Pancake Tuesday – or Shrove Tuesday, as it’s formally known in the Christian calendar – is today, 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, which marks the first day of Lent. 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 became known as ‘Pancake Tuesday’. English Heritage explains: “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.”
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 falls especially late on Tuesday, March 4, much later than in 2024 when it took place on February 13.
If you’re planning on making pancakes today, there are countless delicious recipes that suit everyone’s taste. 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.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 142ml (a quarter pint) of milk
- 3 eggs
- Butter, for the pan
Method
- First, whisk the eggs to mix the whites and yolks together, then add the milk and whisk that in too.
- Add the flour, one tablespoon at a time, and whisk each one in well so that you don’t have any lumps in your mixture.
- Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add a small amount of butter. Let it melt and coat the pan.
- Add in some of your pancake mix and carefully tilt the pan around to coat it evenly.
- Cook for a 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 and enjoy!
If you’re looking for inspiration for toppings, you can try lemon juice and sugar, maple syrup or honey, Nutella or chocolate chips, Nutella and banana, blueberries and syrup, and Biscoff spread.
Article originally published on DublinLive.ie.
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