Pancake Wars: Savoury vs Sweet

‘In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along’ – Antonin Scalia

There are many things that can be used to easily divide people into two categories. People who love vs people who hate Marmite, people who hang up their jeans vs people who fold them, and as I’ve learnt over the 12 years of being with my husband, people who eat savory vs people who ate sweet pancakes on Pancake day.

In my house growing up we always had sweet ones; with lemon and sugar traditionally, and later with Nutella and cream and my brother’s suggestion. There were always arguments over who’s turn it was to have the first one (as that one was the ‘practice one’ where mum was getting into her pancake making stride) and we were limited to 3 each (pancakes are like apples, you need to eat a million of them to ever feel full). I, probably much like every child of the 80’s just imagined that our pancake day was the same as everyone elses.

Step forward my hubby who casually informs me one shrove Tuesday of yore that he would have savory crepes filled with curried mince on pancake day. Yep, I’ll just let that ruminate for a while. Crazy eh?
Ok, so I know essentially that pancake batter is pancake batter and is the same as yorkshire pudding batter, it’s what you pit n it that changes it to savoury or sweet, but would you have nutella on your yorkies?

So, like all sensible, mature, professional couples in their 30s, we’ve declared a pancake war on each other in a bid to settle this once and for all. Dave likes savoury. I like sweet, but which is better? There’s only one way to find out….

The Ingredients:

We normally do try and make our own crepes, but they often turn out with varying degrees of success so, as every experiment needs a constant, we’ve used shop bought ones this time. It eliminates the opportunity for sabotage more than anything else. Dave’s making curried minced lamb for savoury and I’m going for traditional sugar & lemon, family favourite nutella and cream and some orange and whiskey marmalade; homemade by my friend Mike at work.

The Savoury:

Ingredients include onions, chopped tomato, some herbs and spices and a few other ‘secret ingredients’ (honestly, I dread to think). And well, I hold my hands up and say it was pretty bloody yummy. Using mince as opposed to something more lumpy (like a sauce with big chunks of chicken or beef) works well with crepes as it makes it all stick together well. The pancakes don’t really add or take anything away, it’s just like having a burrito really. I did however thoroughly enjoy my first ever savoury pancake, which has now put my whole belief system into question, I’m not quite sure I know who I am anymore…

The Sweet:

I’m a traditional girl at heart and had to go for sugar and lemon, however I concede of the three we had for pudding, it’s probably the blandest. I’m also the type of person who can (and does) eat nutella straight from the jar with a spoon so that’s always going to be a winner for me. These shop bought crepes actually work better with sweet pancakes, especially if you microwave them for an extra 10 second than recommended and they’re a little thicker than homemade ones, so don’t rip when you spread something on.

The Verdict:

We’re essentially a hung parliament.

I will always been a sweet fan over savoury (apart from a cheeseboard – which is the exception that proves the rule) So on balance, gun pointed to my head, I would choose sweet over savoury pancakes every day of the week. However I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I was closed minded when it came to my pancakes. I’ve now been shown the light and realise that there’s no need to discriminate between savoury and sweet. They can in fact, co-exist in perfect harmony, even as part of the same meal if you’ll let them.

We may even have just started out own little tradition….