Everything about Pancake totally explained
Pancakes are a type of
flatbread prepared from a sweet
batter that's cooked on a hot
griddle or in a
frying pan. They exist in several variations in many different local
cuisines. Most pancakes are
quick breads, although some are also made using a
yeast-raised or fermented batter.
Regional varieties
North America
American or
Canadian pancakes (also known as
hotcakes,
griddlecakes, or
flapjacks in the U.S.) contain a
raising agent, usually
baking powder, and contains different proportions of
eggs,
flour, and
milk or
buttermilk, which create a thick batter.
Cinnamon and
sugar can be added. This batter is either ladled or poured onto a hot surface, and spreads to form a circle about ¼ or ⅓ inch (1 cm) thick. The raising agent causes bubbles to rise to the uncooked side of the pancake, at which point the pancake is ready to be flipped. These pancakes, very light in texture, are often served at
breakfast topped with
maple syrup,
butter,
peanut butter,
jelly,
jam, or
fruit.
North American pancakes can be made sweet or savory by adding ingredients such as
blueberries,
strawberries,
cheese,
bacon,
bananas or
chocolate chips to the batter. In addition, some recipes call for the addition of spices such as
nutmeg or
cinnamon, or flavoring agents such as
vanilla extract. A "silver dollar" pancake refers to a pancake about 3 inches (7 cm) in diameter - these are usually served in portions of five or ten.
Flapjacks in the U.S. are sometimes larger, thinner and more crisp than a regular American pancake, sometimes as broad as 12 inches in diameter.
Vermont pancakes usually have oatmeal or
buckwheat flour added to the wheat flour, and require more baking powder to rise. The texture is coarser and the flavor more intense.
"German Pancakes" or
Dutch baby pancakes served in American pancake houses are shaped like a bowl and come in a range of sizes. They are commonly eaten with lemons and powdered sugar, jam, or caramelized apples.
Mexican hotcakes, are similar in style to pancakes served in the U.S., hotcakes are more often made with cornmeal as well as or instead of wheat flour. Hotcakes are popular breakfast items at restaurants throughout the country, and are often sold by street vendors in cities and during the local celebrations of small towns through the day and evening; the vendors usually sell a single hotcake topped with different sauces such as condensed milk, fruit jam or a sweet goat milk spread called "cajeta."
Australasia
In
Australia and
New Zealand, ingredients for pancakes usually consist of
egg,
milk,
flour etc. (similar to the English style, rather than the American version), and are typically eaten as a dessert, although, like in America, can be often served for
breakfast. Popular toppings include
maple syrup,
butter,
peanut butter,
jelly,
jam, or assorted
fruits such as
strawberries. Pancakes in Australia can also be served as a savory meal.
Europe
English pancakes have three key ingredients: plain
flour,
eggs, and
milk. The batter is quite runny and forms a thin layer on the bottom of the
frying pan when the pan is tilted. It may form some bubbles during cooking, which results in a pale pancake with dark spots where the bubbles were, but the pancake doesn't rise. These pancakes may be eaten as a sweet dessert with the traditional topping of
lemon juice and
sugar, drizzled with
golden syrup, or wrapped around savory stuffings and eaten as a main course. When baked instead of fried, this batter rises because the air beaten into the batter expands, without the need for baking powder, the result is known as
Yorkshire pudding. English pancakes are similar to
French crêpes, and
Italian crespelle, but are not "lacy" in appearance. English pancakes can be stuffed after cooking with a wide variety of sweet or savory fillings. Both versions can be sweetened after cooking by pouring on syrup or sprinkling with powdered
sugar.
Scottish and
Irish pancakes, locally known as
drop scones,
pancakes or
griddle cakes, are more like the American type and are served as such (see below). Scottish pancakes are made from self-raising
flour,
eggs,
sugar and
milk with Irish pancakes being made with soda-flour and buttermilk.
Pancakes similar to the North American pancake but smaller (usually about 3.5 in / 9 cm in diameter) are known in the
UK as
Scotch pancakes or
drop-scones (after the traditional method of dropping batter onto a
griddle (a
girdle in
Scots)), and in northern England,
Australia and
New Zealand as
pikelets. They can be served with
jam and
cream or just with butter. In
Scotland pancakes are served at teatime but mostly as breakfast. They are made plain and as fruit pancakes with
raisins. In Scotland larger thinner teacakes made to a similar recipe are called
crumpets. These are cooked on the girdle on one side until browned, then lightly cooked on the other side. Both Scotch pancakes and crumpets can be made with plain flour and baking soda as an alternative to self-raising flour.
French crêpes, popular in
France,
Canada, and
Brazil (where they may be called pancakes or crêpes) are made from flour, milk, and eggs. They are thin and are usually served with a large amount of sweet or savoury filling, ranging from
fruit and/or
ice cream, to
seafood (in Brazil, most usually ground meat).
German pancakes are the same as English pancakes. In some regions they're called
Pfannkuchen; in others (Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxonia)
pfannkuchen are
Berliners, a type of
doughnut, and pancakes are called
Eierkuchen. In
Swabia sliced pancake strips (
Flädle) are often served in
soup.
In the
Netherlands and
Flanders, pancakes are called
Pannenkoeken and eaten at
dinnertime. Pancake
restaurants are popular family restaurants and serve many varieties of sweet, savory, and stuffed pancakes. Pannenkoek are slightly thicker than crepes and usually quite large (12" or more) in diameter. The batter is egg-based and the fillings can include sliced apples, cheese, ham, bacon, candied ginger and many other ingredients - alone or in combination - as well as "stroop", a thick syrup. One classical Dutch filling is a combination of bacon and stroop.
In
Austria pancakes are called
Palatschinken, a word derived from Latin
placenta by way of Romanian, and are usually filled with apricot jam, chocolate sauce or hazelnut spread. Similar pancakes with similar names can be found throughout the former
Austria-Hungary (today Austria,
Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia), see
Palatschinken.
In
Poland pancakes called
Naleśniki are similar to those in Austria. They can be served as a main dish. They can be served sweet usually with fresh fruits (e.g
Bilberry),
Powidła, fruit jam. Also with variety of savory fillings for example fried chicken or even
tuna with different additions like cheese potatoes or ham. In Poland
Naleśniki are also used for making
croquettes.
Scandinavian pancakes are similar to English pancakes. They are often served with jam and/or ice cream or whipped cream, and sometimes as a main dish with a variety of savory fillings. Traditional
Swedish variations can be somewhat exotic.
Plättar resemble tiny English pancakes, and are fried several at a time in a special pan. Others resemble German pancakes but include fried
pork in the batter; these are baked in an oven.
Potato pancakes called
raggmunk contain shredded raw potato, and may contain other vegetables (sometimes the pancake batter is omitted, producing
rårakor).
Raggmunk and
rårakor traditionally eaten with pork rinds and/or
lingonberry jam. Norwegians like their pancakes with sugar or blueberry jam, and they're often served with hot soup. Norwegians eat a great deal of rice pudding/porridge - leftovers from this can be made into small pancakes called "lapper".
In Russia, Poland and Ukraine, blintz and blini are made from wheat or buckwheat flour, yeast, butter, eggs and milk. Blini cooking has an ancient history in Russia dating back to the pagan traditions and feasts.
In Hungary, palacsinta is made from flour, milk and/or soda water, sugar, and eggs and served as a main dish or as a dessert, depending on the filling. Sweet wine can also be added to the batter.
Africa
Pancakes in
South Africa are similar to English pancakes. They are traditionally prepared by the
Afrikaans community on gas-stoves, and called
pannekoek in Afrikaans, often eaten on wet and cold days.
Pannekoek are most commonly served with cinnamon-flavored sugar (and sometimes lemon juice); the sugar may be left to dissolve onto the pancake; if eaten immediately the pancake has a crispy texture. This is a staple at
Dutch Reformed Church fetes.
American-style "silver dollar" pancakes are also eaten in South Africa, where they're known as "plaatkoekies" or "flapjacks".
Asia
In Malaysia and Singapore, a pancake-like snack known as Apom Balik (in Malay) or Ban Chian Kuih（面煎粿 in Chinese). The Chinese version is made with a filling, traditionally ground peanut with sugar, butter and additional condiments like sweetened coconut or egg. Increasingly non traditional condiments like cheese, kaya (egg & coconut milk custard), blueberry or chocolate are used in response to demand for more interesting twist. There are other interesting variations, such as those made with soya bean milk replacing egg and water. The malay version (Apom Balik) frequently has sweet corn and condensed milk as filling.
In the Philippines, pancakes or "hotcakes" are also served with syrup (maple or imitation corn syrup) margarine and sugar or condensed milk. They are usually served for breakfast, but there are roving street stalls that sell smaller hotcakes topped with margarine and sugar as an afternoon snack.
In Vietnamese cuisine, there's a wide variety of traditional pancakes; these include
bánh xèo and
bánh khọt in southern Vietnam, and
bánh căn and
bánh khoái in
central Vietnam.
In India, a dish called the Pooda (sometimes called Cheela) is a variety of Pancake. They can be made either sweet or salty and are of different thickness as per region. Is made in a frying pan and of a similar batter as its European couterparts.
Dosa could be said to be another
Indian pancake. It is prepared by fermenting of rice batter. However the most correct definition would be what
Punjabis call a
Meetha Pooda and are a common Breakfast food item in Punjab. Its is sweet yet could be eaten with Pickle also.
Photo Soon.
In Korea, pancakes include
jeon,
pajeon,
bindaetteok,
kimchijeon, and
hotteok.
Banana pancakes, in particular, are a popular menu item in Western-oriented
backpackers' cafes in many Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, India, and China.
Details
Pancakes are comparable to
waffles without syrup traps, although waffles often contain more eggs and are cooked in a waffle iron.
Most types of pancakes, but not the
Breton galette, are cooked one side at a time on a griddle and flipped halfway through the cooking process to cook the other side of the pancake. The process of tossing or flipping is part of the essence of the pancake, and one of the skills that separates the experienced cook from the beginner.
In
Canada and the
United States, the pancake is usually a
breakfast food, but it's so popular that a franchised restaurant formerly called
International House of Pancakes, now referred to as IHOP, has more than 1000 restaurants serving at all hours of the day. A "pancake supper" can be a social event (in the manner of an ice cream social or barbecue), with pancakes served at dinnertime. Pancake suppers are sometimes held as fund raisers.
In
Australia and
Britain, pancakes are eaten as a
dessert, or served savory with a main meal. They can sometimes be eaten as a main meal (the savory variety, also known as
crepes), as they're in the U.S. and Canada. It is so popular that franchised restaurants called Pancake Palour and Pancakes on the Rocks are present.
In
Sweden and
Finland, it's traditional to eat
yellow pea soup followed by pancakes on Thursdays.
A smaller pancake, often called a "silver dollar" pancake, is sometimes used in the creation of
hors d'oeuvres in place of
crackers or other bread-like items.
Pancake Day
In Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, pancakes are traditionally eaten on
Shrove Tuesday, which is also known as "Pancake Day" and, particularly in
Ireland, as "Pancake Tuesday". (Shrove Tuesday is better known in the United States, France and other countries as
Mardi Gras or
Fat Tuesday.) Historically, pancakes were made on Shrove Tuesday so that the last of the fatty and rich foods could be used up before
Lent.
It is traditional to turn pancakes over by tossing them in the air using the
pan and without using any other implements. This is a tricky manoeuvre that requires practice to perfect.
Charity or school events are often organized on Pancake Day. One popular event is a "pancake race" in which each participant carries a pancake in a frying pan. All runners must toss their pancakes as they run and catch them in the frying pan. This event is said to have originated in the town of
Olney,
England in 1444 when a housewife was still busy frying pancakes to eat before the Lenten fast when she heard the
bells of
St Peter and
St Paul's Church calling her to the Shriving Service. Eager to get to church, she ran out of her house still holding the frying pan complete with pancake, and still wearing her
apron and headscarf. Pancake Day is widely celebrated in Australia; ready-made pancake mixes often sell out.
Every Shrove Tuesday since 1950 the towns of
Olney,
England and
Liberal, Kansas, USA have competed in the International Pancake Race. Only local women may compete; they race along a previously agreed course and their times are compared to determine the international winner.
The Rehab UK Parliamentary Pancake Race also takes place every Shrove Tuesday, with teams from the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Fourth Estate battling it out for the title of Parliamentary Pancake Race Champions. The fun relay race is all about raising awareness of the work of national
brain injury charity, Rehab UK, and the needs of people with acquired brain injury.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Pancake'.
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