It’s almost that time of the year when the eggs, butter and sugar are dug out of the kitchen cupboards ready to whip up a batch of delicious pancakes.
Yes, pancake day – or Shrove Tuesday, as it’s formally known in the Christian calendar – is almost here, marking the last day before the fasting period of Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday is traditionally a day of feasting before the 40-day period of fasting leading up to Easter and it’s always observed the day before Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent when Christians fast for 40 days up until Easter.
Before Lent could begin people used to remove all of the foods they couldn’t eat while fasting from their house so they wouldn’t be tempted to break the rules. This typically involved ingredients like eggs, milk and sugar, and one of the easiest ways to use these items up was to make pancakes, which is how the day came to be known as ‘pancake day’.
Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year but it’s always between February 3 and March 9. This year, it will fall on Tuesday, February 17.
English Heritage explains: “Before Lent could begin, all of the foods people couldn’t eat while fasting needed to be removed from the house so that they wouldn’t be tempted to break the rules. And the best way to do that was to eat these foods during Shrovetide.
“Meats like bacon would be eaten up on ‘Collop Monday’ (a collop is a thin slice of meat), two days before the start of Lent.
“On Shrove Tuesday, eggs, butter and fat were used up – and one of the easiest ways to do this was to make pancakes or fritters. And they’re so delicious, people still enjoy them every February, whether they observe Christian traditions or not.”
Pancakes are very simple and easy to make as they don’t require many ingredients, so even those who don’t dabble in the kitchen much can give them a try.
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English Heritage has shared a recipe for making Victorian-style pancakes this Shrove Tuesday and all you’ll need is four ingredients and a frying pan.
- Whisk the eggs in a bowl until the whites and yolks combine, then whisk in the milk.
- Add in the flour one tablespoon at a time and whisk the mixture well to avoid any lumps.
- Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add a small amount of butter. Allow this to melt and coat the pan.
- Add in some of your pancake mix and carefully tilt the pan around to coat it evenly.
- Cook for one minute on the first side, then flip your pancake over to do the other side.
- Serve your pancakes warm with a topping of your choice.
To serve your pancakes Victorian-style, English Heritage suggests layering and stacking them jam, before slicing them up like a cake.