Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras Recipes

Today is Shrove Tuesday in England, also known as Pancake Day, and Mardi Gras in the States. I going to make thin English pancakes (they are more like crepes than American pancakes) and fill them with spinach and ricotta cheese for dinner. What are you going to make to celebrate today (and really, any excuse to cook something special is great!)?

I was thinking about Treet and baked beans.

That is very interesting, Jellybeans. I don't recall ever having done anything in particular for Shrove Tuesday, but it reminds me of the painting by Bruegel "The Battle Between Carnival and Lent." The painting depicts a number of foodstuffs eaten around Lent, mostly of a symbolic bent. Pancakes, because of their humility; pretzels, because the folded dough is meant to depict arms folded in prayer; and fish, naturally. As for me, since my wife is going off to an office birthday part, it's leftover Bolognese sauce with paparadelle. Nothing symbolic or traditional about that.

How did pancakes come to be associated with Shrove Tuesday?

I am going to pick up a King Cake on the way home today.

We are having a Mardi Gras dinner complete with Pat O' Brien hurricanes. The menu consists of cajun rubbed standing rib roast, creamed spinach and artichoke casserole, corn baked with tomatoes and green chilis, Commander's Palace bread, Caesar's Salad, and for dessert bananas Foster and King Cake. The grandchildren are decorating right now and arguing over who gets the best mask!

Lone Star: I cracked a good tooth on a plastic insert in a King Cake a couple of years ago. I am not sure they still do that? The cakes are pretty but way to sweet for me.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Lone Star: My teeth itched and two of my fillings fell out when I looked at the picture of that cake.

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

Lone Star: I cracked a good tooth on a plastic insert in a King Cake a couple of years ago. I am not sure they still do that? The cakes are pretty but way to sweet for me.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

The "plastic insert" should have been a 1-inch baby doll. And yes, they still do that, IF they're making REAL King Cakes. The entire point of the King Cake is that whoever finds the baby doll has good fortune for the next year...and is also responsible for bringing the King Cake to the next party or gathering.

I can't get King Cakes here, no one gets it. Last year I made my own, but I didn't have the time this year, so we'll have to do without. We are, however, having Pat O'Brien's Hurricans (picked up the mix last spring), Red Beans and Rice with andouille sausage, and Cafe du Monde beignets (picked up the mix last spring) for dessert.

quote:

Originally posted by chezkatie

We are having a Mardi Gras dinner complete with Pat O' Brien hurricanes. The menu consists of cajun rubbed standing rib roast, creamed spinach and artichoke casserole, corn baked with tomatoes and green chilis, Commander's Palace bread, Caesar's Salad, and for dessert bananas Foster and King Cake. The grandchildren are decorating right now and arguing over who gets the best mask!

That sounds so good! Maybe I will go by Hebert's and pick up a dirty-rice stuffed boneless chicken. Their chicken is out of this world. Last time I went in and bought one, the lady at the counter told me "is so easy - just put him in the oven and you don't have to do no nothin' to him".

Their motto: " A good cajun dinner excites the spirit as it warms the heart"

Watched an episode of Food Network last night on the King Cake. The "baby" is put in at the end of the baking (seems the plastic melted if added at the beginning). The yellow is Power, the purple is Justice, green is Faith. In France they have the Gallette des Rois which has a coin baked into it. I remember eating waffles for Mardi Gras......pancakes would be similar......anything with eggs since you could not eat them for another 40 days, until Easter.

quote:

Originally posted by Lone Star

How did pancakes come to be associated with Shrove Tuesday?

I am going to pick up a King Cake on the way home today.

You know, I have no idea why pancakes are associated with Shrove Tuesday. I think I read somewhere that it's associated with the last fling of indulgence before the frugality of Lent begins. Hmm... I might do some research on this...

That King Cake makes me feel like I'm on a vicarious sugar high

quote:

Originally posted by Grampy

Lone Star: My teeth itched and two of my fillings fell out when I looked at the picture of that cake.

You really startled a giggle out of me with that image--Grampy has truly become a Grampy when he started losing his teeth to sugar in old age

I was going to have pancakes for dinner but I might just have to drop in on Chezkatie I was taught in school (12 yrs of nuns) that the whole idea of Mardi Gras was the last fling before Lent & the pancakes came from using up the flour & eggs.

quote:

Originally posted by ocdreamr

I was going to have pancakes for dinner but I might just have to drop in on Chezkatie I was taught in school (12 yrs of nuns) that the whole idea of Mardi Gras was the last fling before Lent & the pancakes came from using up the flour & eggs.

That is what I was always told! And come on over...........you know where I live........a guest had to cancel out one hour ago!

I was totally unaware that you couldn't have eggs during lent. Think I just added a whole mees of time on my Pergutory stay. Chow Jim

Out here in eastern Ohio we have a market where the ladies in the bakery make Paczki (pronounced "punch-key." They are fried doughballs, either plain or stuffed with fruit or custard filling, and have more sugar, fat and eggs than regular doughnuts. Once fried, they are dusted with granulated sugar or powdered sugar, or a light sugar glaze. They are strictly a pre-Lenten celebration item and quite addictive. The leaflet I got with mine told about their Polish origin and as for the calories, it said, and I quote, "you don't want to know." During our first spring here in Ohio I took home a package of eight and sat down at the kitchen table and had three in a row. Usually I'm not a big fan of fried dough, but these are delicious. Any of you out there familiar with these?

Paczki's are big in Poletown & Hammtrammk around Detroit.

They are fried in lard and are the story goes are supposed to use up all of the ingredients that are to be purged from the house during lent. http://www.lapetitepastry.com/html/paczki_day.html

Thus the reason why you don't want to know the nutritional information.