i didn’t know this, but in ireland, the tuesday before lent is also known as pancake tuesday.  during my research i found out that pancakes are associated with the day preceding lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of lent. 

the IM suggested we (i) made some pancakes for pancake tuesday and he was very insistent of the fact that irish pancakes are not like american.  he started describing them being more like crepes and i, having only made pancakes out of a box before, was becoming more daunted with the prospect.  so of course i googled.  thankfully jac at the look o’ the irish had a pancake recipe, as did imen from i married an irish farmer and epicurious.  their recipes seemed pretty straight forward and easy. i am specially thankful to jac and IM for the encouragement. 

here is the recipe for pancakes for pancake tuesday!

INGREDIENTS:
4 large eggs
1 cup of whole milk
1 tbs of granulated sugar
1 cup of all purpose flour
melted or room temperature butter
1/2 tsp of salt
lemons
powdered sugar 

INSTRUCTIONS:
first, start by sifting the flour.

add the sugar and salt. make a well in the middle of the bowl.

add the 4 eggs. 

fun fact: tuesday was raining a lot and we only had two eggs but IM still went out to get me eggs. he is so sweet. i really hope this doesn’t embarrass him. maybe i should delete this.

whisk the eggs into the flour.

add the milk and whisk everything together.

look who came to help out!! 

whisk the batter until smooth.

cover and let it rest for at least an hour. this is what my batter looked like after an hour:

the next tip is courtesy of jac:

…Keep a plate in the oven/warming drawer with sugar and lemon so that your pancakes soak up all that sugary-lemony goodness while you are making the whole batch.  Also, don’t sweat if you burn/screw-up the first one in the pan; it’s a learning process/right of passage. Good luck and happy Pancake Tuesday!

when you are ready too start cooking… heat up a medium skillet.  i used a medium one because it was my first time making these. i recommend the same if it is your first time too.  the smaller pancakes are way easier to manage.

melt a bit of butter, about 1/4 teaspoon, and cover the whole pan.  then pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter.

here is the other side:

i put it on the plate and the plate in the over very very low heat.

then just keep trying with the rest of the batter.  make sure to turn the pan in order to spread out the batter as much as possible.

try to coat the bottom of the pan.

then maybe, if you are brave you can try flipping it. 

at this point of the evening, the IM grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of

getting ready:

and bringing the pan up:

off it goes!

and i caught it!!

pure shock at the fact that i caught it!

after a while we decided to start eating.  i am not sure if this is true or not but IM told me that in ireland one eats as they get made. maybe it was just a ploy to get me to give him some pancakes.

once you are done and ready to eat, serve them with powdered (confectioners) sugar and lemon.

when he tried them, he said that the taste brought back memories of him eating the pancakes in ireland at 14. so you know, absolute success!!!

look at how thin they are.  but don’t get fooled, they are filling. 

their flavor is very delicate and different from out of the box pancakes. i think i am now a convert.

traditionally these are eaten with lemon and sugar but next time i think i will experiment with different fillings.  wish me luck!

i hope you try making these, thank you for stopping by!