Pancake History

While you're thinking about ordering pancakes from Pj’s, or trying to schedule a visit to our establishment, we thought you'd like to know more about the history of pancakes. Here are some interesting facts you might not be aware of.

A piping hot stack of buttered pancakes drenched in maple syrup is an all-American image. But the age-old tradition of preparing pancakes reflects the cuisine popular in other countries, since they have been eaten in different forms around the globe for centuries. One of the earliest known pancake meals dates back to 4th century B.C. China, where fragile pancakes of millet meal or wheat flour were popular because of their short preparation time. Spring pancakes, a thin pancake made of ground rice, and filled with vegetables and meat have been traced as far back as the Song Dynasty.

Pancakes later became common fare in the Near East in medieval times, and were shortly imported into markets and homes throughout Europe. During the next few hundred years, pancakes took on their current form, as the result of a synthesis of their medieval nature and the use of baked bread. Old English pancakes were mixed with ale. German pancakes were leavened by eggs and served thin, with jam or jelly. Pancakes were a favorite food with both the rich and poor in Holland during the 16th and 17th Centuries.

There are crisp lentil patties from Southern India, buckwheat blini from Russia, delicate crepes from France, and the tortilla version from Mexico. The list goes on, and includes potato pancakes, corn pancakes and Pannekoeken, or Dutch pancakes.

The American pancake is most likely the result of the importation of the revered French Crepes Suzette during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Monsieur Joseph, proprietor of the Restaurant Marivaux, invented these thin, rolled pancakes in 1897. He provided crepes to the actors in a Comedie Francaise play, since the script called for them to eat these delights during certain scenes. He later served them to diners at the Savoy Hotel in London.

Henri Charpentier, a French maitre-d'hotel, emigrated to America in the 1930s and brought the recipe with him. He is now credited with popularizing them in the U.S. They were originally eaten with a sauce of butter, sugar, citrus juice and liqueur, which eventually gave way to the American practice of topping pancakes with maple and other flavored syrups. Through the years, they've been called flapjacks, buttercakes and griddle cakes. In the end they're all pancakes - and the best ones in Princeton are from PJ's Pancake House.