There is nothing so yummy like a stack of homemade pancakes, prepared exactly how you like them.
Pancakes as we know them today were already eaten long ago, dating back even to Ancient Roman times. This simple but at the same time so delightful food is known almost in every country all over the world.
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In Roman times, the basic pancake batter was made from milk, flour and eggs and spices. These pancakes were called “Alita Dolcia” what in Latin means Another Sweet. The sweet version of Roman pancakes were served with honey and fruits and the savory version with meat and cheese.
Also, blini or crepes are two another names of pancakes which are known to be one of the most popular and tasty Russian dishes. The history of their origin is very mysterious, but it’s clear – this dish didn’t arrive to us in the last century.
One of the possible explanations for their origin is that, in old times, before IX century, a peasant forgot about the pan with kissel, which he was cooking. The kissel fried, became brown and could be seen as a first version of the pancake. Before Christening of Russia, pancakes had a role of sacrificial bread.
Every family had its own recipe of crepes, which were handed from generation to generation, from mothers to daughters. Seven weeks before Easter it was a tradition to eat pancakes during one week. It was a specific ‘good bye winter’ sign, which was accompanied by dancing, laugh and good mood. In this week all people could buy pancakes in every corner. And not just simple version of them, but filled with delicious things, such as: quark, meat, eggs, marmalade, sweet milk and even caviar. This tradition still exists in Russia, but went through some changes with time.
And, did you actually know that according to traditions you have to eat pancakes only by hands, without using fork or knife? Yes, it is so. In the past, if somebody was seen eating pancakes, using food instruments, he was beaten with rods.
Nowadays we can find crepes or their interpretations almost in every country. Of course, sometimes they can have completely different taste of the original dish. For example we can remember American pancakes. They are very different from the European version of the dish. They have a smaller and thicker form and mostly used as a sweet breakfast dish or desert. In Germany, we are used to eat crepes with chocolate butter and bananas inside. In China, people add onions in the dough, which make them taste more like an addition to the salty food. Every country tries to create something own, by adding new ingredients to the original recipe.
Nevertheless, if you want to come back to the roots and try to make the original dish, this advice might be very useful. You don’t need many ingredients to make very tasty pancakes, all what you need are milk (500 ml), eggs (2), oil (2 tablespoons), sugar (1 tablespoon), flower (200 gram), slaked soda (1 tablespoon), salt.
First of all, you have to mix together sugar, salt and eggs. Then, add a little bit oil, because it will help pancakes not to stick to the pan. As following, the dough should be mixed with milk, slaked soda and flower. You can use an electric mixer to make the dough more homogeneous. Your dough is ready!
Now you can make the pan warm and start to fry your own crepes. Don’t forget to put a little bit oil in the pan! It will make your frying process much easier. You also can put anything you find in your fridge to fill ready pancakes.
From now you can tell everyone that you are a master of original pancakes and enjoy your own cooking experience together with your friends.