Today is Pancake Tuesday! Are YOU having pancakes for dinner? We are!
I’m not sure how many countries actually have a Pancake Tuesday. I’m sure the ‘real’ Fat Tuesday is similar… but in Ireland, they call it Pancake Tuesday. Without Googling the official reason, here’s my version of the reason why, as filtered through what my hubby told me nearly seven years ago:
It’s a Catholic thing. Because you were meant to give up yummy things for Lent, you used up all the eggs and flour and sugar the night before Ash Wednesday, so it wasn’t in your house to tempt you. What better way to use these ingredients than by making a passel of pancakes?
So, I’m not a Catholic and wasn’t raised that way. Hubby isn’t a Catholic either, but he was raised that way, and has had a lifetime of traditionally having pancakes for dinner one particular Tuesday a year. (He was just telling me the day is yet another pagan festival day that has been usurped.) Hence, we make pancakes (or, he does, because I don’t have the patience) – but we don’t do it for any other reason than tradition and it’s a bit of fun – and, of course, because they are soooo tasty.
The problem is… we are on a low-to-no carb diet. What to do? Well, there are tons of versions of low-carb ‘cakes out there. He’s been doing it long enough that now he has his own version. I’m not privy to the details, but I know it involves eggs, vanilla, possibly whey powder, and ricotta cheese. And they are fantastic, especially with my home-grown blueberries from the year before all throughout. You’d never know they were low carb. I’m smelling them cooking now, and they even smell like ‘normal’ pancakes.
As an American, I can’t get into just sprinkling sugar (or Splenda) on top of my pancakes. I might cheat on the diet and use some of my precious Mrs Butterworth’s syrup on mine. Just a little, though.
heretherebespiders 
I grew up eating pancakes for dinner on Fat Tuesday…but not tonight 😦
Hi! Where did you grow up, for curiosity’s sake? Why can’t you have lovely, lovely pancakes tonight? (and apologies, I’ve not visited your blog yet, will remedy that shortly!)
I grew up in Colorado, in an Episcopalian family. No pancakes because I will be on campus until 9 or 10 pm and there is no breakfast to be had at that hour.
Yum! Pancakes! Fat Tuesday! Galveston ( very close to here) has been well into Mardi Gras. I always wondered where my mom and grandmother got that sprinkling sugar on pancakes – nobody else did – now I know! Thanks.
They definitely don’t call it Fat Tuesday here. I spent some time in Mobile, Alabama and they swear they started the big Fat Tuesday parties before New Orleans did. Or maybe it was just that they invented the Moon Pie… It’s been over 20 years!
Breakfast For Dinner…I was raised on it ’cause we had no $$$. We still have it at my house at least once a week. Nothing wrong with it!
I don’t think people knew it was Pancake Tuesday yesterday.
BUT I DID! And I wanted to have pancakes so badly! But my hubby didn’t. I haven’t had pancakes in ages! 😦
Where did you get your Pancake Tuesday tradition from? I’m finding this fascinating, as I never heard of it until I moved here!
I heard it from some friends who live in the United States a few years ago. So I usually would eat Pancakes every year on that day. Just for fun, really. 😛 And we dont eat pancakes that often.
We only have them once a year – but we stuffed ourselves silly yesterday. It’s so strage, I’ve lived in a lot of US cities and met a lot of people, but never heard of it.
Oh man, I’m craving pancakes so badly now!
Really?
But they also have Mardi Gras in the US right?
Oh yes – but for all of my life, it only meant the big parties and crazy parades in New Orleans. Perhaps because I grew up not far from there? I never knew the day meant anything to anyone in a religious sense – and I didn’t learn what Lent was until I was at least in my mid-20’s.
I am ashamed to say I only ate ten pancakes this year. Last year was a disaster but the year before I lost count. We just didn’t have enough batter for so many this year.
Various toppings but as a Brit, they were cooked crepe style and the most successful seemed to be sugar and lemon juice, as I had about six of them….my body is a temple as you can see.
Oh and it’s always been a tradition for me as long as I can remember. Comes Pancake Day comes from Shrove Tuesday I believe. I may be wrong but I thought it origins came from a Christian celebration wherein folk would prepare for lent (the day after or something) by using up all of their foods-flour, eggs, milk etc and pancakes was an awesome creation from said ingredients!
I learned to love crepes with lemon curd via my sister who lived in England for a decade. You can get it here, but it’s not really an Irish thing. Yum, though! We ate so many we felt a bit ill the next day. It was worth it.
Oh they do look yummy! I agree with the sugar thing – sugar dusting is for french toast only, pancakes need syrup. Waldens Farms makes a decent zero-calorie zero-carbs syrup substitute thingie… http://www.carbsmart.com/wfpancake.html
Wow, that’s one heck of a website! I was just wondering last night if low carb pasta exists, so searched for it. Yes indeed! Shame they won’t ship overseas. Sigh.