History of the Pancake!

I was inspiried to make another,
im considering french toast next, that way dirty pete cant give me shit

enjoy!(This thread does not even compare to waffles however i love breakfast, i thought i was only fair, waffles are still the greatest)

Did you know that the first pancake-type foods were eaten by ancient peoples? No, they were not the same pancakes we eat today. These simple, fried concoctions of milk, flour, eggs and spices were called "Alita Dolcia" (Latin for "another sweet") by the Ancient Romans. Depending upon the proportion of ingredients and method of cooking, the finished product might have approximated pancakes, fritters, omlettes, or custard. Some of these dishes were sweet (fruit, nuts, honey); others were savory (cheese, fish, meat). These ancient recipes are also thought to be the relatives of waffles, cakes, muffins, fritters, spoonbread and doughnuts. Pancakes, as we Americans know them today, were "invented" in Medieval Europe.
Throughout history, pancake ingredients (finest available wheat flour, buckwheat, cornmeal, potatoes), cooking implements (ancient bakestones, medieval hearths, pioneer griddles perched on campfire embers, microwave ovens), social rituals (Shrove Tuesday crepes, Chanukah latkes, mass quantities for community fundraisers) and final product (thick or thin, savory or sweet, slathered with butter and smothered with syrup, or gently rolled around delicate fruit) have reflected regional cuisine and local customs. Cake-like galettes [France], thick potato pancakes [Germany], Boxty [Ireland], paper thin crepes [France], palascinta [Hungary] drop scones [Scotland], coarse cornmeal Indian cakes [colonial America], flapjacks [19th century America], rich blini [Russia], poori [India], qata'if (Middle East) dadar gutung [Indonesia], bao bing [China] and simply-add-water instant mixes [late 20th century] are all members of the pancake family.


In Sweden, pancakes are traditional Thursday winter's night dessert, following pea soup. This hearty combination has been enjoyed since the Middle Ages:
"Swedish pea soup is regarded as a real national dish. It has been served every Thursday in most Swedish homes for hundreds of years. During the cold winter it makes a very satisfying meal, economical as well as filling. The soup is served as a main course with boiled pork, The traditional dessert after pea soup is Swedish Pancakes or "Plattar", served with jam or lingonberrries...It makes very good eating, although it is a bit on the heavy side for modern poeple...The exact cooking time of the peas is hard to say, some peas take longer than others. There is no harm in overcooking, so you can easily cook soup ahead of time."
---Swedish Cooking at its Best, Marianne Gronwall van der Tuuk [Rand McNally:Chicago] 1962 (p. 62)
In the United States, pancakes are commonly served for breakfast:
"Pancakes have long been a staple of the American breakfast table, and their history is as old as that of the Native Americans who shaped a soft batter in their hands and called it, in the Narragansett, nokehick (it is soft), transmuted by early white settlers into " no cake." Cornmeal pancakes were called "Indian cakes" as early as 1607. The Dutch in America made similar cakes from buckwheat, panekoeken, which by 1740 were called "buckwheat cakes." English settlers brought with them the feast of Pancake Tuesday, an old name for Shrove Tuesday, the day before the Lenten fast begins...By 1745 Americans were also referring to hoe cakes," perhaps because they were cooked on a flat hoe blade...One of the most beloved versions of this simple cake is the Johnnycake [also known as journey cake], specifically associated with Rhode Island...The word "pancake" itself was not in general usage until the 1870s..."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 229-30)
(This is only a small portion of the information on pancakes found in this book. Ask your librarian to help you find this book for additional facts and trivia. Historic recipes for hoe cakes).
What is a flapjack?
Flapjacks are one (of several) American names for pancake-type foods. Food historians generally agree the term belongs to the New England states.
"The term flapjack has had a variety of designations in the course of its career. Originally it denoted at sort of thick pancake ('a Flapjack, which in our translation is called a Pancake,' John Taylor, Jack-a-Lent, 1620), and that is how it is still used in the USA. Flap in this context means 'toss'. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a flapjack used also be be a sort of apple tart or apple turnover (called applejack in dialects of eastern England). And in the 1930s we see the first evidence of the word's present-day British usage, for a biscuit made from rolled oats, syrup, and butter."


REGIONAL VARIETIES


North America


North Americans (The United States and Canada) sometimes style pancakes with banana slices.


American or Canadian pancakes (also known as hotcakes, griddlecakes, or flapjacks in the U.S.) contain a raising agent, usually baking powder, and contains different proportions of eggs, flour, and milk or buttermilk, which create a thick batter. Cinnamon and sugar can be added. This batter is either ladled or poured onto a hot surface, and spreads to form a circle about ¼ or ⅓ inch (1 cm) thick. The raising agent causes bubbles to rise to the uncooked side of the pancake, at which point the pancake is ready to be flipped. These pancakes, very light in texture, are often served at breakfast topped with maple syrup, butter, peanut butter, jelly, jam, or fruit.
North American pancakes can be made sweet or savory by adding ingredients such as blueberries, strawberries, cheese, bacon, bananas or chocolate chips to the batter. In addition, some recipes call for the addition of spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon, or flavoring agents such as vanilla extract. A "silver dollar" pancake refers to a pancake about 3 inches (7 cm) in diameter - these are usually served in portions of five or ten.

Stacks of "silver dollar" pancakes.


Flapjacks in the U.S. are sometimes larger, thinner and more crisp than a regular American pancake, sometimes as broad as 12 inches in diameter.
Vermont pancakes usually have oatmeal or buckwheat flour added to the wheat flour, and require more baking powder to rise. The texture is coarser and the flavor more intense.
"German Pancakes" or Dutch baby pancakes served in American pancake houses are shaped like a bowl and come in a range of sizes. They are commonly eaten with lemons and powdered sugar, jam, or caramelized apples.
Mexican hotcakes, are similar in style to pancakes served in the U.S., hotcakes are more often made with cornmeal as well as or instead of wheat flour. Hotcakes are popular breakfast items at restaurants throughout the country, and are often sold by street vendors in cities and during the local celebrations of small towns through the day and evening; the vendors usually sell a single hotcake topped with different sauces such as condensed milk, fruit jam or a sweet goat milk spread called "cajeta."

Australasia

In Australia and New Zealand, ingredients for pancakes usually consist of egg, milk, flour etc. (similar to the English style, rather than the American version), and are typically eaten as a dessert, although, like in America, can be often served for breakfast. Popular toppings include maple syrup, butter, peanut butter, jelly, jam, or assorted fruits such as strawberries. Pancakes in Australia can also be served as a savory meal.

Europe


Scottish pancake and fruit crumpet.


English pancakes have three key ingredients: plain flour, eggs, and milk. The batter is quite runny and forms a thin layer on the bottom of the frying pan when the pan is tilted. It may form some bubbles during cooking, which results in a pale pancake with dark spots where the bubbles were, but the pancake does not rise. These pancakes may be eaten as a sweet dessert with the traditional topping of lemon juice and sugar, drizzled with golden syrup, or wrapped around savory stuffings and eaten as a main course. When baked instead of fried, this batter rises because the air beaten into the batter expands, without the need for baking powder, the result is known as Yorkshire pudding. English pancakes are similar to French crêpes, and Italian crespelle, but are not "lacy" in appearance. English pancakes can be stuffed after cooking with a wide variety of sweet or savory fillings. Both versions can be sweetened after cooking by pouring on syrup or sprinkling with powdered sugar.
Scottish and Irish pancakes, locally known as drop scones, pancakes or griddle cakes, are more like the American type and are served as such (see below). Scottish pancakes are made from self-raising flour, eggs, sugar and milk with Irish pancakes being made with soda-flour and buttermilk.



once again this information was found by a simple google search(wikipedia, foodtimeline.org

 

im celibit dont worry only 2 months left. Ha, gives ya sumthin to look forward to doesnt it

Ha. thanx, im glad you guys are enjoying this stuff

 

i promise


just how wild and crazy are you thinking?






i dont think i will do a french toast thread, just because there isnt a lot of good info and i dont like the pics much

 

thanx dudes

agreed. I am thinking a mixture of fruiit in my next pancake

 

care to explain, can i make like snowman pancakes using like a cookie cutter!?