Religious Recipes

Pancakes

Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the season of Lent, which begins on the following day, Ash Wednesday. Lent lasts for forty days, although Sundays are treated as feast days. The forty days are a time for remembering the forty days when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. It is seen by some Christians as a time of self-denial and fasting. Lent finishes on Good Friday when the fast is broken. Nowadays giving up something for Lent such as chocolates or sweets is seen as a token observance.

Long ago, people cleared the cupboards of eggs, cream, fat and butter, things which would not keep until Easter, and use them in a final cooking session on Shrove Tuesday, which the French call Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). So the tradition of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday became a tradition.

Ingredients

100 g plain flour
1 egg
½ pint of milk
vegetable oil
lemon juice
sugar

Mix the flour with half of the milk and beat in the egg.
Pour and whisk in the rest of the milk.
Place a very small amount of oil in a frying pan and heat... just enough to grease the pan
Pour a small amount of the mixture into the pan and tilt the pan in various directions until the bottom is covered. When the underside of the pancake is becoming golden, it should be turned over and fried on the other side... the traditional way is to toss the pancake. Make sure one of your parents is there to keep an eye on things.
Pancakes can be placed in a 'stack' when cooked.
The best way to eat them is with lemon juice and sugar sprinkled over them - and then folded or rolled.

G. Jones:
The FitzWimarc School, Rayleigh, Essex.