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Pancakes, Stuffed
Make a pint of batter, according to the directions given for plain pancakes. Fry some thin pancakes, and as each one sets, and becomes coloured, spread over it a layer of good veal forcemeat, then roll it rather lightly, and lay it on a dish before the fire until the batter is finished. Cut the rolls into slices an inch thick, lay them on a buttered dish, and pour over them as much boiling gravy as will cover them. Grate a little nutmeg over before serving. If preferred, the stuffed slices of pancake may be egged, bread-crumbed, and fried again to a light brown, instead of being served with the gravy. Or they may be placed side by side in a buttered dish, some custard poured over them, and baked in a moderate oven until the custard sets. Time to fry the pancakes, five minutes. Probable cost, 1s., exclusive of the gravy. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A savoury pancake dish from the era when a "pancake" was as likely to arrive with gravy as with sugar. The batter and the frying are straightforward; the forcemeat is where the attention belongs.
- The forcemeat must be cooked throughVictorian veal forcemeat is commonly made with raw minced veal or suet, breadcrumbs, herbs and egg, and the recipe assumes the thin pancake and the boiling gravy will finish it. They will not. Cook the forcemeat fully before it goes near the batter, or choose one of the two finishing methods that actually applies heat: crumbed and refried until the centre reaches 160F, or baked in the custard until set and hot right through.
- A pint of batterAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz, about 2 1/2 US cups. The batter is a thin one, giving a crepe rather than a raised American pancake. Expect roughly eight to ten pancakes from a 9-inch pan.
- Forcemeat, in plain termsA stuffing mixture: finely minced veal (or veal and bacon or suet), breadcrumbs, lemon zest, parsley, mace and egg to bind. Any well-seasoned fine sausage or pale meat stuffing takes its place; keep it soft enough to spread but not wet, or the rolls collapse.
- "As each one sets and becomes coloured"Read as putting the filling on while the pancake is still pliable, before it stiffens, so it will roll. The stated "five minutes" is ambiguous as to whether it means each pancake or the batch; a thin crepe wants about a minute a side.
- Boiling gravyA brown veal or beef gravy, poured over hot enough to keep the dish steaming at table. Roughly 3/4 to 1 pint for four or five servings. It is a sauce, not a cooking medium, which is why the forcemeat has to be done beforehand.
- The custard variationAn unsweetened savoury custard, about 2 eggs to 1/2 pint of milk or cream, seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. A moderate oven is usually reckoned at about 325-350F; the custard should set in roughly 25 to 35 minutes, and it should be just firm rather than puffed.
- Costing"1s." is one shilling, and the entry states it is exclusive of the gravy. The probable cost is a convention Cassell's carries throughout to help a housekeeper plan; it gives a sense of relative expense only and converts to nothing useful today.
- YieldFour to five as a light main or supper dish, as stated. The one-inch slices look best cut on a slight angle and laid overlapping.
Stuffed pancakes belong to the long British tradition of the savoury batter, which ran alongside the sweet, lemon-and-sugar Shrove Tuesday version that eventually crowded it out. Cassell's New Dictionary of Cookery, compiled in the late nineteenth century for middle-class households running on a budget and a cook, treats the pancake as a neutral wrapper and offers three finishes for the same rolls: sauced, crumbed and fried, or baked in custard. Forcemeat comes into English from the French farce, a stuffing, and by the nineteenth century English kitchen manuals commonly carried several versions of it, veal being a standard pale, mild base.