Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday ('shrove' comes from the old word 'shrive' and means  'confess') is the day before Ash Wednesday - first day of Lent. It's always celebrated 47 days before Easter Sunday so the date varies from year to year. In UK it's traditional on this day to eat pancakes. Why pancakes? Because they are easy to make and contain fat which was forbidden to eat during Lent, the period of abstinence from fat food, meat or broth. 

In Poland Shrove Tuesday is also known as the last day of carnival, last day when one may eat food not allowed in Lent. Ash Wednesday (środa popielcowa) begins Lent, which commemorates Jesus' 40-day fasting and temptation in the desert. It's special time for Christians - time of reflection, repentance and prayer. In this way they prepare their heart for Easter, the most important religious feast.

British pancakes are made of thin batter and are served with popular toppings like plain lemon and sugar, chocolate, fruit and whipped cream or maple syrup. They are the same as Polish pancakes and different from American ones which are rather small and thick. 

 British pancakes

American pancakes

On Pancake Day there are lots of activities held in Britain. The most popular are pancake races in which contestants run a short track (100 metres or about) and flip a pancake on their frying pan. The fun is that if someone drops a pancake they need to stop, pick it up and continue the race. The person who completes the race first with their pancake intact is the winner. 

The most spectacular race takes places in Olney, where the participants are local housewives. The rule is that they have to wear an apron. The winner is the first woman to complete a 375 metre course, give her pancake to the church bell ringer and get a kiss. The tradition comes from the story of a housewife, who heard the shriving bell and then dashed to the church still clutching her frying pan with a pancake :)

2012 Olney Pancake Day Race

This year on 17th of February all Britain celebrate Pancake Day! For those who'd like to join us but don't know how to make pancakes (is it possible?), here's a recipe: 

          1.5 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder (optional - I don't use)

a pinch of salt

1.5 cups of milk

1 egg

1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar

Mix all ingredients in a high bowl until the batter is ready, it should be neither too thin nor too thick. 

Now put a small amount of oil into the frying pan, 

heat it and pour some batter. When one side of the pancake is ready, 

flip the pancake to the other side or use a spatula to reverse it.

Eat with any topping you like: chocolate, fruit, sugar, 

honey or maple syrup. 

Enjoy your pancakes!

For lazybones I found this on the shop shelf:

This view shouldn't be surprising for me as I've already got used to massive amount of ready made food in British supermarkets. But pancakes? The easiest to make dish in the world? :)

Happy Pancake Day Guys!