here are 3 recipes for donuts, waffles or ch’ti-style crisps

This Tuesday is Mardi Gras, a day when we eat waffles or donuts. There are hundreds of pasta recipes, all over France and around the world. There are also recipes that are a little more typical of Hauts-de-France.

Mardi Gras, it’s what ? Where did this come from ? It is a feast of Christian origin. It always precedes Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Before the period of penance which leads to Easter, we eat very copiously and generously. The word comes from the Latin “carnis levare” (“to remove the meat”).

It is also the culmination of Carnival, a period of festivities before the “rigors” of Lent. In Dunkirk, Mardi Gras is the last day of the “3 Joyeuses”.

What are we eating ? Fat and sweet treats. Pancakes but also donuts, waffles, crisps. Heated pasta that always ends up in sugar. Here are 3 recipes that have stood the test of time in Hauts-de-France.

Apple donuts

Pieces of apples surrounded by a light dough and cooked in hot oil. These are typical donuts from Flanders.

Ingredients

4 apples
200ml milk
2 tbsp oil
2 eggs
1 pinch of salt
1 packet of baking powder
250g of flour

Frying oil
Sugar

Put the flour, yeast and pinch of salt in a bowl, mix. Add the eggs and the 2 tbsp of oil. Mix, adding the milk little by little to obtain a smooth batter that is not too runny.
Peel the apples, cut them into slices

Heat frying oil.
Dip the apple pieces into the batter then into the hot oil (pay attention to the temperature of the oil, the donuts must cook without burning).
Sprinkle donuts with icing sugar. Serve hot.

Ducasse waffles

Waffles like a la ducasse. Also often called Brussels waffles. They should be both light and crispy. The secret of the recipe? The whites beaten in snow.

Ingredients

500g flour
3 eggs
250g butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
250ml beer
500ml milk
1 packet of baker’s yeast
1 vanilla pod
A pinch of salt
Icing sugar

The complete recipe on the Çadrachenenord website

Ch’nord crisps