A passion for pancakes!

Shrove Tuesday is here again and you know what that means: pancakes! Emma Parkin shows us how to enjoy them as a sweet or savoury dish.

People have been eating pancakes since the beginning of time, when they ground together different grains and fried the mixture over an open flame, but it wasn't until the Middle Ages that the pancake as we recognise it today was developed.

Pancakes are actually French crepes. They can be either sweet or savoury, filled or unfilled. We eat pancakes on Shove Tuesday (or ‘Fat Tuesday’) because of the tradition of using up all the eggs and fat in the house before Lent began on Ash Wednesday.

In France, cooking pancakes is sometimes accompanied by an old tradition which involves touching the pan when the pancakes are being turned and holding a coin in your hand to make a wish!

Bran wheat pancakes
Serves 4

115g plain flour
115g wholemeal flour
75g bran-flake cereal, crushed
3tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 large
45g brown sugar
375ml milk
15ml oil

To serve
Natural yoghurt
Fresh fruit

1 Stir the flours, bran flakes, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.

2 Beat the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl. Stir in the milk. Stir this mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.

3 Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and brush with a little of the oil. Fry spoonfuls of the mixture in a pan until brown on both sides. Serve hot as a snack topped with natural yoghurt and fresh fruit.

Pancakes filled with cheese sauce and diced ham
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 3-4

100g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
250ml milk
oil, for frying
2 cups ready-made cheese sauce
1 cup cheddar, grated
1 cup ham, diced
chopped parsley

1. Sieve flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. Drop in the egg and half the measured milk. Beat with a whisk, allowing the flour to fall in gradually from the sides. Beat until the batter is completely smooth – no lumps.
3. Add remaining liquid, beating well for five minutes to entrap as much air as possible.
4. Heat the oil in pan and pour on a small amount of batter, just enough to coat the base of the pan. Tilt pan to spread the batter.
5. Cook until the edges begin to brown and lift from the pan. Turn over and brown the other side. Remove from the pan and keep warm in the oven.
6. Repeat the process with the remaining batter.
7. Heat up the cheese sauce, stir in some ham and cheese and use to fill the pancakes. Scatter with some chopped parsley and serve.

Blueberry pancakes
Makes 12

100g self-raising flour
2tbsp caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
125-150ml milk
100g fresh or frozen blueberries
oil, for frying

To serve
Vanilla ice cream

1. Mix the flour and sugar. Make a well in the centre and stir in the egg, with enough of the milk to make a batter of the consistency of a thick cream. Mix as quickly and as lightly as possible. Gently stir in the blueberries.
2. Drop the mixture in spoonfuls onto a hot, lightly greased frying pan.
3. Keep the frying pan at a steady heat and when bubbles rise to the surface of the pancakes and burst after about two to three minutes, turn the pancake over and continue to cook until golden brown on both sides. Continue until all the mixture is used up.
4. Serve the warm pancakes with vanilla ice cream.

• Did you know the first pancake recipe appeared in an English cookbook in the 15th century?
• Pancakes are known in different forms throughout the world. The relative ease of baking on hot stoves or on a griddle has resulted in a variety of pancakes.
• The world's biggest pancake was cooked in Rochdale in 1994. It was an amazing 15 metres in diameter, weighed three tonnes and contained an estimated two million calories.