Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

It’s that day of the year when everyone breaks out the frying pans and reaches for the maple syrup. Yes it must be Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day: a day for feasting before the fasting begins.

As ever, Answers is a treasure trove of information. Ever wondered why Pancake Day is also known as Shrove Tuesday? Jayebird has and Lee was on hand to answer.

“Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent, when people would go to church to confess their sins, repent and be forgiven before the fasting for Lent,” explains Lee. “The tradition of eating pancakes is from the need to use up food which would spoil before the Lenten fast so there is that link with ‘Fat Tuesday’.”

If Lee has cleared up where Shrove Tuesday originates, what about pancakes themselves – how did they come about? Diana S has been pondering this one herself and while he was unlucky not to get best answer, ted_armentrout has some good ideas.

“Pancakes are an ancient food; cooking on a griddle or other flat, hot surface is a far older technique than oven cooking. There are recipes for pancakes, in fact, that appear as far back as the height of the Roman Empire, in the culinary compendium “Apicius.” In it, cooks found a version with honey and pepper. Flour, eggs, milk – such simple ingredients were also mixed, fried, and flipped to create a traditional Shrove Tuesday treat, before the Lenten fast.”

He’s also pretty up on the variants of the pancake theme found around the world: “Toad-in-the-hole, from England, and pannukakku, from Finland, are baked rather than fried. Russian blini are leavened with yeast. The best French crêpes are too thin to have much of an interior. No matter, they’re all equally delicious.”

In the Food & Drink category, Sainsbury’s are currently asking a wonderfully topical question: what’s the secret to perfect, flippable golden pancakes? There are lots of good answers already but user J3nny3lf has added an interesting nugget of experience: “don’t attempt to turn them until they are bubbling at the edges. That’s when they are ready to flip. And that’s when they are generally golden.”

Pancakes are, however, often made from egg, which is all well and good if you can eat them, but what can vegans or Sikhs do if they want to join the pancake scoffing frenzy? Kerry r wonders if you can make them without eggs. Snikerdoodle1717, who’s vegan, insists you can, suggesting adding “chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries, or even a bit of mashed banana to alter the taste.” The recipe sounds mouth-watering. Happy Pancake Day everyone!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team