Have A Flippin' Lovely Day!

Published on 2021-02-12 / By hammy@trefeddianhotel

To celebrate Shrove Tuesday, we will be trying our hand at a slightly different pancake to normal. Not that we don’t like the traditional pancake - with a dash of lemon juice and sugar or a savoury filling - but now that we’ve got a bit more time on our hands, we thought we’d flip out and go for something different.

So we are ditching the diets and giving the Welsh Crempogau a go. Gone are the thin papery French crêpes we all know and love and in comes a delicious, wholesome pancake which can be eaten hot or cold at any time of day. More like an American pancake and bigger than a Scotch one, Crempogau are delicious smothered in butter and eaten as an afternoon treat or hearty breakfast.

Crempogau are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, although they're great all year round. There are many customs attached to Shrove Tuesday in Wales, involving kicking cans up and down streets, door-to-door begging for flour, as well as cheeky songs and verses. They would have been cooked on a cast iron bakestone but frying pans work fine too.

How to make crempogau

Ingredients

· 2 oz/ 55g butter

· 15 fl oz/ 450 ml warm buttermilk

· 10 oz/ 275g all purpose/plain flour

· 3 oz/ 75g sugar

· 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

· ½ tsp salt

· 1 tbsp vinegar

· 2 free range eggs, well beaten

Method

1. Stir the butter into the warmed buttermilk until melted. Gradually pour the milk and butter into the the flour and beat well. Leave the mixture to stand for at least 30 minutes (or a few hours, if possible) before stirring the sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and vinegar into the beaten eggs.

2. Pour this into the flour and milk mixture and beat well to form a smooth batter. Heavily grease a griddle or hot-stone and heat, then drop the batter, a tablespoon at a time, onto the heated griddle and cook over a moderate heat until golden brown on both sides. Keep the Crempogau warm and continue this method until all the batter is used up. Spread butter on each pancake and eat while warm. Jam, banana, syrup, currants and even a chocolate drizzle are, of course, optional.

Whilst making your Crempogau, why not try singing Can y Grempog to give you some more cheer?

Cân y Grempog

Wraig y tŷ a'r teulu da,
Os gwelwch chi'n dda, Pga'i grempog?
Mae Mam rhy dlawd i byrnu blawd
A 'Nhad rhy ddiog i weithio.
Os gwelwch chi'n dda ga'i grempog?
Mae 'ngheg i'n grimp am grempog.
Os nad oes menyn yn y tŷ
Rhowch lwyad fawr o driog,
Ac os nad oes triog yn y tŷ
Rhowch grempog fawr gynddeiriog, gynddeiriog, gynddeiriog.

The Pancake Song

Woman of the house and good family,
Please may I have a pancake?
Mother is too poor to buy flour
And Father too lazy to work.
Please may I have a pancake?
My mouth is dry for want of a pancake.
If there is no butter in the house
Put a large spoonful of treacle,
And if there is no treacle in the house
Give a terribly large pancake.
Terribly, terribly.

We hope you will enjoy Shrove Tuesday with our Welsh twist. Have a flippin’ lovely day!