse to press down the pancake with your spatula. Pressing will not cook it any faster, but will undo all the effort you've made to achieve fluffy, light, perfect pancakes.
~A pancake is ready to be turned over when it's dry around the edges and bubbles have formed over the top. You are allowed to peek to see if the bottom is golden brown before you flip it.
~Pancakes are best eaten fresh from the griddle so you can enjoy their crispy, fluffy goodness. This may mean serving them a few at a time, but that just lets people savor your cooking for that much longer.
~If you absolutely must keep the pancakes waiting, arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and place them, uncovered, in a warm oven. Never stack or cover them--the steam will make them soggy.

Celebrating Pancake Week

The small town of Olney, England has been holding its Pancake Race every year since 1445. According to the lore, it began when an Olney housewife was cooking the family's traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes. The church bell began to ring, summoning the townspeople to service, and the woman was so anxious to get there on time that she ran outside still holding her skillet--pancakes and all. This moment is reenacted in the town's annual Pancake Race: contestants line up, skillets in hand, waiting for the "pancake bell" to ring. Then they toss pancakes in the air, catch them in their skillets and race 400 yards to the church. When they reach the finish line, they must toss their pancakes one more time. After the race, everyone attends church services and then enjoys a community pancake party.
Determined not to leave all the fun to the Brits, the town of Liberal, Kansas has been competing with Olney in a good-natured transatlantic Pancake Race rivalry since 1950.
In Russia, the pre-Lenten pancake feast is known as Maslenitsa, and is celebrated by eating thin buckwheat crepes called blini, accompanied by caviar, honey, jam, sour cream or butter. These little symbols of the sun--golden, round and warm--signify the end of winter and the coming of spring. Bonfires, fireworks and snow games round out the festivities.