A day for hotcakes

Today, and January 25th annually, is Hotcake Day ホットケーキの日. Actually, it is on the 25th of every month. But it started with January 25th. And just like "Chinese Steamed Bun" I wrote about on City-cost earlier today, Hotcake Day was created in commemoration of Japan's coldest day on record.

"Hotcake" is not a term used in my home country, Ireland. We use "pancake" only. There is very slight difference between them, but Japan does make more of a distinction. Typically, pancakes are lighter and less sweet than hotcakes. Moreover, hotcakes are more strongly identified with home cooking, where as the term pancake is usually used in restaurants.

The reason hotcakes are associated with home cooking / eating is largely thanks to Japan's best-selling hotcake mix by Morinaga Seika. And Morinaga were the ones who created this monthly hotcake anniversary. The photo in this post is a homemade hotcake using Morinaga hot cake mix.