It's Fat Tuesday!

[Basilgirl]

Tonight we will have pancakes and bacon for dinner, for pancake day/fasnacht/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras. When I was a kid my mom made homemade doughnuts, so it's also Doughnut Day.

Making anything special?

[slkinsey]

We used to have Shrove Tuesday Buns when I was a kid. Might be nice to revive that tradition.

[beans]

New Orleans cocktails.

[VISIT the cocktail forum!!! ]

[Marco_Polo]

Making anything special?

Me too. Cooking pancakes right this minute in fact. Kids are on their way home from school and will devour with sugar and lemon. Making enough for dinner too. Basic crepe recipe, then will stuff with spinach and ricotta for crespelle, and will have enough left over to makes crepes suzette.

Happy pancake day!

[slkinsey]

New Orleans cocktails.

Yum!

It's interesting to me, however, that this "holiday" has become so associated with the New Orleans tradition in the minds of so many Americans. To me, it was always an Anglican thing -- I knew it as "Shrove Tuesday" long before I had ever heard of "Mardi Gras" -- and is associated in my mind much more with things like pancakes and Shrove Tuesday buns, etc. The idea of such foods, BTW, is that they are convenient ways for the cook to use up all the fat in the house before Lent.

[slbunge]

When I was a kid my mom made homemade doughnuts, so it's also Doughnut Day.

In Polish-American households, Fat Tuesday is called Paczki day. Paczki are yeasty fried pastries (think donuts) typically with filled with a prune jelly.

Here's a little more info about Paczki day. Click on the recipe for a picture. (The polish easter traditions site was put together by my sister in law.)

Edit: added note about picture.

Edited February 24, 2004 by slbunge (log)

[tryska]

We used to have Shrove Tuesday Buns when I was a kid. Might be nice to revive that tradition.

are these otherwise known as hot-cross buns?

i vaguely remember it from my Anglican upbringing too. But i thought for Easter not Shrove Teusday. (of course i was very young, so what do i know)

[slkinsey]

We used to have Shrove Tuesday Buns when I was a kid.  Might be nice to revive that tradition.

are these otherwise known as hot-cross buns?

No, these are yeast risen buns where the top is cut off and the inside hollowed out. Then a filling is made with the torn up bread that was removed, sweet almonds, cream and maybe some spices. The "lid" goes back on top. I think we ate them warm, but I might not be remembering that correctly.

Now that I look around the Internet, it seems that Shrove Tuesday Buns are a Scandinavian thing. My father probably picked up the idea when he was a postdoc in Upsala, and that's how it became a tradition in my family.

[tryska]

ooh...those sound good.

but now i kind of want to make hot-cross buns. i'll have to hunt down a recipe.

[Comfort Me]

LEftover red beans, rice, chicken and sausage jambo, greens, and maybe some cornbread, if I have time to bake. (We had a mardi gras party Saturday night, so I've got a lot of food to eat up!)

[Mayhaw Man]

Well, since you asked....

I stopped and got some tails on the way back across the lake from N.O. and I am in the middle of concocting Martha's pie dough (it is the best and the easiest directions ever). I will be using said dough to construct a couple of crawfish pies which will be served with bread from Binder's Bakery in the Faubourg Marigny in N.O. and a spinach salad with locally grown baby spinach.

Strawberry Ice Cream for dessert (fresh local strawberries and milk from the dairy up the road )

[Shelby]

It's already been quite the FABULOUS beginning to the week (Broncos Nation--parade tomorrow...hoping they show it on the NFL channel) and now we have Fat Tuesday tomorrow!!!!  

 

What'cha making????

 

I have all the fixins for muffaletta sandwiches.  I cannot wait.  I am also going to bust out some fresh (frozen) oysters.  Been hoarding them specifically for tomorrow.

[heidih]

In a sort of mash-up of CNY and Fat Tuesday I am planning scallion pancakes (the ones made with a laminated dough) bought fresh/frozen from Chinese market and crisped up at home. I can make them but have a big work day so will have to go with bought.  Eaten with fantastic Alaskan salmon my friend catches and lacinto kale simmered in coconut milk. Thinking of going veg or vegan for Lent as a challenge/experiment.

[Shelby]

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!!!!

 

I'm staring at some blueberries that were left over from a cheesecake I made.......I suppose I should make pancakes this morning, but I'm feeling lazy.

 

I know @kayb made several King cakes......I had toyed with making sort of a version of that only doing a monkey bread and rolling the dough in the different colored sugars.  

 

We shall see how adventurous I am today.

 

[Shelby]

Forgot to add.  Here in Kansas it's more about the pancakes (not for me, but for most).  In Liberal, KS the Pancake Race will be this morning.  Women race with skillets, flipping pancakes to see who finishes first.  It's a competition with Olney, England which is pretty cool.  The race has been going on for 60 years.

 

Here is a site that explains more if you wish to read about it.

[Anna N]

 One of the things I love about your food philosophy, Shelby, is that you need absolutely no excuse for a celebration but will grab one whenlever it pokes its head up.  I swear one day I will adopt your attitude and make every day a party day.  I have only just made the connection between Fat Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday!  Pancake Day.  But I grew up in the British midlands and I only ever remember having pancakes on pancake Tuesday. They were more crêpe-like than pancake like and (in my family) were served with a good sprinkling of sugar and a very generous squeeze of orange juice.   Because they were only ever served once a year they were much anticipated.  Thanks for the memory.

 

[Deryn]

It was not till a few years ago that this northern gal found out the connection between what I had always known as Pancake Tuesday and Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday ... or Shrove Tuesday.

 

However, I have wonderful memories of my mother keeping track of what day it was (we kids didn't have a clue I am sure) because once a year she would announce it was Pancake Tuesday and we would feast on pancakes (sometimes at more than one meal that day). The type of pancakes served varied throughout the years as I recall. When we moved to the Yukon sourdough pancakes entered our lives ... and remained there from that time on, even after a move back to Ontario - and were served more regularly (to keep the batter going probably) than just on Pancake Tuesday - though that was the only weekday pancake feast each year. Prior to the time that sourdough was introduced into our lives, pancakes were more usually of the fluffy thicker less tart variety but I do remember at least one year when my mother experimented with crepes. All were smothered with real maple syrup though. I have never even tasted an Aunt Jemima product - and I don't think I ever will.

 

I also say ... thanks for the memories.

[joiei]

I'm heading out for a crawfish po'boy for lunch.  

[FauxPas]

I wanted to go check out the Crawfish Boil at The Parish on the north side of Tucson, but I have some commitments on the other side of town today. Looks like they will have some fun entertainment also. Maybe next year! 

[cakewalk]

I've been meaning to bake a King Cake since I learned about them, but I always forget, and then the day passes. So this year I finally did it. I used the recipe from Southern Living. The dough is extremely soft, which is what happens when you add 16 ounces of sour cream to any dough. I'll cut into it later, I'm curious about its texture and taste. There are so many recipes for King Cake, and they're all so different. Is there a "standard" for them? (I'll probably freeze the second one.) 

[Shelby]

OMG those look amazing.  

[Deryn]

Beautiful cakes, cakewalk! Is there a baby hidden somewhere in them?

[cakewalk]

Thanks all. No babies. I'm too neurotic, I keep worrying about someone choking on it!

[kayb]

I make the Southern Living one as well, the cream-cheese-filled one. One of my expatriate Cajun friends said he likes mine because it's more moist that most you get in LA. I was proud!

 

[cakewalk]

I didn't make the cream cheese-filled one, just the cinnamon-sugar. Next time I'll go for the cream cheese filling. It did sound good, but I think all that sour cream in the dough made me hesitate. (Although I guess it's not called Fat Tuesday for nothing!)