Shrove Tuesday, March 8, 2011.
Tuesday is the beginning of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Creole communities and South American countries, but in England it’s Pancake Day, the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and the joyous feasting on pancakes. This tradition dates back to the 14th century because it was customary to use up all the “forbidden” foods such as eggs, sugar, fat and butter which the devout abstain from during the 6 weeks of Lent.
In old England, each village would host a Pancake Race, with homemakers wearing aprons and running with a heated skillet and flipping their “flapjacks”. The English pancake is very thin, like a crepe, and it’s sprinkled with super fine sugar, and the fresh squeezed juice of a lemon or orange (blood orange juice is heavenly) and rolled up. Instead of maple syrup there’s Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which isn’t the same at all (rather like pouring corn syrup). I remember several years ago being in London’s gourmet foods emporium, Fortnum & Mason one Christmastide, where foreign delicacies from the far corners of the earth were being sold and coming across a box of Aunt Jemima’s Pancake mix and maple syrup. I just about fell to my knees for the miracle and the shock of it—one of my favorite finding the sacred in the ordinary epiphanies and that holiday Aunt Jemima was sticking out of my Christmas stocking.
A pancake supper is the best budget saver—think of them for Sunday night suppers. Your pancakes don’t have to be sweet. Adding bits of ham or bacon, shallots and asparagus tips, enlarges the scope of the cast iron skillet canvas as well as the thrill of thrift. So this Tuesday, it’s real pancakes, as only my beloved Aunt Jemima makes them. While the image of Aunt Jemima has evolved over the years, her pancakes have retained all of the love and deliciousness she put in every batch. Even during the Great Depression, home-makers made sure their food budget included Aunt Jemima pancake flour, as this March 1933 ad from Woman’s Home Companion attests. Hope you indulge do too! Click on the image below to open up the full version
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