this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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This is what we Romanians call “pancakes” (clătite). In the US for example, these are not “pancakes”. What Americans call “pancakes”, we call “clătite americane” (American pancakes) or just “pancakes” (the untranslated English word).

~The pancakes in the photos were made by me~

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[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 minutes ago

In the US if someone served me something like in the picture I’d call it a “crepe”. My expectation of a “pancake” is for it to be thicker (maybe like 1cm thick), and very fluffy (while a crepe is usually a bit crispy). However I’m not much of a cook so I don’t know if there are other differences between a “crepe” and a “pancake”.

[–] ThunderLegend@sh.itjust.works 1 points 33 minutes ago

In Brazil we call it panquecas ...the American ones we just add "american" to it but most of us don't even cook the American version..the regular ones are better and are part of our culture. We usually eat them with salty fillings like ground beef or chicken with tomato sauce or a white roux. I've seen panquecas with sweet fillings in restaurants but they usually call it crepes..

[–] MSugarhill@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 hour ago

Palatschinken, and if you cut then in stripes and put it in the soup they are called Fritatten.

[–] ultrafastsloth@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

"palacinky/palačinky" in Slovak/Czech which is same as some people here said in german “Palatschinken”. The thick ones like they make in northern America with butter and maple syrup we call “lívance” here. I want to try those Japanese ones tho

[–] Spezi@feddit.org 1 points 23 minutes ago

„Palatschinken“ is what they call it in Austria. In Germany it‘s mostly called „Pfannkuchen“ (which is the literal translation of Pancakes)

Now comes the confusing part: In East Germany, they call it „Eierkuchen“ (Eggcake) and they call what West Germans know as „Berliner“ or „Krapfen“ (The filled donut without a hole) „Pfannkuchen“

So Pfannkuchen means totally different things depending on where you are in Germany.

Picture of a Berliner:

[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 4 points 2 hours ago

Danish

Pancakes = pandekager

American pancakes = amerikanske pandekager

Also:

SocCeR = fodbold

foOtbaLL = amerikansk fodbold

[–] Allero@lemmy.today 1 points 1 hour ago

In Russia: Those flat ones - bliny (блины) The American ones - just pancakes (pankeiki, панкейки)

[–] Grimvald@lemm.ee 1 points 1 hour ago

Nutella? Lol...

[–] hexabs@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Dosa from South India.

Super thin and crispy. Often glazed with clarified butter (ghee).

Eaten with spicy chutneys (dips/sauces)

[–] WorldieBoi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] romanianbangmaid@reddthat.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Fellow Romanian?

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 hours ago

Here in Switzerland the name really depends on which one you're actually making. Omelettes, Pfannkuchen, Kaiserschmarrn, Crêpes, Pancakes. You can find them all. My mother likes making Omelettes the most, I like making Pancakes the most.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 hours ago

I call these crepes. (USA, unfortunately.)

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

I want pancakes

[–] ChanchoManco@lemm.ee 5 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I'n Uruguay we call them "panqueques" if they have a sweet filling, we mostly use "dulce de leche" (similar to caramel) and eat them for dessert not breakfast. If they have a salty filling and are used as a meal we call them "canelones", always rolled with cilíndric shape.

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 29 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Those are some good lookin crepes

[–] daddy32@lemmy.world 0 points 2 hours ago

No no, crepes are different. French recipe with more eggs.

[–] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

In Croatian: palačinka (accentuated: palačínka, IPA: /palat͡ʃǐːŋka/, plural: palačínke). The origin is: Greek πλακοῦς (LS: "flat cake"), πλακόεντα > Latin placenta (OLD: "A kind of flat cake") > Romanian plăcintă > Hungarian palacsinta > Austrian German Palatschinke > Croatian palačinka. As Croatia has spent much of its history as a part of Austria-Hungary, its culture has left a strong mark especially on the northern dialects and the culinary practices there.

Sources:

  • R. Matasović, Etimološki rječnik hrvatskoga jezika

  • PGW Glare, Oxford Latin Dictionary

  • Walde-Hofmann: Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch

  • Liddel-Scott: Greek-English Lexicon

However, Croatian pancakes are very thin and bigger in surface than American ones. They're made of batter, we usually fill them with jam and roll them up and eat like that (some other fillings are in use too, ofc). My sister sometimes buys herself some American pancakes, way thicker and covered in chocolate cream, and the rest of the family is always mildly horrified by them, lol. It's pretty much two different dishes IMO. Palačinke would probably better correspond to crêpes, but we don't have different words to distinguish American pancakes from crêpes...

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago

I'm Austrian, we still call them Palatschinken. The extra thin ones are called crepe and the extra thick ones are called pancake, just like the French and English term, respectively. Palatschinken are somewhere in-between.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Depending on where you are in the United States you'll hear them called "pancakes" or "flapjacks." I think the difference is, a pancake is cooked in town on an electric or gas stove by someone wearing an apron, a flapjack is cooked in the woods over a campfire by someone wearing flannel.

Allegedly the term "hotcakes" also meant pancakes, but I think it's obsolete. It survives in the expression "to sell like hotcakes." In my experience, you're more likely to hear it used as a euphemism for tits than breakfast carbohydrate discs.

[–] marito@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

In northwest Mexico we call them "hotcakes" (pronounced "jotqueis" in Spanish). I'm not sure about the rest of the country, probably "panqueques".

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 1 points 16 minutes ago

I think I’ve heard “panqueques” in Spain

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Well that's fascinating. You may find this hard to believe but I've never really considered Mexico's relationship to the pancake before. AFAIK "hotcakes" is an American term, I don't think I've heard the British use it, so...do you think of pancakes/hotcakes as American? Makes me wonder what the Spaniards call them.

[–] marito@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Definitely think of them as American. I'd say the Mexican version of pancakes would be the "gorditas de nata".

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 46 minutes ago

Huh. Might have to give those a try.

[–] PolyLlamaRous@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

In the United States what is pictured are not called pancakes. Those are Crêpes / crepes. Add a levening agent (baking soda) and flour and ya got American pancakes.

Want to make them better and more uniquely American and not so Fastfood American?

Use sourdough starter Or

Carefully stir in (to not make it flat) 7up or a not too bitter beer replacing some or all of the water Or

Replace some of the flour with fine corn meal, add rosemary and a pork product (eg sausage, cooked bacon cubes)

You want uniquely American, forget wheat flour and make some hoe cakes. Cornmeal based.

[–] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 4 points 8 hours ago

McDonald’s still sells “hotcakes” for breakfast.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Pancakes are flapjacks if they're big and silver dollars if they're small, but in the picture I see crepes.

[–] Captain_Stupid@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

Please don't ask this on the German feddit.org you will cause a war within germany. (It is "Pfannkuchen" and I will die on that hill)

[–] sockenklaus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 52 minutes ago

Is it though? I thought we just had different regional names but we generelly agree that Pfannkuchen are the big flat ones and Pancakes are the small thick ones.

Those lunatics in Berlin though....

[–] wieson@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago

Yeah Pfannkuchen, Eierkuchen, Palatschinken, Plinsen, Flinzen, Crêpe (only on the christmas market) ...

Now please tell me how you call the smaller, thicker "American" pancakes.

I call them Löffelkuchen (spoon cake) and we make them mostly with berries in the batter (black current or blueberry).

[–] Ropianos@feddit.org 11 points 13 hours ago

I was already looking for any lost souls claiming "Eierkuchen" or similar. But I am a bit confused, I think you spelled "Palatschinken" a bit wrong 🤔

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