20 February 2023 , 13:03
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Pancake Day is just hours away and millions of us up and down the country will be busy thinking of what we might have as toppings.
Many of us might enjoy something sweet on our crepes and be looking forward to having Nutella or jam.
On the other hand, you might decide to try something a bit different this year and fancy adding a savoury topping on your pancakes.
We might think of sweet spreads or chocolate being the only option when it comes to pancakes but there can be many very tasty savoury options which can be just as nice.
You start by just melting some butter (Freddie Bennett)
After a few minutes the sauce should thicken up (Freddie Bennett)And one which has become a big trend this year is an Italian sauce called cacio e pepe, which just translates to cheese and pepper, as predicted by Ocado’s food expert, Laura Rowe.
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This incredibly rich, cheesy and buttery sauce is very often found on pasta and involves just three ingredients - making it cheap and quick to put together.
But this year people have been experimenting with this on their pancakes to see if they can find something a little outside the box for the big day.
To see what this was like, I decided to give it a go and made some of the sauce to drizzle over some crepes.
The method
First off you need to track down three very simple ingredients. All that is needed for the sauce is butter, pecorino cheese and peppercorns.
Then you start by melting the butter in the pan. I used around 100g of unsalted butter, which cost £1.99 from Tesco, to make a fairly big batch of it.
Once that was melted down to on a low heat, I added 100g of pecorino cheese (£1.30 per bag) and over a tablespoon of grinded peppercorns (£2.30).
After a few minutes that mix should start to turn into a very cheesy sauce which you should keep stirring to avoid it getting clumpy with lots of bits in.
Then all I did was heat up a pancake and drizzle a lot of the sauce over it. Don't be shy with the drizzle as you want to make sure you get a good portion of sauce.
You should give yourself a nice big drizzle as a topping (Freddie Bennett)
The cheesy sauce is very rich (Freddie Bennett)The taste
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So once I had made the delicious-smelling dish, it was time to give it a taste.
The first thing that hits you with this sauce is the cheesy smell which is very rich and, as a cheese lover, I was a big fan of this.
When you bite into it, the sauce tastes much thicker then it looks. It can come across fairly runny looking in the pan but on the pancake it was very thick and almost creamy due to the butter which went with the texture of the pancake really nicely.
You might not want too many pancakes with this sauce on as it is so rich, which is great, but having too much of it could make you feel a bit poorly.
However, for a pancake or two this was a brilliant addition and its rich creamy texture meant the pancake just melted in your mouth.
The sauce is very tasty for one or two pancakes (Freddie Bennett)The verdict
Overall, I was really impressed by this trend and would definitely give it another go on Pancake Day.
The cheesiness of the sauce with the sweetness of the pancake contrasted really well and gave it a very lovely taste, almost like a cheese toastie.
While you would not want every pancake with this sauce due to its richness, it was a fine addition for one or two and I would definitely recommend it.