Everyone has different memories of Mardi Gras. Given that my husband is a Louisiana-bred Tulane graduate, I try not to think about the kind of memories he has of celebrating Fat Tuesday 😉 For moi, Mardi Gras brings back two specific memories, both of them involving eggs and flour. The first one is a rather painful tradition amongst French teenagers that involves attacking each other with eggs and flour outside of their schools that day. I’m sure it all started innocently, but if you’ve ever gotten hit in the face by an egg (or more) you can understand why I am not a fan. I am, however, a big fan of the other French Mardi Gras tradition of using aforementioned eggs and flour to make delicious crêpes.
Making crêpes is actually very easy. It’s basically eggs, flour, milk, a little vegetable oil, a pinch of salt and yeast. My mom always made crêpes using beer for yeast and I still do as well. Here’s my recipe, perfected over the years, for a basic crêpe batter:
– 2 1/2 cups of flour
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 6 eggs
– 2 tbps vegetable oil
– 1 1/2 cup of milk a
– 1 1/2 cup of lager type beer
I mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl then create a little “crater” (un puit in French) and add the eggs and the oil. Mix, then progressively add the milk, then the beer until the batter is smooth. Let the batter rest at least one hour in the fridge before cooking. For sweet crêpes you can also add a few tablespoons of sugar and 1-2 tbsp of rum. To cook the crêpes:
super duper fun!!! I've never thought about adding an egg till you mentioned it.