If it’s Shrove Tuesday it must be pancakes.

Here’s a flipping good recipe for pancakes,
based on one of Delia Smith’s.

For 12 – 14 pancakes

Ingredients for the pancakes batter

110g (4oz) plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml (7fl oz) milk mixed with 75ml (3fl oz) water
50g (2oz) butter

To serve
Sugar, caster or granulated
lemon juice
lemon wedges

Preparation
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Hold the sieve high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it.
Begin whisking the eggs – any sort of whisk or even a fork will do. Mix in any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you go.
Gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don’t worry about any lumps; they’ll eventually disappear as you whisk).
When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the centre.
Give it another whisk until the batter’s smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.
Melt the butter in a pan.
Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in.
Pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, smear it round with a bit of kitchen paper before you make each of the pancakes.
Get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium.
If your pancakes are going to turn out well, temperature is important. So do 1 or 2 test pancakes to see if you’re using the correct amount of batter – 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm (7in) pan.
It’s helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle, it makes it easier to pour into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter.
Your pancakes should only each take half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it’s tinged gold as it should be.
Flip each of your pancakes over with a pan slice or palette knife – the other side will need a few seconds only – then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate.
Stack the pancakes as you make them, between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water. That’ll keep them warm while you make the rest.

We reckon the best way to eat pancakes is sprinkled with sugar, either caster or granulated, with a good squeeze of lemon juice and then rolled up. Or sprinkle and squeeze over your pancakes, fold them half, sprinkle and squeeze again, then fold into a triangle.

Why do we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?

Who needs an excuse to eat pancakes? But Lent’s a time of abstinence, of giving things up. Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself and to use up the foods that aren’t allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs, the forbidden foods.