PANCAKE DAY

Origins

Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter - was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday Christians went to confession and were "shriven" (absolved from their sins). It was the last opportunity to use eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients.

(taken from www.pancakeday.com.au)


Tossing Pancakes

Certainly these days part of the fun of cooking pancakes is in the tossing. To toss a pancake successfully takes a combination of the perfect pancake and good technique - it's so easy to get it wrong and end up with half the pancake still stuck to the pan while the other half is stuck to the ceiling or floor. All in all, it's probably best to practise a few times without an audience.


Pancake races

In the UK, pancake races also form an important part of the Shrove Tuesday celebrations - an opportunity for large numbers of people to race down the streets tossing pancakes.

(adapted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events/events_pancakeday.shtml)

The Olney Pancake Race, dating back more than five hundred years, is held on Shrove Tuesday. The course is 415 yards long and is run from the Market Place to the Church at 11.55 a.m. Participants, housewives or young ladies of the town, must have lived in Olney for at least 3 months and be at least 18 years old. Competitors must wear the traditional costume of a housewife, including a skirt, apron and head covering. They must of course carry a frying pan containing a pancake. The winner, on crossing the line, must toss her pancake and she is then greeted by the verger with the traditional kiss of peace. The race is immediately followed by a Shriving service in the Parish Church when the official Olney and Liberal prizes are presented.

2005's Pancake Race was won by Andrea Rawlings in 68 seconds

Olney Pancake Race
(taken from www.wilsonsalmanac.com)

PANCAKE RECIPE

Preparation time less than 30 minutes
Cooking time less than 10 minutes

* Ingredients (makes 6)
100g/3½oz self raising flour
½ pint milk
pinch salt
1 free-range egg
butter for frying
honey, to serve

Delicious, isn't it ?

ACTIVITY

And now it's your turn to prepare a pancake with all the ingredients above. The instructions have been mixed up and you have to organise them to make a tasty pancake. Ready ?