Top Pancake Day recipes: How to make the perfect pancake on Shrove Tuesday
Pancake day is upon us! We asked some top chefs for ideas for something a little extra this Shrove Tuesday. Here’s how to make the perfect pancake from the comfort of your own kitchen.
Chocolate and banana pancake
Cyril Lignac, head chef at Bar Des Pres
As a chef, pancake day gives everyone, both amateur or professional, the perfect opportunity to enjoy delicious pancake recipes with friends and family all over the country. I like to think of it as a nationwide celebration.
My recipe is ideal for those with a sweet tooth, and is quick and simple to recreate at home, taking no time at all. Personally, I love the flavour combinations of banana with cream and chocolate. Together, the trio of flavours and textures make a truly indulgent and chocolatey pancake fit for anyone’s celebration.”
Dutch baby pancakes with mascarpone, raspberry compote and honeycomb
Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones, Wild by Tart
Dutch baby pancakes are the perfect alternative to buttermilk pancakes if you want to create something different for Shrove Tuesday. We first tried them when we were working in New York, but they’re actually very much like a Yorkshire Pudding. We make one very large one and the whole family dives in – it’s gone in minutes. We like to top ours with mascarpone, raspberry compote and honeycomb. Baking them in the oven with a heavy skillet makes them fluffy in the centre and crispy on the edges.
Alle Belle sweet Goan pancakes filled with jaggery and coconut
Will Bowlby, co-founder, Kricket
There are hundreds of different pancakes across India, from sweet malpua to savoury dosa – I am constantly discovering new ones. This year I am making Alle Belle which is a sweet variety recipe from Goa and makes for the perfect afternoon treat. If you fancy going the extra-mile, then garnish them with a dusting of icing sugar and some chopped pistachios.
Kimchi Jeon
Karan Ghosh, executive chef, Skylight
Kimchi Jeon, aka kimchi pancake, is one of the easiest and quickest things to make and it’s Korea’s go to snack any time of the day. This dish basically has all the flavour profiles you can think of: sweet, salty, pungent, sourness and spiciness from the kimchi to the crispy outer and soft core texture.
As well as your regular ingredients I add roughly sliced kimchi, spring onions, chives, gochugaru, gochujang and sesame oil. All you have to do is mix it all into your pancake mix and cook as you normally would. It’s the perfect snack to share.
Fluffy Japanese pancakes
Joshua Owens-Baigler, chef owner of Angelina
Fluffy Japanese pancakes are my go-to. I start by making meringues with egg whites and sugar (ratio of 120g whites to 100g sugar), adding a little cream of tartar for stability. Then fold meringues very carefully into a rich yolk heavy pancake batter ensuring not to knock the air out of the meringues. Using pastry rings with buttered grease proof paper in a non stick pan, I roughly spoon in our frothy pancake batter and meringue mix. Cook for one minute before sprinkling 50ml of water into the pan and placing in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, carefully take the pan out of the oven (your pancake should have risen like a soufflé), remove the ring, flip the pancake and return to the hob for one minute and voila. They are a little eggier than western pancakes but much lighter and fun to enjoy with any decadent sweet toppings of your choice.
Kissaten-style pancakes
Shuko Oda , co-founder of Koya
I love eating pancakes, both the thick and fluffy kind or thin French-style crepes with Anko (sweet braised azauki beans), whipped cream and fresh seasonal fruits. You’d be surprised at how well fresh fruit and azuki beans go together both in texture and flavour, and it’s a perfect companion for pancakes. For breakfast we often eat pancakes Kissaten-style. A Kissaten is a Japanese-style tearoom that serves Yoshoku: post-WW2 western-influenced food, so Kissaten-style pancakes are topped with a fried egg and frankfurters. I really enjoy the food from this era as it reminds me of my grandmother’s cooking, and the merging of different cultures. This is something that I often think of when cooking at Koya.
Roti topped with condensed milk, sugar and bananas
Saiphin Moore, founder of Rosa’s Thai and Lao Cafe
In Thailand we have a famous pancake sold on the side of the road and at markets. It’s a roti topped with condensed milk, sugar and bananas, a favourite among backpackers! The roti is folded and fried in lots of butter until it’s crispy around the edges, typically topped with sugar, bananas and drizzled with condensed milk, but you can get lots of different toppings such as egg, or even chocolate.