Pancake Day/Lent observation

[karohemd]

So the idea of Pancake Day is to get rid of all the "forbidden" ingredients you might still have before Lent starts.
Interestingly, here these include eggs while in Germany not. The tradiotional baked goods for Shrove Tuesday are Krapfen a bit like doughnuts (fluffy yeast dough without eggs) but the closest I've had anywhere else were beignets in New Orleans. How they are prepared (dusted/iced, filled/unfilled, shape) etc. varies from region to region and even from family to family.

So the question is, are the rules of Lent different here and on the continent?

Oh, and a question for the pancake makers among you: What's your preferred fat to cook pancakes in? Mine is clarified butter

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I don't cook my pancakes in fat since I have a good non-stick pan and in that context it makes them harder to flip cleanly. That said, I put a fair bit of groundnut oil in the actual batter (very roughly 1tbsp per 100g of flour).

[luckychance.livejournal.com]

Oh, I miss beignets and New Orleans.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Good memories. :o)

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

My mum used butter just now :)

[omentide.livejournal.com]

Butter.

I've never actually bothered to clarify it.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't either but in Germany you can buy it in pots (http://www.butaris.de/sortiment.php). Have never seen it here, that's why I was asking about ghee a while back, which seems the closest thing.

[hrafen.livejournal.com]

Well yes, and ghee is great for frying rice and other stuff as well.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

Is there a difference between clarified butter and ghee? I thought they were one and the same.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is. However, you can't buy it as clarified butter in the baking section (as you would in Germany), only as ghee in the exotic aisle.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

About £5. /cynic

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

I've never really seen a list of things that are considered bad form for Lent, I tend to think of it as a common sense thing - things that are seen as luxuries; cream, sugar, chocolate and so on (and things made with them) would be bad form... probably meat too come to think of it. Catholics had a big thing about Fish instead of Flesh on Fridays until the 1970s when the Pope realised that it was a treat they looked forward to rather than a deprivation for many people.

I'm sure that in times past, the rules were much more clearly laid down.

These days of course, it's a rather token thing - in the UK at least - and if they give up anything, people usually choose something like milk in coffee, sugar on breakfast cereal, etc...

As for preferred fat, I use melted butter. Some of it I mix with the batter before cooking, and some I mix with a bit of light oil (groundnut, rapeseed or sunflower, depending what's to hand), just to stop the butter burning so quickly if the pan gets too hot.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

Mixing a little oil and butter is a good tip, I think I'll try that one next time I make some.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

Lard or a little drizzling of sunflower oil.

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Northener....You guys would have Lard on your cornflakes if you could get away with it !

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Either lard or oil on their own tend to be too greasy for me. I remember my gran used lard for pancakes and they were unpleasant.
A butter/oil mix is what I use if I don't have clarified butter at hand.

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

A little sunflower oil in a heavy pan is fine but in a non-stick I find it difficult to use. A little lard is usually better, though only a little.

I tried Clover last night and it gave a lovely result so I'd definitely recommend it.