I’ve never heard of Pancake Day, and being decidedly un-Catholic (my mom was raised in a thoroughly Irish-Catholic household and had apparently had enough), I’m unclear on the concept of Shrove Tuesday, period.
Call me nuts, but I like pancakes PLAIN. That way you can eat them with your fingers! I’ve liked them that way since I was a little kid and didn’t quite have the hang of silverware yet. I like my waffles plain, too. I’m not totally adverse to putting butter and syrup or whatever on a pancake, but if it was just me, I wouldn’t bother.
Oh my. I’ve never heard of pancakes with filling. I eat the flat American pancakes, with butter and maple syrup (okay okay the cheap imitation maple syrup stuff from the grocery store) on top. I also like chocolate-chip pancakes, yummy!
Although I could be weird because I come from a region where it’s common to have turkey and waffles for dinner…
And I think pancakes and all other sweet stuff at breakfast is nasty. Eggs, bacon, or (preferably) leftovers from the previous night’s supper, please. I made eggplant and anchovy pizza last night, so that’s what I had this morning. With iced tea.
Must be a Texas thing. This is exactly how I grew up eating pancakes. I remember once on a family vacation, I ordered pancakes at a restaurant and I was confused that they didn’t come with peanut butter. I was even more confused when the waitress looked at me strangely for asking for peanut butter.
I also love mixing a dollop of peanut butter with some syrup in a bowl, then sopping it up with some hot buttered biscuits. Yummy!
I haven’t made pancakes in a while (although after reading this thread I may whip up a batch this weekend) but the last time I did I topped them with apple cinnamon syrup which I had picked up at a neighborhood AppleFest last September.
During my childhood, it was always Log Cabin Syrup, a brand of maple syrup. I do seem to recall that my brother preferred sugar and lemon juice, though. I haven’t actually eaten pancakes for several years due to fat and cholesterol concerns.
Me, I am not thrilled with pancakes, another carb that makes me feel like I ate a sponge.
I do like crepes and I like them with fruit fillings/sauce and as cheese blintzs.
I found a yummy recipe in the book Recipes For a Small Planet for whole wheat/oatmeal pancakes that I love. I don’t make them often but when I do, it’s tons of butter and honey. Or just honey butter. Those I can eat without feeling weighed down.
Oh and I love Belgium Waffles. Lots of depressions to hold tons of butter.
Good thing I ate dinner or I would be drooling right now.
Potato pancakes are delish. A little butter and sour cream (NOT KETCHUP that’s for french fries and hash browns) and a few fresh herbs sprinkled on them. Very yummy.
I’m not sure where our family picked up tradition, but pancakes served with beef / brown gravy were pretty normal when I grew up. Good pork gravy and sausages are great too. I usually eat my pancakes with gravy; my wife likes maple syrup. Our children like them both ways. Most people have a funny reaction when gravy is mentioned, but all I can say is try it first. I have never tried white gravy on pancakes. For me, that’s reserved for biscuits.
In my experience, most people in the United States think they use real maple syrup, but in fact have never even been close to the real thing.
I once ran into a person from the South (for me, that is anything South of Rutland, Vermont) who insisted that no one could eat real maple syrup, that it was so sweet it could only be used by blending it with other syrups. This was one of the few times that I could insist with perfect authority that “you simply so not know what you are talking about”. And to prove it, I brought him back a pint of the good stuff on my next trip home. He was gracious enough to admit he was wrong after sampling it.
Yes, it is more expensive (unless you make it yourself…we tapped a couple of hundred trees and made 40 gallons one year), but there is simply no comparison.
It’s pretty good cold, but it’s best to heat it just to boiling before you use it, which releases all of the flavors and aromas.
