A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat type of batter bread like cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan. Archaeological evidence suggests that pancakes were probably eaten in prehistoric societies.
The pancake's shape and structure varies worldwide. In England, pancakes are often unleavened and are thin. In Scotland and North America, a leavening agent is used (typically baking powder) creating a thick fluffy pancake. A crêpe is a thin pancake of Breton origin cooked on one or both sides in a special pan or crepe maker to achieve a lacelike network of fine bubbles. A variation originating from southeast Europe is palatschinke, a thin moist pancake fried on both sides and filled with jam, cream cheese, chocolate, or ground walnuts, but many other fillings—sweet or savoury—can also be used.
Commercially prepared pancake mixes are available in some countries. Like waffles, commercially prepared frozen pancakes are available from companies like Eggo. When buttermilk is used in place of or in addition to milk, the pancake develops a tart flavor and becomes known as a buttermilk pancake, which is common in Scotland, Ireland and the US. Buckwheat flour can be used in a pancake batter, making for a type of buckwheat pancake, a category that includes blini, kaletez, ploye, and memil-buchimgae. When potato is used as a major portion of the batter, the result is a potato pancake.
Pancakes may be served at any time of the day or year with a variety of toppings or fillings, but they have developed associations with particular times and toppings in different regions. In North America, they are typically considered a breakfast food and serve a similar function to waffles. In Britain and the Commonwealth, they are associated with Shrove Tuesday, commonly known as "Pancake Day", when, historically, perishable ingredients had to be used up before the fasting period of Lent.
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History
The Ancient Greeks made pancakes called τηγανίτης (tēganitēs), ταγηνίτης (tagēnitēs) or ταγηνίας (tagēnias), all words deriving from τάγηνον (tagēnon), "frying pan". The earliest attested references to tagenias are in the works of the 5th-century BC poets Cratinus and Magnes. Tagenites were made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey, and curdled milk, and were served for breakfast. Another kind of pancake was σταιτίτης (staititēs), from σταίτινος (staitinos), "of flour or dough of spelt", derived from σταῖς (stais), "flour of spelt". Athenaeus mentions, in his Deipnosophistae, staititas topped with honey, sesame, and cheese. The Middle English word pancake appears in English in the 15th century.
The Ancient Romans called their fried concoctions alia dulcia, Latin for "other sweets". These were quite different from what are known as pancakes today.
Regional varieties
Africa
Pancakes in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia) are known as injera (sometimes transliterated as enjera, budenaa (Oromo), or canjeero (Somali)). Injera is a yeast-risen flatbread with a unique, slightly spongy texture. Traditionally, it is made out of teff flour and is a national dish in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Canjeero, also known as lahooh, laxoox, or lahoh, is a similar kind of flatbread eaten in Somalia and Yemen.
In Eritrea and Ethiopia, injera are usually served with one or more stews known as wat or with salads (especially, for instance, during periods of Ethiopian Orthodox fasting) or with other injera (injera firfir). The right hand is used to tear small pieces from the injera to use to pick up and eat the stews or salads. The injera under these stews soaks up juices and flavours and, after the stews and salads are finished, is also consumed. Injera thus acts simultaneously as food, eating utensil, and plate. When the "tablecloth" formed by the injera is finished, the meal is over.
Lahoh is a pancake-like bread originating in Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen. It is often eaten along with honey, ghee and tea. During lunch, lahoh is sometimes consumed with curry, soup or stew.
In Kenya, pancakes are eaten for breakfast as an alternative to bread. They are served plain with the sugar already added to the batter to sweeten them. Kenyan pancakes are similar to English pancakes and French crepes.
A "pancake" in South Africa is a crêpe. In Afrikaans, it is known as a pannekoek (plural pannekoeke) and, traditionally, is prepared on gas stoves and eaten on wet and cold days. Pannekoeke are usually served with cinnamon-flavoured sugar (and, sometimes, lemon juice) that is either allowed to dissolve into and soften them or, if their crispy texture is to be retained, eaten immediately. They are a staple at Dutch Reformed Church fêtes.
Plaatkoekies ("flapjacks", or lit. "plate cookies") are American-style "silver dollar" pancakes.
In Uganda, Kabalagala are banana pancakes made from very ripe ndizi bananas and cassava flour. The pancakes are locally made with bananas (one of the staple foods of the country) and usually served as a breakfast or as a snack option.
East Asia
Chinese pancakes may be either savoury or sweet, and are generally made with dough rather than batter. The dough mostly consists of water, flour, and vegetable oil. The dish can be served as a side, usually alongside duck, or as a snack, topped with scallions along with hot and sour sauce.
In Japan, okonomiyaki are made from flour, egg, cabbage and a choice of ingredients. Oyaki are pancakes often stuffed with anko, eggplant, or nozawana. Dorayaki are a sort of sandwich made from Western-style pancakes and anko. Sweet crepes are also very popular.
The Japanese have also created a soufflé-style cooked-in rings-pancake, which is taller and fluffier than the American pancakes it is inspired by, and found in Singapore, Toronto, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
In Okinawa Prefecture, pancakes include Hirajacii (Okinawan: ヒラヤチー).Hirajacii is a thin, very simple Okinawan pancake-like dish similar to buchimgae. It is basically "a savory Okinawan crepe with leeks", and is sometimes called "Okinawan style okonomiyaki". The name means "fry flat" in the Okinawan language.
People cook it at home, so there are few Specialty shop in Okinawa, with none of them serving Hirajacii. The ingredients consist of eggs, flour, salt, black pepper and green onions, fried with a little oil in a pan.
In Korea, pancakes include savoury buchimgae (Korean pancakes) and jeon (egged and battered pan-fries, sometime pancakes), bindae-tteok (pan-friend mung bean cakes), as well as sweet hotteok (filled sweet pancake). These may be served during all times of the day as side dishes or just snacks. Variants of the dish use the batter of the pancake to make deep fried vegetables, meat, or fish.
South Asia
India has many styles of pancake. Variations range from their taste to the main ingredient used. All are made without the use of added raising agents. In north India, pancakes are called cheela. Sweet cheela are made using sugar or jaggery with a wheat flour-based batter. Savory north Indian pancakes are made using batter prepared from gram flour or green gram paste (moong daal) and are sometimes garnished with paneer, a type of cottage cheese.
Dosa, appam, neer dosa and uttapam are pancakes from southern India. They are prepared by fermenting rice batter and split-skinned urad bean (black lentil) blended with water. Meetha pooda – sweet pancakes often eaten with pickles and chutney – are a common breakfast food item in Punjab. Most of the pitha in Assam are types of pancakes served on occasions such as Bihu. The Bengali semi-sweet pancake pati-shapta is stuffed with grated coconut or thickened milk.
In Western India, the multi-grain thalipeeth is popular. In Goa, a traditional crêpe-like pancake known as alebele or alle belle is eaten at tea-time. It is usually filled with jaggery and coconut. In Eastern India, malpuas are sometimes prepared in the form of pancakes. In some regions of central India, thin green Cheelas are made with ginger or garlic paste, and rice flour batter. Other ingredients added are salt, cumin seeds, green chili, oil, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
In Nepal, the Newar people have a savoury rice pancake called chataamari cooked with meat or eggs on top. This dish is also known as the Newari Pizza, as it is served and eaten similarly to American pizza. Besides being served with meat or eggs, it can also be served plain.
Bangladesh
Chitoi pitha is a popular Bangladeshi steamed pancake made from rice flour. It's a traditional dish often enjoyed during festivals and special occasions. The batter is typically made with a blend of rice flour, water, and sometimes other ingredients like coconut milk or jaggery. The batter is then poured into a heated pan or mold and steamed until cooked through. Chitoi pitha is often served with sweet toppings like jaggery or molasses, or savory accompaniments such as lentil curry or fish curry.
In Pakistani cuisine, rishiki is a pancake, slightly thicker than a crepe, which is made from whole wheat flour, water and eggs and usually served with honey. It is widely consumed in the far north and is a staple of Chitrali cuisine.
Southeast Asia
Banana pancakes are a menu item in backpacker-oriented cafes in Southeast Asia. This has given rise to the term Banana Pancake Trail or Banana Pancake Circuit, given to the growing routes travelled by backpackers across Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Pancakes in Indonesia are called panekuk. The Indonesian pancake serabi is made from rice flour and coconut milk. The dish is often served with kinca, a thick, brown-colored coconut sugar syrup. Other toppings may include sugar, ground peanuts, sliced bananas, jackfruit, and other fruits, and chocolate. Other variations include cheddar cheese, corned beef, shredded chicken, and sausage.
Other types of pancakes in Indonesia are burgo, dadar gulung, kue ape, kue apem, kue cubit, kue cucur, kue leker, kue terang bulan, laklak, martabak, pannenkoek, poffertjes, roti canai, and roti jala.
The traditional Malay pancake in Malaysia is called Pek Nga or Lempeng Kelapa. Cooked very similarly to an American or Canadian –style pancake, albeit without a rising agent, it is a savoury pancake usually served during the breakfast hours with fish curry, coconut sticky rice, dried fish, rendang, or sambal.
The traditional Burmese pancake is called bein mont, and is a traditional Burmese snack or mont. The pancake is baked in a rice flour batter immersed in jaggery, coconut shavings and garnished with sesame seeds, peanuts and poppy seeds.
In the Philippines, traditional dessert pancakes include salukara, a rice pancake made from glutinous rice, eggs, and coconut milk. The batter is placed in a clay pot or pan lined with banana leaves or greased with oil (traditionally lard), and is baked over hot coals. Salukara is a subtype of bibingka (Philippine baked rice cakes). Panyalam, a similar rice pancake from Mindanao, is deep-fried rather than baked.
Traditional savory pancakes in the Philippines include pudpod (smoked fish flake pancakes) and okoy (a pancake made of battered shrimp, pumpkin, or sweet potatoes).
Europe
In Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, pancakes are called palatschinke, palačinka and palacinka, respectively (plural: palatschinken, palačinky, and palacinky). Kaiserschmarrn is an Austrian pancake including raisins, almonds, apple jam or small pieces of apple, split into pieces, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. In Romania, they are called clătită (plural: clătite). In countries of former Yugoslavia, they are called palačinka (plural: palačinke). In these languages, the word derives from the Latin placenta, meaning "cake". These pancakes are thin and filled with apricot, plum, lingonberry, apple or strawberry jam, chocolate sauce, or hazelnut spread. Eurokrem, Nutella, and Lino-Lada fillings are favourite among the younger population. A traditional version includes filling pancakes with cheese, pouring yoghurt over them, and then baking in an oven.
Eastern-Slavic cuisines have a long tradition of pancake cooking and include a variety of pancake types. In Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, pancakes may be breakfast food, appetizers, main courses, or desserts.
Blini (Russian: блины) or mlynci (Ukrainian: млинцi) are thin pancakes, somewhat thicker than crêpes, made from wheat or buckwheat flour, butter, eggs, and milk, with yeast added to the batter. The preparation of blini/mlynci dates back to pagan traditions and feasts, which are reflected in today's "pancake week" celebrated in the winter before the Great Lent. In pre-Christian times, blini and mlynci were symbolically considered by early Slavic peoples as a symbol of the sun, due to their round form.
Blintzes (Russian: блинчики blinchiki) are thin crêpes made without yeast. Filled blintzes are also referred to as nalysnyky (Ukrainian: налисники), nalistniki (Russian: налистники) or nalesniki (Russian: налесники). A filling such as jam, fruits, quark, or cottage cheese, potato, cooked ground meat or chicken, and even chopped mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage, and onions, is rolled or enveloped into a pre-fried blintz and then the blintz is lightly re-fried, sautéed, or baked.
Traditionally, Ashkenazi Jews who, prior to 1945, lived in what is today Poland, portions of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and other portions of the former Pale of Settlement also created blintzes, with the key difference of always using a kosher cheese filling with no rennet. The majority of recipes are sweet and are often served with berries or sour cream. These crepe-like dishes would often be served during Shavuot, and today the recipe still survives in places like Israel and New York. Latkes, potato pancakes with finely shredded or grated potato, can be eaten as part of the celebration of Hanukkah.
North America
Costa Rican chorreadas are similar to cachapas.
Guatemalan pancakes are called panqueques. They are made with the same ingredients as American pancakes. The toppings are usually fruits and honey. They are a very popular breakfast meal in Guatemala. Depending on the region, the panqueque can be thin as a crêpe or as fluffy as a North American pancake.
Mexican hotcakes are similar to American pancakes. Crêpes became popular toward the end of the 19th century after their introduction by the French sometime between the First French Intervention (1838) and the Second French Intervention in Mexico (1861–67). Hotcakes are often made with cornmeal, as well as, or instead of wheat flour. Hotcakes are breakfast items at restaurants throughout the country and are often sold by street vendors in cities and during the local celebrations of towns throughout the day. They are also sold during fairs; the vendors sell a single hotcake topped with different sauces such as condensed milk, fruit jam or a sweet goat milk spread called cajeta.
American and Canadian pancakes (sometimes called hotcakes, griddlecakes, or flapjacks) are usually served at breakfast, in a stack of two or three, topped with maple syrup or table syrup, and butter. They are often served with other items such as bacon, toast, eggs or sausage. Other popular topping alternatives include jam, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, honey, powdered sugar, whipped cream, cane syrup, cinnamon and sugar, and molasses. In addition, when a pancake is occasionally served as a dessert, toppings such as ice cream, chocolate syrup, and various fruits are often used.
The thick batter contains eggs, flour, milk, and a leavening agent such as baking powder. The batter can have ingredients such as buttermilk, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, apples, chocolate chips, cheese, or sugar added. Spices such as cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg can also be used. Yogurt may be used to give the pancakes a relatively moist consistency. Pancakes may be 1 cm (1⁄2 inch) thick and are typically between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 inches) in diameter.
Bannock is a Scottish version made from oatmeal. The bannock of native North Americans was made of corn, nut meal and plant bulb meal. Each region had its own variation of flour and fruit. Today, bannock is most often deep-fried, pan-fried and oven-baked.
Oceania
In Australia and New Zealand, small pancakes (about 75 mm or 3 inches in diameter) known as pikelets or drop scones are also eaten. They are traditionally served with jam or jam and whipped cream, or solely with butter, at afternoon tea, but can also be served at morning tea. They are made with milk, self-raising flour, eggs, and sometimes a small amount of icing sugar.
In some circles in New Zealand, very thin, crêpe-like or English pancake-like pancakes (around 20 cm or 8 inches in diameter) are served with butter, or butter and lemon, sugar, and then rolled up and eaten.
American-style pancakes are also popular. They are eaten for breakfast or as a dessert, with lemon juice and sugar, butter and maple syrup, fruits (sometimes stewed) such as strawberries and cream, ice cream, or mascarpone.
South America
Tapioca (Portuguese pronunciation: [tɐpiˈɔkɐ]), beiju ([bejˈʒu]) or biju ([biˈʒu]) are cassava (manioc) starch flour unleavened pancakes. They are slightly thicker than crêpes and can be eaten plain or with sweet or savoury toppings. Tapioca flour must be moistened and strained through a sieve to become a coarse flour. The heat of an ungreased hot griddle or pan makes the starchy grains fuse into a flatbread which resembles a grainy pancake. Popular tapioca toppings include molten butter and dried, shredded coconut.
Panquecas ([pɐ̃ˈkɛkɐs]) are generally made from cow's milk and refined wheat flour, and generally eaten with savoury fillings as rolls (although dessert panquecas also exist). For those with celiac disease, corn starch might substitute for the wheat flour. Common fillings include shredded, seasoned chicken breast with tomato paste/sauce, and ground beef, seasoned with fried onion cubes or fried salted smashed garlic (refogado), and often bell pepper cubes and tomato paste/sauce. Both kinds are generally topped with Parmesan cheese. Vegan recipes also exist, with texturized soy protein (carne de soja, [ˈkaʁni dʒi ˈsɔʒɐ]) being particularly popular. Savoury panqueca is generally eaten for lunch or dinner, accompanied of white rice and salad, and less often pulses (prominently the beans Brazilian cuisine is famous for).
The exotic Brazilian pancake blinis ([bliˈnis]) is made from a mixture of coconut milk (leite de coco, [ˈlejtʃi dʒi ˈkoku]) and puba ([ˈpuβɐ]), a paste extracted from fermented cassava, most prominent in the cuisines of the Northern and Northeastern regions and relatively unknown elsewhere. The resulting product is significantly more watery, filling and strongly flavored than the unfermented tapioca, and care should be taken in rolling the pancakes if desired because it breaks very easily. Common toppings include molten butter and common sorts of savoury panqueca filling, but creative recipes might arise, such as fake lasagne.
Cachapas are corn pancakes, popular in Venezuelan cuisine.
In Colombia a similar preparation to cachapas is the sweet corn arepa.
In Argentina and Uruguay pancakes are called panqueques and are usually sweet preparations filled with dulce de leche or whipped cream and strawberries. In savory preparations, pancakes are used to make cannelloni.
Restaurant chains
In the US, Mexico and Canada, the franchised restaurant chain International House of Pancakes (IHOP) serves pancakes all day. The Original Pancake House is another chain of pancake restaurants across the US, and Walker Brothers is a series of pancake houses in the Chicago area that developed as a franchised spin-off of The Original Pancake House.
The popularity of pancakes in Australia has spawned the Pancake Parlour and Pancakes on the Rocks franchised restaurants. In British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the restaurant chain De Dutch serves Dutch and Flemish-style pannenkoeken.
Syndrome
Pancake syndrome is an allergic reaction which some people have after eating pancakes in tropical regions where certain mites can contaminate the flour in pancakes.
Day
Pancakes are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, which is known as "Pancake Day" in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, and "Pancake Tuesday" in Ireland and Scotland. (Shrove Tuesday is better known in the United States, France, and other countries as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.) Historically, pancakes were made on Shrove Tuesday so that the last of the fat or lard was used up before Lent. No meat products should be eaten during Lent.
Charity and school events are organized on Pancake Day: in a "pancake race" each participant carries a pancake in a frying pan. All runners must toss their pancakes as they run and catch them in the frying pan. This event is said to have originated in Olney, England in 1445 when a housewife was still busy frying pancakes to eat before the Lenten fast when she heard the bells of St Peter and St Paul's Church calling her to the Shriving Service. Eager to get to church, she ran out of her house still holding the frying pan complete with pancake, tossing it to prevent it from burning, and still wearing her apron and headscarf. Every Shrove Tuesday since 1950, the towns of Olney and Liberal, Kansas have competed in the International Pancake Race. Only local women may compete; they race, and their times are compared to determine the international winner. In Olney the main women's race is augmented by races for local schoolchildren and for men.
The Rehab UK Parliamentary Pancake Race takes place every Shrove Tuesday, with teams from the British lower house (the House of Commons), the upper house (the House of Lords), and the Fourth Estate, contending for the title of Parliamentary Pancake Race Champions. The fun relay race is to raise awareness of the work of the national brain injury charity, Rehab UK, and the needs of people with acquired brain injury.