Today in this blog, I introduce you to different ways of making pancakes from the most original to some unknown ways.
The story...
The crepe is not a very recent invention ... Following various research, historians have shown that the origin of the pancake dates back to 7000 years before Christ! At that time it looked more like a big thick cake. This cake was made with a kind of pasty mixture, obtained by crushing various cereals and added to water. At the time, a hot flat stone served as a pan.
The crêpe, or pancake, appeared in Brittany in the 13th century following the cultivation of buckwheat brought back from crusades in Asia. First buckwheat, it has at the beginning of our century been transformed to give the pancake that we know today, thanks to the arrival of white wheat flour.
There is no true or false recipe for the pancake dough anyone can change it as he wishes ^^.
French speaking Belgium
Wheat crepe in French-speaking Belgium is called vote or reston in Wallonia; it can be accompanied by sugar, jam, chocolate spread or be garnished with bacon or sausage. Made with buckwheat and currants or slices of apple, sometimes with beer added, it is the Liege vote or cap that is eaten hot, sprinkled with sugar, or cold with syrup
France
Sweet or salty pancakes are traditionally eaten hot accompanied by butter. The most common filling of "salted" pancakes consists of grated cheese, ham, and an egg and is called "complete" when all three ingredients are found simultaneously. For so-called "sweet" pancakes the ingredients commonly used are: butter, sugar, chocolate, nutella, jam, honey, salted butter caramel, lemon, chestnut cream, etc.
Pancakes are also cooked in the Hauts-de-France and in Alsace, incorporating beer into the dough, which improves its tasting; Picardy string is a regional specialty of Picardy, crepe. In Normandy we add a little calvados and possibly apple.
Buckwheat crepes exist in various forms and names: the pancake in Upper Brittany, the tourtou or galetou in Limousin, the bourriol or pump in Auvergne, the pascade in Aveyron, etc.
Galichon or crepe cat is the latest pancake made, often small because of the lack of dough.
Suzette pancakes are a great classic of French cuisine invented by Auguste Escoffier. They are prepared with a "Suzette butter" (melted butter and mixed with sugar, Grand Marnier, orange and lemon). They can then be flambéed at Grand Marnier, but this last stage is controversial between supporters and opponents of buckling pancake. They should be named after French actress Suzanne Reichenberg
Britain
Breton pancakes (krampouezh in Breton) are a very famous Breton culinary specialty, and Brittany has many creperies.
There are two kinds of pancakes:
with wheat flour or blue gwinizh. The traditional dough consists of eggs, flour, sugar and milk. It is mostly consumed in a sweet form;
buckwheat flour or blue dough flour. The traditional dough consists exclusively of buckwheat flour, water and salt, although some add eggs or milk; for salty consumption. We then add various ingredients (sausage, ham, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.), although traditionally it is the only egg that accompanied it.
On the map of crêperies, buckwheat pancakes are sometimes improperly called patties. However, pancake and crepe do not refer to the same products and are made with different ingredients:
in Gallo country, or Upper Brittany, the "buckwheat pancake" or "buckwheat pancake" is exclusively salted. Prepared with water of buckwheat flour and salt, it is thick, soft when cooked and has holes on its surface;
in Brittany, or Lower Brittany, the buckwheat crepe is salty; its sweet version is the Breton crêpe of wheat. Prepared from milk, eggs, wheat flour and buckwheat flour, it is finer, brittle when finished and has a non-holed surface.
With the pancake, we drink water, cider (fermented apple drink) or sistr or milk ribot (sour milk) in Breton laezh ribod or laezh trenk.
Quebec and New Brunswick
In Quebec and New Brunswick, whitened flour or whole wheat crepe is a very popular traditional dish. In their sweet versions, they are usually embellished with brown sugar, jam or maple syrup. With baked beans, ham, bacon, and maple products, they are the traditional meal consumed in spring sugar shacks. There are also lobster pancakes.
Nowadays, they are usually eaten with sweet toppings for lunch (morning meal) and with salty toppings for other meals.
These pancakes are usually three times thicker than French pancakes, so the French very often call them (wrongly) pancakes, while the pancakes are in turn about three times thicker than the Quebec pancakes and have distinct recipe. Pancakes are very rare in French-speaking Quebec, while pancakes are the norm and are simply called "pancakes".
In the rest of the world
Pancakes have many equivalents, traditionally cooked in other countries of the world. For example:
- based on wheat flour: filloa (Galicia) or frisuelos (Asturias) in Spain, pannenkoek in the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking Belgium, blini in Eastern Europe, pancake in North America (the French-speaking people in this continent do not usually eat pancakes and instead eat thick crepes that Europeans usually confuse with pancakes), the msemmen in Morocco, the manakish in Lebanon, the palacsinta in Hungary, the clătită in Romania.
- buckwheat flour: the blini in Russia, the galette in Quebec;
- based on maize flour: talo in the Basque Country, tortilla in Central America and Mexico;
- made from wheat flour: the piadina in Emilia-Romagna and the crespella in Rome; one of the most famous is the crespella of Pope Gelasius I (492-496), 5th century, Italy;
- based on chickpea flour or lentil: the dosa in India, the cade in Provence, the socca in Nice, the farinata in Italy and the fainà in Argentina;
- rice-based: in China.
- semolina: the baghrir also called ghrayef in the Arab Maghreb;
- made from fine semolina, wheat flour and olive oil: Tunisian melaouis;
- based on teff: injera in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
