Our prehistoric ancestors just may have eaten pancakes.
Analyses of starch grains on 30,000-year-old grinding tools suggest that Stone Age cooks were making flour out of cattails and ferns—which, researchers guess, was likely mixed with water and baked on a hot, possibly greased, rock. The result may have been more akin to hardtack than the modern crepe, hotcake, or flapjack, but the idea was the same: a flat cake, made from batter and fried.
Pancake Day: The Most Wonderful Day of the Year
By the time Otzi the Iceman set off on his final hike 5,300 years ago, pancakes—or at least something pancake-like—seem to have been a common item of diet. Otzi, whose remains were discovered in a rocky gully in the Italian Alps in 1991, provided us with a wealth of information about what a denizen of the Neolithic ate. His last meals—along with red deer and ibex—featured ground einkorn wheat. The bits of charcoal he consumed along with it suggest that it was in the form of a pancake, cooked over an open fire.
Whatever the age of the primal pancake, it’s clearly an ancient form of food, as evidenced by its ubiquity in cultural traditions across the globe. The ancient Greeks and Romans ate pancakes, sweetened with honey; the Elizabethans ate them flavored with spices, rosewater, sherry, and apples. They were traditionally eaten in quantity on Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, a day of feasting and partying before the beginning of Lent. Pancakes were a good way to use up stores of about-to-be-forbidden perishables like eggs, milk, and butter, and a yummy last hurrah before the upcoming grim period of church-mandated fast.
In the American colonies, pancakes—known as hoe cakes, johnny cakes, or flapjacks—were made with buckwheat or cornmeal. Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery—thought to be the first all-American cookbook, published in 1796—has two recipes for pancakes, one for “Johny Cake, or Hoe Cake,” which calls for milk, “Indian meal,” and molasses, the other for “Indian Slapjack,” which drops the molasses, but adds four eggs.
Thomas Jefferson, who was fond of pancakes, sent a recipe home to Monticello from the President’s House in Washington, D.C., picked up from Etienne Lemaire, his French maître d’hotel (hired for his honesty and skill in making desserts). Lemaire’s “panne-quaiques” was what we would call crepes—made by pouring dollops of thin batter into a hot pan. Modern pancakes—in Jefferson’s day known as griddlecakes—generally contain a leavening agent and are heftier and puffier.
Original Source: The Original article can be found here–>>http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/21/hot-off-the-griddle-heres-the-history-of-pancakes/
- 1 cup of your choice of gluten free flour mix
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup almond milk or dairy-free milk of choice
- 1/2 cup of plain dairy free yogurt
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons agave or sugar of your choice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- More oil to grease your pan/skillet, if necessary
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or another mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract until thoroughly blended. (If your coconut oil solidifies on contact with the cold milk, gently warm milk and coconut oil in saucepan)
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture. Stir until combined, (don’t over-mix or your pancakes). You can add extra goodies such as chocolate chips or blueberries, gently fold them in
now. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes so your pancakes will be nice and fluffy. - If you’ll be using an electric skillet, heat it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise, heat a heavy cast iron skillet or nonstick griddle over medium-low heat. Check the surface of the pan is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles on contact.
- Lightly oil the cooking surface with additional coconut oil.
- Using a ¼-cup measure, scoop the batter onto the warm skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancakes (you’ll know it’s ready to flip when about ½-inch of the perimeter is matte instead of glossy), and flip. Cook on the opposite sides for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Repeat the process with the remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. You may need to adjust the heat up or down at this point. While cooking the other pancakes make sure to keep your pancakes warm in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven.
Strawberry Sauce Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 tablespoon of agave
(No need to add water because the strawberries will release liquid when the berries cook)
Instructions:
Place thawed strawberries in a saucepan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon agave nectar stir until thickens, this should take about 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to overcook the sauce
