Pass the Pancakes Please

Europe

Latvia

In Latvian, they are kartupelu pankukas, and in English potato pancakes. They’re prepared with grated potatoes, eggs, and flour and seasoned with salt and pepper. They’re fried in hot oil in a pan until golden brown. Traditionally these pancakes are served with sour cream and lingonberry sauce.

Lithuania

Bulviniai blynai are traditional Lithuanian potato pancakes. They’re made with grated potatoes, diced onions, eggs, and flour. The pancakes are seasoned with salt and pepper. Occasionally lemon juice is added before frying to give them a golden color. They’re eaten with sour cream, applesauce, or jam.

Sweden

Blood pancakes are popular in all Scandinavian countries. When the pancake batter is mixed animal blood is added. The pancakes can be thin or smaller and chewier. They develop a typical dark-brown hue.

Flaskpannkaka are thick and fluffy pork pancakes. The batter consists of flour, eggs, milk, salt, and butter. The batter is poured evenly over crispy pork or bacon in a pan and fried until golden brown. These pancakes are served drizzled with lingonberry jam and accompanied by shredded cabbage or carrots.

Raggmunks are classic Swedish potato pancakes. They’re made with milk, flour, salt, eggs, and grated potatoes. The batter is spread in a hot pan and fried in butter on both sides until golden brown and crispy at the edges. The pancakes are served with salted pork or unsmoked bacon and a bit of lingonberry jam.

England

Staffordshire oatcakes are traditional English savory pancakes. They’re prepared with white flour, wholemeal flour, porridge, oats, salt, yeast, milk, and water. The batter is left to ferment and then cooked on a griddle known as a bakestone. The oatcakes can be filled with tomatoes, bacon, cheese, sausages, and eggs.

Wales

Crempogs or ffroes are Welsh pancakes. They’re made with buttermilk, butter, flour, sugar, salt, vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, and eggs. The batter is mixed until smooth and poured on a griddle or hot stone. They’re fried on both sides until golden brown.

Ireland

Corned beef boxtys are Irish pancakes that are made with mashed potatoes and raw grated potatoes, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, and corned beef. The ingredients are mixed and shaped into thick pancakes. They’re browned on both sides in a hot frying pan. The pancakes are usually served as part of an Irish breakfast with eggs, grilled vegetables, and black and white pudding.

France

Ficelle picarde or Picardy strings is a traditional dish that originated in the Picardy region of France. Pancake batter is mixed and the pancakes are fried. After they are filled with ham, cheese, and mushrooms and topped with grated cheese. Once rolled up they are baked in the oven until the cheese melts.

Crepes farcies are stuffed pancakes. The pancake batter is prepared with flour, salt, olive oil, milk, and eggs. The pancakes are then fried in a pan. Once done they are stuffed with spinach, turkey, or chicken, mushrooms, and grated parmesan cheese. Other ingredients that can be used include ground meat, ham, prosciutto, tomato sauce, garlic, or seafood. After stuffing the pancakes are broiled until golden.

Germany

Speckpfannkuchens literally mean pancakes with bacon. The pancake batter is prepared and then combined with strips or cubes of bacon which have been fried first.

Luxembourg

Gromperekichelchers are Luxembourg’s version of potato pancakes. They’re made with grated potatoes, shallots, garlic, parsley, eggs, and flour. The pancakes are seasoned with salt and pepper, made into small pancakes, and fried until golden and crisp.

Austria

Moosbeermocken is a pancake-like dish made with fresh bilberries. These are wild berries found in the Alps. The dish is made with a light and fluffy batter that includes eggs, sugar, and flour. Then the batter is combined with fresh bilberries. The pancakes are fried until golden and served topped with icing sugar.

Hungary

Rakott palacsinta is a Hungarian crepe cake. It consists of layered pancakes with a filling between each pancake. The pancakes are made with milk, flour, and eggs. The fillings can include fruit jam, ground walnuts, poppy seeds, and cottage cheese. This crepe cake is topped with beaten egg whites and baked until golden brown.

Hortobágyi palacsinta is a savory pancake specialty. The pancakes are prepared and filled with meat usually veal. The veal is prepared like a stew with sauteed tomatoes, onions, spices, and vegetables. Once filled the pancakes are baked in the oven.

Poland

Bliny gryczane are Polish pancakes. They’re prepared with buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and salt. The pancake batter is allowed to rise. Then spoonfuls are dropped into a hot frying pan and fried until golden on both sides. They’re traditionally served with caviar, sour cream, salmon roe, or slices of onions.

Krokiet is a unique dish that includes thin crepes filled with different ingredients. The crepes are prepared and filled with sauteed meat or vegetables or both.

Italy

Necci are thin Italian pancakes. They’re prepared with chestnut flour and water. These pancakes are eaten as is or filled with ingredients like pancetta, ricotta cheese, sausage, chocolate, honey, or sugar. They originated in the Tuscany region.

Crespelle alla Valdostana is an Italian specialty that originated in the Aosta Valley. These are savory, stuffed crepes with Fontina cheese and bechamel sauce. The batter is prepared with flour, milk, eggs, melted butter, salt, and pepper then cooked in a pan. The crepes are filled with diced or sliced Fontina cheese, cooked ham, and occasionally mushrooms. They are baked until the cheese melts.

Crespelle alla Fiorentina is a traditional Tuscan dish that originated in Florence. Once the pancakes are made they’re stuffed with spinach, ricotta, and nutmeg and rolled similarly to cannelloni.

Crespelle alla Fiorentina is a traditional Tuscan dish originating from Florence. In order to make the dish, crespelle pancakes are stuffed with a combination of spinach, ricotta, beaten egg, grated Pecorino cheese, and nutmeg, then rolled in a similar way to cannelloni. A beaten egg and grated Pecorino cheese are usually added to the filling. They’re baked topped with bechamel sauce.

Asia

Martabak are roti-like stuffed and fried pancakes. The fillings vary and can include ground meat, eggs, garlic, onions, peppers, curry, and ghee. Fresh herbs like coriander and mint are added for flavor. The flatbread dough has to be very thin.

Thailand

Khanom Tokyo is a variety of pancakes that originated in Thailand. The pancakes are prepared with a leavened egg batter. The fillings can be sweet with creamy spreads or custards or savory with sausages, quail eggs, or ground pork.

India

Uttapam is similar to pizza and originated in South India. The dish is prepared with batter based on rice and lentils then fried. After it is topped with chopped vegetables like onions, tomatoes, carrots, chilies, and corn.

China

Jianbing are fried pancakes. These thin and savory crepes are cooked on a hot, cast-iron slab. The batter can be made with different flours like mung bean, black bean, or wheat flour. Once fried the pancakes are topped with eggs and flavored with sauces like chili sauce, hoisin sauce, or bean paste. The pancakes are filled with ingredients like spring onions, mustard pickles, radishes, scallions, cilantro, and Chinese sausage or chicken.

Japan

Okonomiyaki is a traditional dish that consists of batter and shredded cabbage. Grated yam, flour, eggs, water or dashi, and shredded cabbage are mixed together. Then the batter is poured on a hot griddle and fried.

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is prepared differently. First, the batter is mixed and fried into a thin pancake. Then other ingredients like fried eggs, scallions, dried bonito flakes, bean sprouts, and sliced pork belly are prepared separately and layered with the pancakes.

Vietnam

Banh Can/Mini pancakes are savory pancakes prepared with a thin rice flour batter. These pancakes are cooked on outdoor grills. They’re topped with whole shrimp and scallions or pork or quail eggs.

South Korea

Pajeon are a variety of jeon – Korean pancakes. The pancakes are prepared with rice flour, eggs, and green onions. There are many different variations.