National pancake day september IHOP offering free buttermilk pancakes
While more delicate sorts claim to find Christmas pud too “heavy”, I’ve yet to meet anyone, regardless of religious affiliation, who eschews a Shrove Tuesday treat. With hot cross buns already staling on shelves, and mince pies surely mere months away, plum pudding and pancakes are the only two foods I can think of that unite the nation for but one day a year. Why we don’t dare to bust them out at Easter too, or on fine September mornings, is a mystery to me.
As Ken Albala, author of a gloriously comprehensive “global history” of the things explains, “any starchy batter … cooked in a small amount of fat on a flat surface” counts. Pancakes are a remarkably versatile foodstuff: French crêpes, Indian dosas, even Ethiopian injera, all fall under the same delightful banner. But in Britain, as any schoolchild knows, modern pancakes are descended from those specifically designed to use up fat before the beginning of Lent, which means they tend to be heavier on the eggs and butter than, say, the fluffy American stack, or the squat Russian blini.
What better way to celebrate the last week of February than with free pancakes?
IHOP is celebrating the 15th annual National Pancake Day 2020 (that’s Feb. 25 in case you were curious) by giving away a free stack of buttermilk pancakes. The offer is good from 7 a.m.to 7 p.m. at participating restaurants. You can see the participating IHOP locations here.
Offer is good for one stack per person; dine-in only.
In exchange for free buttermilk pancakes, IHOP is asking diners to donate to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities.
This year, IHOP and its franchisees aim to raise more than $4 million for its national charity partner, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and other local charities including Shriner’s Hospitals for Children and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Since 2006, IHOP has raised more than $30 million for its charity partners.. Guests can donate on-check, with cash at donation boxes or by purchasing a wall tag at the restaurant.
Albala assures me that “the result is a horrible mess” with these proportions (“one can only imagine the author was either careless or had gargantuan hands”), but once I’ve added enough flour to make it into a more workable consistency, I manage to create a pancake, of sorts, from the mixture.
It’s so meltingly rich it’s all but impossible to flip, which is clearly no good at all: tasty, but more of a chaser to some roasted peacock and a goblet of sack than one for the modern kitchen.
In addition to delicious pancakes, IHOP diners can also try their luck at winning one of more than 250,000 instant win prizes plus the grand prize – Pancakes for Life.
To enter, guests need to scan a QR code located on the signage at their table to find out if they’re an instant prize winner. By completing the required information, all participants will also be entered into the grand prize drawing.
Instant win prizes include limited-edition pancake-themed merchandise such as bicycles, scooters, customizable jackets, handmade berets and more. In addition to the “Pancakes for Life” grand prize, 10 lucky winners will also score $500 in IHOP gift cards.
