It’s Pancake Day, which is a big deal. Not many foods have a day, but pancakes do, so let’s celebrate! Those who do not like pancakes (who are these people?) may refer to today as Shrove Tuesday or, if you are a New Orleans native, Mardis Gras, but not me. Today I celebrate Pancake Day. These fluffy round disks drenched in a coma inducing glop of sticky syrup are delicious, and they make life better. Sure, pancakes are a prime example of sloppy food and they are far from gourmet, but I do not care. I’m not a gourmand after all; I am a beer drinker in search of good food, and pancakes are just that.
I did a quick Google search for “beer pancakes” and apparently beer pancakes are already a thing. Add beer to flour, eggs, butter, baking power and apply heat – viola, beer pancakes. Some articles online argue that the carbonation in beer gives the pancake a greater rise, making for a fluffier and more delicate texture. Others claim that the malt flavour enhances the pancake by adding an additional layer of malty sweetness. One recipe even claims that real beer (beer with yeast sediment) will further increase the pancakes rise as the yeast will convert starch (flour in the batter) to alcohol and C02, providing an additional lift. I’m not sure how real these claims are as many sound like a bit of stretch. I think people just like putting beer in their food as an excuse to drink more beer, which is fine by me. But validating these claims is not today’s purpose. Pancake Day is a day of feasting, so let’s feast.
Pouring beer into pancake batter seems like a waste of beer to me, but I am curious. There is no need to justify mixing beer with pancake batter and I know that the outcome will most likely be neutral, neither enhancing nor detracting from the pancake-y goodness. I like beer and I like pancakes, so why not put the two together and see what happens?
Pancakes are what happen – delicious fluffy pancakes. The beer didn’t do much to improve the pancake – the texture may have been a bit lighter than usual. Nonetheless a pancake feast was had. If you are interested in making your own beer pancakes, the instructions are simple. Replace all or some of the wet ingredients with beer, and make pancakes as usual.
Happy Pancake Day!
Cheers,
Erik
PS> To make your pancake experience that much better, always use two eggs when the recipe calls for one or two eggs, use melted butter, not canola oil, and fry the pancakes in a layer of animal fat to get the edges crispy – bacon or duck fat preferably.














Back in the colonies one of my favorite breweries is doing something extremely rad.