... Did you know that pancakes, it turns out, are older than bread? It is, of course, difficult to guess exactly how old they are now, but their long history is undoubtedly confirmed by the fact that pancakes are in the cuisines of almost all peoples of the world. Everywhere they are eaten in different ways, prepared in a variety of ways, the most incredible ingredients are mixed, and housewives from Japan to Mexico each have their own omens about how and when to make pancakes. Our pancakes are prepared mainly for riotous Maslenitsa, as well as for commemoration. Once upon a time in Russia, pancakes were given to women in labor after giving birth. According to Russian housewives, in order for the pancakes to turn out to be great, you need to bake them all alone, and put the first pancake on the windowsill in memory of your ancestors. In Europe and America, where pancakes are eaten much more often than in our country, and in general they are considered the same everyday food as, for example, sandwiches, housewives are sure that pancakes will work only if they manage to turn the pancake by shaking the pan. In French there is even a well-established expression "she throws it up", I mean, controls a man as deftly as pancakes in a frying pan.
French, South Slavic, Hungarian, Czech and many other European pancakes are made from dough made from milk (400 g), eggs (1 egg + yolk), ghee (50 g) and flour (100 g). In foggy Albion, pancakes are prepared in the same way, only they prefer not to add oil. The pancakes are plump and served with a variety of, most often sweet, fillings. In terms of size, in Europe, undoubtedly, Bulgarian executioners are in the lead, which are made in giant frying pans. Interestingly, pancakes are also called butchers in Hungary, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this word originates from the Latin "placenta", that is, a flat cake, and this is no coincidence, because all of these countries were once part of the Roman Empire. This means that pancakes were baked back in the days of Antony and Cleopatra!
In France, pancakes are called crepes. But the French would have changed themselves if they had not come up with a dozen options for standard crepes! Among them, flambe pancakes take pride of place. The dough and the pancakes themselves are prepared according to the standard recipe, only after cooking, several slices of orange peeled and peeled from the membranes, a pinch of sugar, and a piece of butter are put into the pan. Then all this is poured over with cognac or rum and set on fire right in the pan. Flambé pancakes are served with ice cream. In the French province of Bretonne, they prefer buckwheat pancakes - galette. Unlike crepes, biscuits are fried only on one side, while the other is covered with cheese, ham, eggs, etc. Pancakes are so popular in Holland that there are family restaurants specializing only in Dutch Pannenkoeken pancakes.
In Scandinavia, hot pancakes also fit. Here they eat lefse pancakes made from potatoes, milk and flour. In Denmark, they are called tynnlefse - butter, cinnamon and sugar are wrapped in a potato pancake and served with coffee as a sweet dessert. In Norway, a sausage is willingly wrapped in lefsu (pølse med lompe) - it turns out a Norwegian hot dog! No Danish cuisine is complete without a special pan for making Danish pancakes - the aebleskiver. It looks like an egg container. The batter is poured into the cells with the addition of fruit pieces.
American and Canadian pancakes differ significantly from Russian and European ones. The main difference is the addition of baking soda and higher fat milk, sometimes even cream.American pancakes turn out to be very lush, and if cinnamon is also added to the dough, then they are simply fragrant. The standard American breakfast is flapjacks topped with maple syrup. Even several types of maple syrup are sold there, which indicates the great popularity of pancakes in America. Eateries will offer you "silver dollar" pancakes with a diameter of 7 cm. They are served folded into the tower in 5 or 10 pieces. In America, as in all other Catholic countries, it is customary to eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, that is, on the last Tuesday before Lent. In France it is called Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). On this day, festivities and contests are held everywhere, among which there is traditionally a run with a hot frying pan, during which a pancake must be tossed over it.
In Spain, Latin and North America, Mexico, India and many other countries around the world, pancakes are most often made from cornmeal. In Spanish-speaking countries and the States, such pancakes are called tortillas (Tortilla) from the word torta - a round cake, in the Basque country - talo (talo), in Nicaragua they are called guirila (Güirila) and are prepared exclusively from white corn, in Argentina and Bolivia they are eaten Sopaipilla - thin salty tortillas baked in a traditional oven, laobin (烙餅) tortillas are popular in China, and roti pancakes are popular in India.
The tortillas are prepared according to the following recipe: 4 parts corn flour, 1 part warm water, baking powder and salt. Water is added last. After kneading, the dough is left to “breathe” for an hour, then it is divided into small balls, which are rolled out with a rolling pin to the shape of a thin cake and baked in a pan. Interestingly, tortillas have been eaten in both Americas since pre-Colombian times. Indians from local tribes manually crushed corn grains to obtain flour. They always added lime juice to the flour. The Europeans who arrived in the New World hurried to bring the grains themselves to Europe and plant corn in their fields, but none of them paid attention to the lime juice, but in vain. Indeed, it is thanks to him that vitamin PP (nicotinic acid) and the essential amino acid tryptophan are released from corn. The fatal mistake was discovered only when Europeans and Asians, whose diet mainly consisted of cheap corn products, began to fall ill from a lack of these substances with a terrible disease - pellagra.
Tortilla, softened with water, is used to make burritos - pancakes common in America and Spain, in which minced meat or vegetable is wrapped. Burrito in Spanish is a little donkey. Perhaps the shape of the burrito resembles rolled luggage.
In addition to the already mentioned corn or wheat roti pancake, the lentil dosa cake is also eaten in India. Dosu can be compared to shawarma. It is a thin pancake usually wrapped in a pungent mixture of lentils, vegetables or potatoes, generously seasoned with peppers, curry and other Indian spices. Dosa is more popular in the south of India, while in the north of the country it is served mainly only in southern restaurants. The most popular type of dosa is masala dosa. The word masala in India means everything is very spicy. So, you may even come across masala chai.
For 4 servings of dosa, you will need 250 grams of wheat or (ideally) lentil flour, finely chopped chili peppers, 2 tbsp. l. coriander, 1 tsp. salt, 2 cups warm water. First, mix all dry ingredients, then add water while kneading the dough. Leave the bowl for half an hour. Then bake the pancakes in the usual way. But keep in mind that Indians cook them in ghee - ghee. You can stuff the dosa or serve it just like that with coconut sauce or yogurt. In Japan, pancakes are called Okonomiyaki or dorayaki. Okonomi in Japanese means what you love, and yaki means cooked. Hence, by the way, the names of many Japanese restaurants beginning with yaki-.It turns out that okonomiyaki is "what you love to cook" or "cook what you love." Even in terms of pancakes, the Japanese distinguished themselves: it seems that this is the only country where pancakes have an official inventor. He is Ueno Usagiya and invented okonomiyaki in 1914. Japanese pancakes are two pancakes, between which there is what in Russia was called hot, that is, the filling. In Japan, red bean paste is added as a filling. For the dough, use flour, sweet potatoes, water, an egg and chopped cabbage. Depending on the region, even seafood or meat can be added to the dough. First, one pancake is prepared, why is the filling laid out on it, all this is poured with dough for the second pancake. Then the okonomiyaki is turned over and fried on the other side. The finished pancakes are poured with a special Japanese okonomiyaki sauce and served with standard ginger, nori, etc.
In China, pancakes are prepared with the addition of a large amount of onions and green onions to the dough, and not batter, but tough dough is used.
In addition to the already listed wheat, buckwheat, lentil and corn flour, the most unexpected types of flour are used in some countries for making pancakes. Among them, Jamaican bammy pancakes are worth mentioning. They are made from cassava root flour. Ethiopian Injera pancakes are made from Abyssinian vole flour. Flour is mixed with water and infused for several days. After frying, salad is laid out on the pancakes, various roasts, and the Ethiopians use the pancake as bread and napkins, as the Armenians use lavash. In addition, figs are also a plate, much like the South Indians eat on banana leaves. In Vietnam, they eat Bánh khoai mì pancakes mixed with corn flour, sugar and coconut milk. When in Vietnam, try fried pancakes and steamed ones. There is also a variant made from the tuber of the taro plant.
Ease of preparation, taste and the possibility of creativity "in a frying pan" make pancakes a favorite dish of the inhabitants of the whole planet. It's probably in the shape, because pancakes, like the sun, are also round. "
Anna Maslova
Materials from the site
🔗
