Food & Beverage

A Guide to UK Pancakes.

What right-minded person doesn't love a pancake? Just about every country has a recipe of their own but in this my take, I'm concentrating on the UK differences. I've left out Irish pancakes (boxty) because their basically just a squashed potato and flour.

A pancake race. A tossing race would get me banned from GAG
A pancake race. A tossing race would get me banned from GAG

Now before you start moaning your recipe is better, I've copied all but one from the BBC website simply because they're basic without any twists or improvements. I wanted to keep from the same source as much as possible. I've compared them to other websites and although amounts vary a little, they are comparable.

English PANCAKES

English pancakes, or just pancakes
English pancakes, or just pancakes

This is the standard one everyone thinks of as a "pancake" in the UK. It's the one we eat on pancake day and the tossing jokes never wear thin. Some places have races but generally, it's a mother in the kitchen. You can flip with a spatula but that disappoints the kids and the dog waiting for the mistakes.

The English pancake is really just a crepe but a little bit thicker. Normally they're served rolled up or folded. Lemon juice and sugar are the traditional accompaniments with housewives everywhere snapping up plastic lemons full of juice and ignoring the fresh ones that are a fraction of the price.

SCOTCH PANCAKES OR DROP SCONES

A neat stack of Scotch pancakes
A neat stack of Scotch pancakes

These are smaller but thicker thanks to the addition of baking powder. The batter mix is thicker than English pancakes allowing it to hold its circular shape. While English ones fill the entire pan, scotch ones are around 3 to 4 inches.

The cooking method is slightly different, the batter is carefully ladled into a small circle and turned rather than tossed in the airIdeally, they should all be the same size to look neat in a stack.

While both kinds can be bought ready-made I'd say it's more common to buy the scotch ones, even though they're simple to make. Regardless of whether you buy or make their usually served drizzled in honey or a sauce.

CREMPOGAU

Crempogau on a baking stone
Crempogau on a baking stone

A crempog is the welsh version. The correct plural is crempogau not crempogs but don't worry, everyone slips up, especially Google. Contrary to popular belief crempog isn't Welsh for pancake, we just call English pancakes, pancakes. To confuse matters further different villages have other names but crempog is universally recognised.

These are similar to scotch pancakes but are made with buttermilk and baking soda, butter, and sometimes a little vinegar to help them rise. They're a lot bigger than scotch ones and not as neat and tidy, but made in a similar way.

Weirdly, readymade ones are rarely labelled crempogau but get sold as buttermilk pancakes, so a lot of people don't realise what they're actually eating. Like scotch pancakes they're usually drizzled with a sweet sauce, honey, maple syrup etc.

RECIPE COMPARED

Here are some screenshots from the same source. I thought it would a good idea to look at the difference side by side. Once again don't lynch me if they don't match your own.

CREPES

I've put Crepes and English side by side as you can see there's not much difference. Most people don't weigh the ingredients and just do it by eye.

Crepes
Crepes

English PANCAKES

English pancake
English pancake

SCOTCH PANCAKES

Notice the thicker batter and baking powder to make them rise. The cinnamon isn't common. The main difference between American and scotch is scotch doesn't contain butter but are slightly sweeter

scotch pancakes
scotch pancakes

CREMPOGAU

The milk is replaced with buttermilk and good knob of butter. Obviously you don't use malt vinegar (lemon juice is better).

Its pronounced crem-pog-eye not buttermilk pancake
It's pronounced crem-pog-eye not buttermilk pancake

And finally

Pancakes do not belong on a plate with bacon, sausage, egg etc

A Guide to UK Pancakes.
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