{February Foodfest} Pancake Day

I am still recovering from Monday, so last night we decided on a whim to celebrate "Pancake Day" which is a national holiday in Britain akin to Fat Tuesday.  But not really.  Basically the point is to use up all of the food you won't be using during Lent.  What did they eat back when this tradition started if they were trying to get rid of flour, milk, and eggs?

I am baffled.

(Please set me straight, Scottish friends if I have this all wrong - I don't want to misrepresent you!)

But we definitely ate pancakes last night because well, they're easy, and I had recently made a big batch of "bisquick" since I can't buy it premade here.

Here is the recipe especially for my sis-in-law, Saray, who loves it and can't get it in Israel either and for any Scots out there that want to take a stab at making pancakes instead of buying them premade at Sainsburys.  This, by the way, was so weird to an American to see packaged pancakes sitting in the bread aisle.  Right up there with the unrefrigerated eggs!

Culture shock.

Home Baking Mix (not quite as good as Bisquick, but the best I can do here in Edinburgh)

6 c flour
3 T baking powder
2 T powdered sugar
1 1/2 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 c plus 1 T canola oil

Mix dry ingredients.  Using a mixer, slowly stir in oil and mix till all lumps are gone.

To make pancakes, use 2 c of above mix, 2 eggs and 1 c milk though I have to say the pancakes were a little thick, so maybe add more milk...I also add almond extract.



If you have more time and want the best pancakes ever, this is my favorite pancake recipe.  We make these almost every Saturday, but just to warn you, they take forever to cook!

Buttermilk Pancakes (aka "Pancakes that worked" as dubbed by my friend Caroline though the name hardly does them justice)

Start off with 2 c flour.

Then add 3 t baking powder.

Next, 1 t salt.

And can't forget the 1/2 c sugar.

Then add 1/2 c oil - I use vegetable.

And mix in 1 egg (don't worry, they are refrigerated once they get to my house!).

Add your vanilla next. Caroline didn't specify in her recipe or Taylor forgot to write it down (he copied it from a recipe card she had taped on the inside of one of their kitchen cabinets); I think I use about tablespoon, maybe more.  I guess it will depend on your affinity for vanilla.

Last but certainly not least, 4 c buttermilk.  This is the key ingredient as well as the culprit in why it takes so long for them to cook.

Yum.

I won't tell you what Seth calls pancakes because it's not a nice word in Spanish (if that gives you any clue), but I can tell you, the second he sees one of us standing at the stove, flipping these babies, he's beside himself to have one.

I could just eat him up!