Shrove Tuesday started when Pope St. Gregory prohibited Christians from eating all forms of meat and animal products during Lent around A.D. 600. He told St. Augustine of Canterbury, a founder of the Christian church in southern England, to enforce those same fasting rules in England. So Christians made pancakes to use up their supply of eggs, milk and butter in preparation for Lent and the tradition stuck. The reason behind the feast has mostly been lost in time but pancake day has remained.
When the tradition spread throughout Europe, people in France followed the trend. They made waffles, crepes and a dessert many know as king cake to utilize their dairy products. They called it Mardi Gras. You’ve probably heard of Mardi Gras from New Orleans and the festival there.
Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - pancake day - they are all about the same thing, using up the ingredients that you might fast during the Lent season.
I’m not intending on giving up any of these ingredients for Lent but I am going to eat pancakes because, well, pancakes.
We’ll talk about the fast tomorrow which is, I think an invitation this season offers us to focus in on the presence of Jesus with us but we will talk about that tomorrow.
But today, let’s eat pancakes!
SHROVE TUESDAY CREPES
(serves 2)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
Whisk together the ingredients
Pour a small amount into a preheated pan
Swirl to spread thinly across the pan and lightly brown it
Toss or turn over and brown the other side
Fill with delicious things
Gluten free recipe
As above but add an extra 1/4 cup of milk to make the consistency work with the GF flour