Pancake Tuesday

Tuesday, 08 March 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Welcome to Pancake Tuesday.

When I was growing up in Calgary, it was a given that on Shrove Tuesday we were having pancakes for dinner. When I moved to New York, however, “Pancake Tuesday” turned out to be another Canadian thing Americans had never heard about. I quickly discovered that most people who do celebrate today swap in plastic beads and heavy drinking for a stack of pancakes.

I am happy to report that, while it’s not caught on in the US, the Pancake Tuesday tradition is alive and well in England. Whew. Actually, the pancake tradition I remember from childhood is originally a British one that was carried over into Canada. Apparently, pancakes were a quick way to use up rich ingredients like butter and eggs before fasting for Lent began. And while still firmly in place, a desire for convenience has tweaked the holiday a bit. I found several articles online about how many Brits are “cheating” by buying store-bought pancake mix.

Not in my house.  I’ll be making the pancakes tonight, using our family’s favorite recipe from the New York Times. And while they will be made from scratch, I concede that we do make one modification which corrupts the “whole wheat” label. Partly for taste and partly out of reluctance to maintain three types of flour in our pantry, I swap in regular white flour for the buckwheat flour. But traditionalists, there’s no need to worry—I won’t be wearing any bead while I make the batter.

More about Pancake Tuesday via Wikipedia

(Photo courtesy of AdrianMiles© via Wikipedia)