🥞 Blini

Pancakes are thin flatbreads made from a runny batter of flour, eggs and milk, fried on a hot pan. Wikipedia places Ukrainian mlyntsi in the same type as the East Slavic blini. Milk is the liquid base: it supplies water, lactose, protein and fat (100 g of whole milk has 3.27 g of protein and 3.2 g of fat, USDA).

USDA gives the composition of ordinary pancakes for American pancakes "from a recipe": per 100 g, 227 kcal, 6.4 g of protein, 9.7 g of fat, 28.3 g of carbohydrates, 219 mg of calcium, 59 mg of cholesterol and 439 mg of sodium. This is not a Ukrainian recipe, so the figures are approximate.

Milk can be partly or fully replaced with buttermilk, which gives a slightly sour taste. The classic French crepe recipe is flour, eggs, milk, salt and butter; older recipes used beer or wine instead of milk. The ancient Greeks made their pancakes from wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk.

Blini are East Slavic thin pancakes of wheat or buckwheat flour with yeast, somewhat thicker than crepes. There are close relatives too: Polish nalesniki and palacsinta from southeastern Europe.

Blini or crepes? Blini are East Slavic pancakes of wheat or buckwheat flour with yeast, so they are somewhat thicker and fluffier than crepes, while the classic French crepe is a thin batter of flour, eggs, milk, salt and butter. Thin yeast-free blini made with milk and eggs are the ones that look like crepes and roll around a filling easily. American pancakes are another case: the USDA figure of 227 kcal per 100 g is for those, made from a recipe, and is only a guide for blini. Close relatives of blini include Polish nalesniki and palacsinta.

On a shelf, look for “blini” or “blinis”, sometimes “pancakes” or “crepes”, as chilled or frozen packs in a supermarket, or fresh from a bakery or an Eastern European grocery. The ingredient list normally shows flour, milk and eggs, and milk is usually highlighted as an allergen, which matters with a cow’s milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance. For nutrition, compare the values per 100 g printed on the pack with the USDA figures for ordinary pancakes.

Why it matters to you. Milk in the batter means lactose and milk proteins, so with a cow's milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance, talk to your doctor. For comparison, look at the composition per 100 g.