Fat Tuesday pancake facts

Today is Fat Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. It is the last day for people participating in the Christian holiday Lent to eat and drink whatever they want before abstaining until Easter. Participants commonly choose to stop eating sugary and fatty foods during Lent, so they spend their last night indulging and finishing off the ingredients they have at home. To celebrate Pancake Day, here are some facts about the beloved breakfast item:

• According to Pancake Lovers, Benjamin Franklin is said to have enjoyed pancakes made out of Indian corn. He even preferred them to English muffins.
• Technically, pancakes are a quick bread because they are made of batter and do not use yeast.
• Pancakes can be eaten many ways other than just covered in syrup. Some people like to make an entire breakfast platter and use the cakes as bread, adding eggs and bacon to the middle and forgoing syrup entirely.
• According to News Hopper, British people use 52 million eggs on Pancake day, 22 million more than on any other day of the year. That averages out to about two cakes per UK resident.
• The Guinness Book of World Records lists the official tallest stack of pancakes ever recorded at 2 feet and eleven inches. This epic feat of balance and engineering was created on Oct. 16, 2014, at  Efteling theme park in the Netherlands.
• The impressive record for most pancakes created in one hour, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is 1,092. Ross McCurdy achieved this record in Kingston Washington, on Aug. 13, 2013.
• French people sometimes make wishes while flipping pancakes, as if they were flipping a coin. The crepe is the French version of a pancake. It tends to be thinner and more dense than the American version. The batter is made of similar ingredients, but more eggs are used in crepes that are meant to be dessert items.
• If you flip a pancake with too much enthusiasm it may stick to the ceiling! The butter or oil used to brown the cake can adhere to the ceiling surface and leave behind a grease mark when removed. Cakes that are not fully cooked are more likely to stick because they are still slightly gooey.
• Pancakes can be made for vegans, vegetarians, gluten-intolerant people and health nuts. A slight adjustment to the type of flour or grease used to line the pan can change many pancake recipes to fit different dietary requirements.