Crempog | Crempog a bwyd mor

When I was about sixteen my mother had to go into hospital for a week or two and I was left in charge of the the cooking. Growing up in our house, pancakes were very much a pancake day treat; that week we had pancakes not only every day, but at almost every meal. We gorged ourselves on them. To this day pancakes remain something special, although I do them rather more often than just on Shrove Tuesday. However I dont do them often enough for them to stop being a treat. That would remove half the joy. Doing them more frequently also gives leeway for experimentation. A few years ago stuffed pancakes were sophisticated fare, but I dont think we see enough of them now: pancakes stuffed with chicken in a mushroom sauce, sprinkled with parmesan and baked in a hot oven for instance; with prawns and salmon in a white wine sauce; or with cheese and ham - the variations are endless.

My grandmother made the most delicious pancakes using orange juice, they were wonderfully light and sweet. She lived in France and to this day I have memories of the delicious aroma in the market of thin, lacy buckwheat galettes and the small, coarse-cut, oblong sausage patties served with them. Usually, in our house, if a pint of milk has gone off this is the signal for pancakes, as I am loathe to throw anything away that might be useful. Sour milk makes good pancakes, scones (the sourer, the sweeter and lighter the scone), white sauce (as long as the milk is not too far gone or it will curdle), is fine in mashed potatoes and in some soups.

Pancakes abound the world over. We Celts are particularly fond of them, however they can be found in a multitude of varieties from China right through the western world; they can make a delicate canape or hold a peasant’s lunch; they can be unleavened or leavened, the latter made with either yeast (the mix for these keeps well and actually improves with time) or baking powder. Traditionally, in Wales, a mix of oatmeal and white flour was very popular. Pancakes provided a useful way of using flours that were not appropriate for traditional bread making.

On Shrove Tuesday, I like the idea of eating nothing but pancakes, so perhaps for breakfast we might have traditional Welsh oatmeal pancakes, delicious with bacon and drizzled with maple syrup. Or we might grate some cheese into the mix - my children love them like this, rolled up with tomato ketchup, and this makes for quite a healthy start to the day.

Crempog

125g fine oatmeal (I have done this with porridge oats and found them quite OK)
225g plain flour
15g yeast (or 1/2 tsp dried), most good bakeries have yeast or the bakery section in supermarkets are usually helpful.
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons sour milk, buttermilk or yoghurt
1 pint cold water

Method

Soak oatmeal in the water all day. That evening strain the oatmeal, reserving the water, and mix the yeast and sour milk (or whatever) to a cream. Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, stir in the oatmeal, make a well in centre and break in the egg. Now add the yeast cream and then some of the reserved water, and carry on adding water until the batter is thin enough to drop from the spoon - not too runny. Leave overnight.

Come breakfast, lightly butter or oil your heated bakestone or a heavy frying pan. Pour on a small ladleful. When the surface is pitted with tiny holes and firm enough to turn, do so, give it another 30 seconds or so, then serve or keep warm in an oven until you are ready to do so. This batter keeps for 4-5 days, but you must bring it ‘back to life’ when you take it out of the fridge, by allowing it to reach room temperature and start to bubble again before using.

For supper, we might have Crempog a bwyd mor, these can either be rolled or layered. Rolled is perhaps more elegant, but layered is less fiddly and works very well for a family supper. The dish will look rather like lasagne.

Crempog a bwyd mor

225g plain flour
2 eggs
85g melted butter
1 pint fresh or sour milk pinch of salt filling
2 cups of cooked flaked fish (or a mix of prawns, cockles, salmon etc. depending on whether it is family or ‘elegant fare’)
85g grated cheese (I don’t think mild cheddar is worth the space it uses, good flavour is what we are after)
1/2 pint milk
30g butter
30g plain flour
8 drops of tabasco (this will bring out the flavour of the cheese, but not make it hot) salt and pepper

Method

Make the pancake mix, roughly following the above method, and let it stand for at least 10 minutes. Then make the pancakes. Size doesn’t matter too much as you can overlap the pancakes to fit the dish. The pancakes can be made ahead of time and wrapped in foil. If they are used straight away they will, however, give a slightly lighter finished dish.

Butter an oven proof dish. Make a roux by melting the butter and then stirring in the flour, add a splash of the milk and cook on a low heat, stirring all the time until the roux forms a ball. Then add a little more milk and repeat the process until it no longer comes away from the sides of the saucepan. Now you can add the milk a bit faster until it is all used up, but do make sure it is completely incorporated and smooth before adding yet more. If you add milk while the mix still has lumps it will be very difficult to get rid of them. Making a good white sauce requires patience and a concentrated 15 minute commitment. Season the sauce, add the tabasco, and stir in the grated cheese.

Pour a bit of the sauce into the oven proof dish and then line with pancakes, or place a line of the cooked fish across the middle of your pancake, drizzle with a small amount of sauce and then roll up and place in the oven proof dish. You should probably allow two (unless the pancakes are very large) per person, otherwise, prepare in the order of: first pancakes, then fish, then sauce, ending with a pancake and finally, sauce. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a hot oven until just golden. You could also sprinkle with parmesan mixed with an equal quantity of breadcrumbs or crisps, which makes a delicious crispy topping.

For pudding, make a basic pancake batter, but substitute orange juice for half the milk, and serve with castor sugar and lemon, or honey and butter. Or you could butter an oven proof dish, fold the pancakes in half and stuff with orange segments soaked in cointreau, drizzle with a bit of orange juice, dot with some more butter and bake in the oven until hot through, then serve with cream.

Mywnhau!

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