Pancakes can be made with any ingredient dipped in batter and fried, including meat and vegetables. Proper frying temperature is important. Pancakes are popular worldwide and can be classified as a cake, donut, or pastry.
Pancakes are a blend of different ingredients that are coated in batter, then fried. “Fritter” comes from the Latin word frictura which translates to fried or to fry. Any ingredient dipped in batter and fried can essentially be a pancake, though it may not always be called that. While we may be more accustomed to apple or banana fritters, it’s not unusual to have a fritter made of meat, such as fried fish or a vegetable. In fact, veggie tempura is essentially vegetables dipped in batter and quickly fried, so it could certainly be defined as vegetable fritters.
Food can be dipped in batter or mixed with batters. The American apple fritter, often sold with donuts, is a mix of pie batter and chopped apples. Clam or crab cakes can also be considered pancakes, as can potato latkes, a mix of shredded potatoes, egg, and seasonings. Sometimes the batter itself is fried without any other ingredients. These are also essentially pancakes. A donut made of batter might be called a pancake, as could a funnel cake.
You can really use your imagination when it comes to frying ingredients, but the most important thing is knowing how to fry food properly. Too cold oil when added to food will impart an oily, greasy taste, which is undesirable. Oil that’s too hot can also cause perfect or burnt pancakes. Electric deep fryers with controllable temperature settings often take the guesswork out of frying, although for experienced cooks, a simple temperature gauge and a sense of what the oil looks and smells like is often enough information to produce perfectly fried foods.
Virtually any place in the world where people fry their food will have their own types of pancakes. In the UK, for example, you might order a mushy pea pancake as pub standard. Many Asian countries make banana fritters, and these are equally popular in France where they can be served with a lemon sauce. Malaysian cooks make sweet potato fries and yams, which are popular and sold at booths in urban areas. In the US, you’ll find a variety of pancake types, though apple seems to be the most common.
One of the big culinary questions is what a pancake really is. It’s a cake, donut, or pastryThe frying suggests its close association with donuts, especially cream puffs and donuts. On the other hand, a pancake can be very crunchy, suggesting that it is best classified as a pastry. Regardless of where you come to discuss it, there is no doubt that the pancake is one of the tastiest and most popular foods in many parts of the world.
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