Pancake Day drinks: lemon, chocolate, coffee and bottles that follow the topping.

Pancakes themselves are fairly neutral, which makes the topping the real pairing decision. Lemon and sugar need freshness; chocolate likes roast and bitterness; fruit wants acidity; cheese, ham or mushrooms usually call for something drier.

In other words, “What goes with pancakes?” is a slightly unfair question. Pancakes have delegated the entire job to the topping.

Bright black tea and Earl Grey work particularly well because tannin adds structure while bergamot or citrus notes echo the lemon.

A sparkling drink can also work, but it should stay crisp rather than pile sweetness on top of sweetness.

Espresso, filter coffee and darker roasted coffee can all make sense with chocolate, especially when the pancake itself is sweet. Roast bitterness gives the pairing a brake pedal.

Stout can do something similar if alcohol is welcome, while hot chocolate is usually one cocoa layer too many unless restraint has somehow entered the kitchen.

Cheese, ham, spinach, mushrooms and buckwheat-style pancakes suit dry cider, pale ale, sparkling wine or crisp white wine much better than sweet drinks.

This is where Pancake Day stops being a children’s sugar event and quietly becomes dinner.

Shrove Tuesday traditionally preceded the Lenten fast, when richer foods such as eggs, butter and milk were used up before Lent. Pancakes were an efficient and extremely agreeable way to solve that household problem.

The tradition has lasted rather better than most kitchen-clearing exercises.