Fat Tuesday (Pancake day!)

[Rossa]

OK this is one for all you expert pancake makers - does the first pancake in the batch always end up not very good so it ends up in the cook's tummy? Or have you got a secret way round this?

The first one is the Cook's perk! a sneaky first taste just to make sure they're ok.

Didn't get to have the sweet ones last night, was too full from the ham, tomato and cheese ones. So guess what was for brekkie this morning? Rolled up with sugar and lemon then hot cherries, raspberries and blueberries over the top. Sains bags of frozen soft fruit, 3 for £5 are a great standby all year round. great with meringues and cream, hot with pancakes, topping for cheesecake, smoothies or just over icecream (add a bit of cassis for extra flavour!!)

Used to be a baker and a chef Brengirl and I cook everyday even my own birthdays....now that is sad!

[OllieMartin]

Well I cooked the blueberries in some sugar like PB suggested and then mixed them into the batter mix and fried them.
Then served with sliced strawberries and cream. Sadly it still needed some lemon juice, but I didn't have any lemons. I also didn't have any vegetable oil so used olive, veg' would have been better.

I only made two and the rest of the batter is in the fridge. Will have some more tonight.

[Nicos]

I ended up making a second batch- so there's some more for tonight!!

One question though peeps....

what oil/fat do you use?
I've always used sunflower but last night used peanut oil- and they seemed to stick a bit more- what do other peeps use...and why???

[Jeanied]

I follow the Delia method, Nicos (hence the weight gain) - melt a pat of butter in the pan, tip the melted butter out - add a tablespoon or so of melted butter to make the batter richer and use a pastry brush to re- oil the pan in between pancakes.

[Nicos]

doesn't the butter burn?? I thought you had to heat the oil/fat until it smoked blue before adding the pancake mix.
Now I'm even more confused!!!!

[Jeanied]

I don't let it get to burning point, Nicos - and I always use a non-stick pan. I like to make them very thin, so they only take a very short while to brown on each side. I never let the pan get too hot - otherwise both the butter and the pancake end up in the bin! Here is her recipe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...ga_66226.shtml

[Nicos]

Will try it that way tonight then- thanks!

[Jeanied]

I think they are the nicest pancakes you can get this side of Brittany, Nicos!

[Flummery]

I use white flora - the stuff I use for pastry. It cooke at just the right temperature - never found anything else quite so successful.

[HeyWayne]

Dry pan for me, you know they're cooked when they move (not on their own obviously, when you shake the pan).

[Nes]

I ended up making a second batch- so there's some more for tonight!!

One question though peeps....

what oil/fat do you use?
I've always used sunflower but last night used peanut oil- and they seemed to stick a bit more- what do other peeps use...and why???

Mum always used lard when we were kids. It made the pancake edges nice and crispy.

I have used butter, margarine, sunflower oil and olive oil (depending on what I had available at the time) but none of these has ever replicated Mums pancakes .

I used Trex this year - a sort of vegetable lard, and they were probably the best ones I've ever made, so will try to remember this for next year!

[OllieMartin]

I'll be having more again tonight (4th night since pancake day).
I've been using butter to fry them in. I normally use vegetable oil, but I'm finding the butter ones are a tad tastier.

[Pumpkin Becki]

We had ours on Saturday, just as described before, savoury ones for main and sweet ones for pud - yummy!!