The pancakes of pancake day look – and style – totally different throughout the globe. It may be generally known as Shrove Tuesday, however for culinary causes I want the French translation – “Fats Tuesday”. Whereas the day could also be fats, the French crepe is a “a slimmer, extra elegant, extra luxurious” model of the “strange British pancake”, says Felicity Cloake. For candy crepes, she provides a pinch of salt to the batter to stability out the sugar. Whisk solely till easy – it ought to have the consistency of single cream.

But when a fluffy, American-style stack is extra your type, you’ll want some bicarb soda and buttermilk to begin the pancake social gathering (observe, that is totally different from a waffle social gathering). The mixture of leavening agent and fermented milk creates fizz and bubbles, leading to light-as-air pancakes, greatest drowned in maple syrup, when you’re feeling hedonistic, or a berry compote, when you’re easing your approach into Lent. (If berries are in your thoughts, see that punnet of blueberries by to Ravneet Gill’s blueberry pancakes, too.)

Extra french toast than pancake, torrijas have come to be related to Lent in Spain and variations abound in Spanish-speaking nations, together with Mexico and Venezuela. Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for torrijas sees white bread steeped in a heady combination of egg yolks, milk and sugar (sure, it’s primarily custard), with the slices fried in butter, sprinkled with extra caster sugar and greatest served chilly, as per custom.

Torrijas, a Spanish fried custard bread snack greatest served chilly. {Photograph}: The Guardian

In India, some within the Catholic group make coconut pancakes. The recipe requires a vanilla-scented batter that’s fried, stuffed with a textural mixture of contemporary grated coconut, jaggery, nuts and sultanas, after which rolled into candy little cylinders.

Malasadas, present in Hawaii, Guyana and elements of Portugal, aren’t pancakes however doughnuts dusted with lemon zest and sugar. They’re, nevertheless, freed from corners, round in form and – importantly – eaten to mark the start of Lent.

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Historical past dictates that Shrove Tuesday pancakes got here from followers needing to make use of up luxurious, perishable items like milk, eggs and butter. It does, nevertheless, imply that vegans and the gluten-intolerant are excluded from the pancake celebrations. Enter: kabalagala, Ugandan banana pancakes. They’re not solely made for pre-Lent feasting, however they’re made with ripe bananas and cassava flour, then deep-fried. The end result? Pikelet-sized snacks which can be crunchy on the surface and delicate within the centre. Attempt your hand with Sophia Musoki’s five-ingredient recipe.