An old English Georgian-era recipe for a great Shrove Tuesday “Pancake Day” pancake, that flips really well without falling apart. If you want something more delicate and less flip’able you can add ½ tsp baking powder to lighten it. There’s a range of milk given: the smaller amount will give a slightly thicker pancake; the greater amount will create a much thinner consistency and make a pancake that’s more like a crepe: but both will flip in the pan very well. That is, once you’ve practised your pancake flipping. Great served simply with some sugar sprinkled over plus a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, or a shake of ground cinnamon.

Makes 5-6 medium-sized pancakes

Method

Whisk the eggs and wholemeal flour in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the milk, then smaller amount first, then add the white flour and beat until smooth again. Add the brandy and salt, then adjust the consistency with more milk if you prefer something thinner.

Get your frying pan hot then add a small knob of butter (1/2 tsp) and let that swish around until it coats the base of the pan. Then pour in your pancake mixture, just enough to ¾’s coat the base of the pan leaving a few cm clear at the edges. Cook until the top is set and the base looks delicately brown in patches. Then check it’s loose in the pan. Now, with a slightly forward and back motion  - like a bucking bronco machine – quickly flip the pancake up into the air, and back over into the pan so the cooked base of the pancake is now upward.

Don’t worry if your first pancake sticks, that happens, and also don’t fret if your first flipped pancake misses the pan and falls on the floor. This will make people laugh when you tell them, and being happy and forgiving is what Pancake Day is all about.