The first time I ever had scotch pancakes was in Sheffield staying with our cousins. Our aunty who was of Scottish origin had made these strange flappy things, bendy and soft, but very delicious with loads of butter. My mum didn’t ever make them and the shops were not as full of everything under the sun as they are now, so I didn’t have them ever again during my childhood.
I don’t know when I next had them – i had plenty of pancakes since then, not only every pancake day but loads of other times too. We would always have them plain, just with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar – when I heard friends say they had them with jam or mincemeat (sweet mincemeat) it sounded really strange.
When I first went to Manchester, there was pancake house on Piccadilly Gardens; being a poor student I’d look at the menu with the garish pictures while waiting for my bus. I could never afford to go in – I don’t think it was very expensive but in those days students were really poor, and as we attended college all day every day there was no chance of a part-time job. I promised myself that one day I would go in and have the one with cherries and cream… but I never did, and now I can afford it the pancake house is long gone.
We had a group round for an art class today, and instead of offering biscuits I made scotch pancakes for the first time ever. I looked at several recipes before going back to my faithful little BeRo cookery book. It was difficult to judge the consistency, and when I was cooking them I had the gas too high at first – so there were a few very sun-tanned. However, in the end I think I got the knack and when I served them to our friends they all loved them! Phew, that was a relief… I now have the confidence to try them again!
Lois Elsden 
Good memories. By coincidence Kim has that Be-Ro book, passed to her by her mother. The front cover is in colour!
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Colour! That must be a later version – I know my grandma had one which must have been in the 1930’s but I think the one I have is from the 40’s or 50’s. I bought myself a new updated version, but I still go back to and use the old one, even though it’s falling to pieces.
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There is no date on it but it is a bit dog-eared!
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Would you guess 1940’s? – they have kept the same style little girl, but updated. How lovely – I hope you use it!!
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There are so may cookery books and celebrity chefs these days and they all recreate the same dishes but sometimes little books like this are so much more useful.
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They really are, and they tell so much about the times they were written – plus all the memories of mums’ and grans’ cooking!
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I wrote a post about it some time ago…
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I am researching now. Kim’s book claims to be the 26th million edition which seems almost impossible but I have looked at the company website and it appears to be entirely true!
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Gosh… what a lot of home bakers, how brilliant!
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