If you think that such a delicious flour dish as pancakes is the property of only Russian cuisine, you are mistaken! English Pancakes, Ethiopian Ingers, French Creeps, East Slavic palanchines, Indian Dosa, German Pfannkuchen, Mexican Tortillas and many others are all national types of pancakes.
We will not understand the nuances of other languages, but try to figure out how to speak Russian correctly:
bake pancakes or fry. In order to understand why we fry them, and say that we bake them, we will make a short trip in ancient times.
And what is it?
You will be surprised, but to explain to a person who has never seen pancakes what it is is quite difficult. According to the encyclopedias, “pancakes are a culinary product made from batter, poured onto a hot frying pan that has a round shape.” On our own, we add that modern pancakes can be of very different shapes and thicknesses: from thin lace to "solid" and thick. In addition, this is a rather economical dish, for the preparation of which a minimum of flour and a maximum of liquid - milk or water - are used.
There are a huge number of pancake recipes: lean and butter, yeast and custard, buckwheat and millet, rice and oat, with fillings and sauces. In addition, modern chefs use them to create pies and cakes.
When did the pancakes appear?
Scientists are still debating where and when pancakes appeared. Some researchers consider China their homeland, while others insist that they appeared in Egypt. Archaeological excavations have shown that the very first pancakes were baked on an open fire in small clay pots or on hot stones. The Egyptians five thousand years ago did not think about whether to bake pancakes or fry, because they could only bake cakes in the ovens, prototypes of pancakes mixed in sour milk. The ancient Greeks gladly made sour milk, wheat flour, honey and olive oil Tagenitas, as they called pancakes. Mention has been made of this dish in poetic works dating back to the 5th century BC. e.
Slavic pancake story
Understanding how to say it correctly: bake pancakes or fry pancakes, we turn to pagan times. Some Russian historians believe that it was in the 1000s of our era that pancakes appeared in Russia. There is such a version of their origin: warming up oatmeal jelly, the mistress was distracted and forgot about him. The excess liquid evaporated, the jelly turned brown - so by accident the first pancake turned out.
Until the adoption of Christianity, pancakes were baked all year round, and they were sacrificial bread, a gift to the Slavic gods, as well as a ritual funeral meal.
How did the name come about?
It doesn’t matter if you are going to bake pancakes or fry, you will knead the dough from different products, but always with flour. According to the famous researcher of gastronomic history and culinary V.V. Pokhlebkina, the very word “pancake” came from a distorted “mlyn” or “melin”, which meant grinding. That is, a pancake is a dish of intentional flour.
Despite the huge variety of national recipes and whether pancakes are fried or baked in different countries, the classic yeast pancake described by Pushkin and Chekhov is a national Russian treasure.
Why are they baked?
To answer this question, we recall that only at the very beginning of the 20th century, the industrial production of gas stoves was established and centralized gas supply began. In 1925, there were only 10,000 gas stoves in St. Petersburg. In the remaining houses, they were cooked in a Russian stove or on wood or coal stoves. That is why the question "bake pancakes or fry - how to right" did not arise. It was possible to bake in a Russian oven, but not to fry.
Old Russian "pizza"
Indeed, this can be called traditional Russian pancakes with spices. What it is? These are pancakes baked with some filling, for example, with fried mushrooms, fish fillet or chopped boiled eggs. Prepare them as follows:
- a thin layer of pancake dough is poured into a cast iron pan;
- as soon as the pancake is browned, the prepared filling is laid on top of it - cod;
- Together with the filling, the pancake is carefully turned over.
If you are still thinking about whether to pancakes need to be baked or fried, we offer you another option for cooking pancakes with seasoning: in a preheated pan, brown the first pancake, onto which they put the filling - “seasoning”, and then fill with dough. Pripek, thus, is located between two pancakes. To prevent the bottom layer from burning, bake such pancakes in an oven or oven with a lower temperature than usual.
Pancake pan
Trying to figure out whether pancakes are fried or baked, how to say it correctly, it is worth remembering about the subject, without which it is impossible to cook this dish - about a pancake pan. The fact is that until the twenties of the last century, a pan for baking pancakes was more a symbol of the wealth and success of the family, rather than kitchen utensils. It was her who bought it in the first place, starting to collect a dowry for her daughter, wealthy peasants and philistines. A special place was assigned for a pancake pan in the kitchen and it was used only for preparing one dish - pancakes. If for some reason something else was cooked on it, then the pan was considered spoiled and simply thrown away.
Can I fry them?
Today, choosing between baking pancakes or frying, most of us will choose the latter. Indeed, baking this dish in the oven will require more energy and time, which is constantly lacking. Frying pancakes on a stove is faster and easier, but you also need a frying pan, even if it’s not a cast iron, but high-quality aluminum with a non-stick coating, pancake dough, butter or vegetable oil for greasing and a scoop for turning. Someone will object that pancakes can be turned over and just tossing them from a frying pan.
Yes, it is possible if you rehearsed this trick for a long time and graduated from the circus school with a degree in juggler. So, the sequence of actions so that the first, and all subsequent pancakes do not come out lumpy:
- We heat the pan over medium heat and grease it with oil.
- Scoop the dough into a regular frying pan with a diameter of 21-22 cm with the middle sides of about 2/3 of the standard ladle.
- With your free hand we take the pan by the handle and raise one of its edges.
- Along with raising the side, we begin to pour out the dough, trying to get to the center.
- As soon as the first drops of dough hit the surface of the pan, we begin to smoothly turn it around the circle so that the dough is evenly distributed.
- Over the next 1-2 minutes, we don’t touch the pancake, but after them we arm ourselves with a spatula and turn it over to the other side.
- Before pouring the next pancake, be sure to mix the dough, as the flour will settle to the bottom.
Pancakes are fried or baked - how to?
If you answer this question from the point of view of a historian or a linguist, then of course they bake pancakes. After all, the expression “bake pancakes” appeared in those days when they could only be baked in a wood-burning stove. So, it’s right to say that.
But on the other hand, any technologist will say that pancakes are fried, since the cooking process consists in direct contact heating using a lubricant from hydrocarbons.
Thus, in fact, we fry pancakes, but in words - bake. But probably it’s not very important - to bake pancakes or fry. How to properly talk about this process is a secondary matter, the most important thing is that they are tasty!