For 35 years the members of Choteaus St. Josephs Catholic church have hosted a Shrove Tuesday pancake feed.
Volunteers prepare the meat served at the St. Josephs Catholic Church Shrove Tuesday pancake feed in a wall tent outside the Pavilion.
This years event will look a little different but will feature the same great food. The dinner will be a take-out event only on Feb. 16. The church members will cook the meal at the church rectory at 320 Main Ave. Each container will include three pancakes, three slices of bacon, half a large brat and scrambled eggs along with maple syrup and butter patties. The meals will cost $8 each, will be served from 5-7 p.m. and can be picked up and paid for at the rectory door.
Lorraine DeBruycker, who has chaired the pancake feed since 2010, said some of the chairpeople of the various groups who help with the feed gathered to discuss options to still the hold event with the health concerns surrounding COVID-19. We wanted to find a way that would be safe for both those cooking and those who enjoying the meal, DeBruycker said. Changing the meal to a take-out only event reduces the number of workers needed to prepare the meal and allows for a safe environment for those volunteering to cook.
Unfortunately, with a smaller crew they will not be able to offer all the items traditionally served, such as the German pancakes. We felt this was a good compromise for everyone, she added.
David Hartman flips pancakes during a St. Josephs Catholic Church Shrove Tuesday pancake feed in a previous year.
DeBruycker explained the Pancake Day, Shrove or Fat Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. The name Shrove comes from the old middle English word Shriven meaning to go to confession to say sorry for the wrong things youve done. Lent always starts on a Wednesday, so people went to confession on the day before. This became known as Shriven Tuesday and then Shrove Tuesday.
The other name for this day, Pancake Day, comes from the old English custom of using up all the fattening ingredients in the house before Lent, so that people were ready to fast during Lent. The fattening ingredients that most people had in their houses in those days were eggs and milk. A very simple recipe to use up these ingredients was to combine them with some flour and make pancakes.
The date of the pancake feed varies depending on the date of Easter. According to ecclesiastical rules set centuries ago, there are 35 dates on which Easter can take place. The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest possible date is April 25.
DeBruycker said the pancake feed has become a popular event to kick off the Easter season with anywhere from 250 to 300 people attending. Given the various time it can be held, there have been a few years where the weather hasnt cooperated, and attendance has been down.
The feed is enjoyed by friends and family from Choteau and the surrounding area and occasionally from out-of-state as well. It is also a fun tradition for the members of the congregation, DeBruycker said.
Dave Hartman, who has helped with the feed since the beginning, said it originally started when the priest at the time questioned why the congregation didnt do a community dinner. Hartman said most of the Choteau churches at the time were doing dinners in the fall. Given there wasnt a Shrove Tuesday meal in the community, it provided an opportunity for the Catholic Church to step up and provide this service.
Hartman said they had a large grill that was used by his wifes dad, Cal Southard, to cook hamburgers at the fairgrounds to 50 years. It would be perfect to cook pancakes for a feed, he added. It also was handy that Hartman had an excellent whole wheat pancake recipe they could use for the feed.
The pancake feeds have always been held at the Pavilion, as the church fellowship room is in the basement is a challenge for older residents to access with the stairs. Plus, the size wouldnt be able to accommodate the crowd, Hartman said.
It didnt take long for the pancake feed to grow in size. Hartman said after the first couple years, they couldnt keep up with making pancakes and a second grill was needed. He recalled Warren Malcott, who owned an auto body shop at the time had a grill from a caf that he wasnt using. Malcott had plans of using the grill at his home, but hadnt gotten around to it, so he donated it the pancake feeds, Hartman said. Legs were added and the two grills are still used today.
When it started, it was a way to involve more of the congregation, especially the younger members, in the church activities, Hartman said.
From the very beginning to now, the church members volunteer to help with everything from making the pancake mix to cooking the meat, setting up, cleaning and everything in between.
DeBruycker gave a few examples of volunteers: Hartman, who makes the whole wheat pancake mix from scratch; Bob Hodgskiss and Mark Walker, who oversee cooking the meat in the tent; Ben Wombacher and Anthony Ayers, who take care of the eggs; Char Heron, who handles the toppings and Jackie Weist, who is in charge of the German crepe pancakes.
There is just a long list of volunteers willing to help, DeBruycker said. When one volunteer steps back over the 35 years, there has always been some ready to step in and help.
Hartman said the crews have become specialized over the years. His crew oversees the pancakes. Most years, he grinds the whole wheat from Hodgskiss farms and makes the mix for the batter. He has a crew making the batter and others cooking. He estimates they cook at least 500 fairly thick pancakes each year.
Originally, the cooking was done in the Pavilion kitchen, Hartman said. Cooking the meat inside made the small room fill with smoke and it was a lot more mess to clean. The meat cooking crew moved outside to a wall tent, where they have been ever since. Like the pancake crew, the meat cooking crew has their selection of meats they cook year after year that are crowd favorites.
DeBruycker said it is hard to believe the pancake feed has been held for 35 years. This has become a social event for the members of congregation working and community members who attend, DeBruycker said.
In recent years they have added a cake walk for the children attending and free face painting, too. They will not be able to offer those events this year but look forward to having them again, with any luck next year.
The funds raised by the pancake feed are a bonus for the evening. They normally arent earmarked for something special, DeBruycker said. It helps out whenever needed as supplies for the Sunday School/education program. It gives a little breathing room when we need it, she said.
With so many activities being canceled or postponed this year, the parishioners at St. Josephs Catholic Church are excited they can still offer community members a delicious home-cooked meal.
We just keep cooking till there is no one left to feed and that will be the same this year too, said Hartman.
We hope you can join us for the 35th annual pancake feed, DeBruycker said. We are hoping by next year we can all come together to enjoy this event but for this year, we are happy we can still offer the meal in a safe way for everyone.
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Feb. 16 Shrove Tuesday meal will be take-out only - Choteau Acantha
