Know more about | Pancakes

A few pancake facts to impress your fellow Shrove Tuesday diners

• The most expensive pancake ever sold was created by a Manchester hotel in 2014 and included lobster, champagne and caviar and was yours for just £800.

• The world’s largest pancake also originated from Manchester. Made in 1994 it weighed a whopping three tonnes and had to be flipped and edible to qualify. At 15 metres in diameter there was definitely enough to go around.

• The French have some unique traditions when it comes to crepes. Some families throw the first crepe of the year at a wardrobe and if it sticks you have to leave it there for 12 months. A quicker update than a lick of paint, we suppose.

• The first pancake race happened in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1445 and was for ladies only. The annual race is still going strong and will take place on 25 February this year.

• When it comes to pancake records Dominic ‘Mike’ Cuzzacrea holds two separate crowns. In 1999 he completed a marathon at Niagara Falls in 3 hours, 2 minutes, and 27 seconds while battling winds and flipping the pancake once every 1.8 seconds for the duration of the entire race. He also holds the record for highest pancake toss of 9.47 metres in 2010, beating previous record holder, celebrity chef Aldo Zilli.

• And finally, if you want to know how to flip a pancake without getting it stuck to the ceiling, the good people of Newcastle University’s STEM blog have worked it out for you: To flip a pancake a metre in the air we need a launch velocity of 4.4 metres per second. If our launch velocity is over 6 metres per second however, our pancake will get stuck to the ceiling! We also have to be fast to catch the pancake as it falls back down or we could be left with pancake on the floor! For a flip of a metre we only have 0.9 of a second to catch our pancake. We can calculate the air time (t) of our pancake using the following equation: t = 2v/g

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More pancake inspiration…

More from our February issue…

Recipe | Fluffy Banana Sultana Pancakes

The best thing about February? Pancakes, of course. Bananas and sultanas are meant for each other, especially when snuggled up together in a tender pancake like this.

Makes 8
100g self-raising flour
1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large ripe banana, mashed, plus sliced banana to serve
100ml whole milk
1 large egg
1 tbsp melted butter
40g sultanas
Melted butter or vegetable oil, for frying
Runny honey or maple syrup, to serve

1 In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, the cinnamon, the mashed banana, milk, egg, and melted butter and gently whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until well combined. Be careful not to overbeat the mixture or the pancakes will be tough; some small lumps are fine. Stir in the sultanas.

2 Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brush with butter or oil. Drop 60ml batter into the pan and cook for about 1 min, or until golden underneath. Adjust the heat as needed to ensure the pancakes don’t burn before they’re cooked through. Flip and cook for a further 30 seconds to 1 min. Repeat with rest of the batter.

3 Serve straight from the pan or keep warm in an oven preheated to 150C/Fan 130F/ 300F while you cook the remaining batter.

4 Serve the pancakes with slices of banana and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.

Recipe from Posh Pancakes by Sue Quinn (Quadrille)
 

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

More pancake ideas:

More from the February issue: