It’s Pancake Day tomorrow, and as ever, I always think back to my early childhood where we ate our meals round a table in the kitchen. We lived in a small ground floor flat and there was a back door which we used all the time, although we had a front door – which led out into the long garden, Half of the garden was lawn surrounded by flower beds, separated from the vegetable part by a wire fence with apple and pear trees along it. Dad grew all our vegetables, and had an asparagus bed too. At the end of the lawn was a white peach tree, but unfortunately one year it fell prey to an invasion of aphids, and maybe something else, which killed it.
On Pancake Day, Mum made the batter in something we called a shaker. It was a plastic (or maybe melamine) pale green container, ridged inside and with a domed-screw on top. All the ingredients, flour, eggs, milk, a pinch of salt, were poured in, the lid screwed firmly on, making sure it was on straight (very important to do that!!) and then a frenzy of shaking ensured a smooth batter. Mum would lightly grease the hot pan with lard and pour the batter in – she always seemed to do things so quickly and precisely, and would flip the pancakes as it if it was the easiest thing in the world to do. The grill was over the cooker, and the pan was taken out and plates put to warm – not that the grill was on, but the heat came from the gas rings below. We always had lemons to squeeze and sugar to sprinkle – the thought of anything else never occurred to us! We had pancakes on other days as well, but they were always a treat, even though they were quick, easy and cheap to make.
Whenever I think of pancakes, I always think of my dear friend in the Netherlands. She is an expert pancake maker, and when we used to go and stay with her and her family (and what happy, jolly, lovely holidays they were!) on our last day, as we got ready to head to the airport, she would make us pannenkoeken (pancakes), a delicious and delightful treat which she served with bacon and appel stroop (a lovely, dark thick syrup) Now we always have our pancakes with stroop and bacon – although we also have lemon and sugar at the ready.
So tomorrow I will make pancakes, no doubt using my mum’s old Be-Ro cookery book, just to check I have remembered the quantities correctly, and no doubt with bacon and maple syrup since we have run out of stroop!
Lois Elsden 