The Pancake, It’s Not Just For Breakfast

by Chewy

 
     Growing up I remember laying in bed in the morning and gently being roused by the aroma of  cooking pancakes. Reserved for the weekend  and leisurely lingering over breakfast with family, it was served often enough to be a ritual yet still retain that  “special” meal status. Lots of butter and lots of syrup really placed this more in the dessert column reinforcing the anti-ghrelin movement (see Happy Days Are Here Again)  long before it’s time! 

     The beauty in a pancake is its simplicity and ease in preparation and relatively inexpensive ingredients. Flour based and generally shaped like discs ( although you and I know that sometimes the batter has a mind of it’s own and often takes shapes similar to clouds in that I see a bunny and you see a dog), they have the texture of cake and a taste similar to bread. The versatility of the pancake, however, far exceeds that of bread as can be seen in the international array of variations.

      Probably the earliest and most widespread type of cereal food eaten in prehistoric societies, the basic ingredients included dry carbohydrate-rich seed flours mixed with any protein rich liquids (probably milk) and eggs. This batter was then baked on hot stones over an open fire and produced a nutritious and tasty meal. It was just one continuous BBQ back then and I can’t help but wonder how that smoky flavor affected sweet products. Maybe like adding BACON! But I pork digress. Moving ahead a few millennium, there is no reason this wouldn’t translate to today’s camping trip with an open fire and a raid on the nearest beehive for a little sweet.

     Perhaps the most widely known dessert pancake is the French crepe. A very thin batter and resulting thin pancake, it is rolled with numerable fillings and is dusted, dolloped, or smeared with a variety of sweet toppings. Germany has its Kaiserschmarrn, a light, caramelized pancake that is split into pieces, filled with fruit and/or nuts, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with a fruit sauce. Scandinavians nosh on skansk aggakaka (scanian egg cake), a much thicker (1 ½  to 2 inches) Swedish pancake that is served with lingonberries and BACON! A typical Carnival sweet dessert in Spain, the Frixuelos is served with large amounts of sugar or honey. Here in the United State, IHOP has made these beauties available 24/7 in every conceivable stuffed, fried, glazed, uber-sugarized , fruit and nut adorned variation.

     So next time you’re pondering a dessert post meal or in place of a meal, pull out the griddle and let your imagination run rampant. Everything goes with pancake!