Taste test

PANCAKES

Ahead of Shrove Tuesday, we tested some of the commercially available choices — both crepes and Americanstyle. Our conclusion? That if you can assemble some flour, milk, eggs, water and butter, and are in possession of a basic frying pan, you’re better off attempting your own.

M&S Five Grain Pancakes, 190g (6 pancakes), €1.80, 7/10

M&S stocks a wider range of American-style pancakes than any other retailer we visited. We liked the sound of these because we thought they might be vaguely healthy, as the grains and seeds are soaked in rye sourdough for a fuller flavour. Not too sweet. 82 calories per pancake.

Galberts Traditional Pancakes (Spar), 540g (8 for the price of 6), €2.50, 6/10

These look like traditional crepes, and they contain buckwheat flour, but the flavour is curiously insipid. Make them more interesting with chocolate spread, or even sugar and lemon, and they might pass for ones you made yourself. 138 calories per pancake.

Dunnes Family Favourites Pancakes, 8 x 28g, 89c, 4/10

Boring and spongy, said our testers, who thought that these small American-style pancakes would need plenty of toppings to cheer them up. Cheap though. 79 calories per pancake. Produced in Northern Ireland.

Staffords Scotch Pancakes, weight not given, (5 pancakes), €2.50, 4/10

Rubbery and lacking in flavour, these crepe-style pancakes did not impress our testers, who were disappointed they contained palm oil. 246 calories per 100g, no per pancake count given.

Sunblest Pancakes,

10 for the price of 8, €1.50 (Tesco Special offer), 3/10

Bland, pappy and uninteresting, our testers were disappointed by these widely-available American-style pancakes. 109 calories per pancake. Pat the Baker’s version (€2.15 for an 8 for the price of 6 offer in Dunnes) is very similar and is also produced in NI.