nun farts, Mardi Gras wind – Liberation

Nothing beats cooking to warm up the mood. Donuts for Mardi Gras today.

Let it be said, today, we’re going to crack the donut since it’s Mardi gras which is also synonymous with carnival. That said, I don’t know about you, but for a year we’ve been pedaling masked in sauerkraut, maybe we don’t really want to add a face of Mickey or Macron on the face. And then this damn pandemic caused the cancellation or postponement of a slew of carnivals and their friendly delusions.

Choux pastry

So we’re going to console ourselves with a quick recipe for pets-de-nonne which are nothing more than choux pastry puffed in the frying pan. But it is a program as delightful as the history and etymology of these donuts. According to our always very well-informed colleagues from the republican eastthere are three hypotheses around the origin of pets-de-nonne:

1) The pet-de-nun was born in the abbey of Marmoutier located on the right bank of the Loire upstream from Tours, at the end of the 14th century. In full preparations for a meal in honor of the Archbishop of Tours, a stressed novice, responding to the first name of Agnès, would have let out a fart. To her surprise, she dropped a spoonful of choux pastry into boiling frying pans. From this awkwardness was born a delicious puffed donut.

2) A second version attributes the recipe to the canonesses of Baume-les-Dames (Doubs) renowned for their pastry creations (waffles, crackers, etc.). Like the story of the novice Agnès, this creation would be the product of a culinary accident, which would have taken place in similar circumstances.

3) Another hypothesis: a nun had transmitted the secrets of her beignet recipe to a neighboring and enemy convent, which would have helped to ensure peace between them. Hence the name “peace-of-nun”. As its pronunciation was equivocal, it has known various declensions, depending on the region: wind donut, windy donut, nun’s sigh, whore’s fart, old woman’s fart…

Apicius and Ginette Mathiot

Whatever the hypothesis, pet-de-nun goes back to the asshole of history: according to Liliane Plouvier, food historian in Europe, we must see in the‘aliter dulciaclassic donut at the end of Roman meals, quoted by Marcus Gavius ​​Apicius, great chef of Antiquity, the first pet-de-nun.

Without going back to this dear Apicius, we suggest you prepare pets-de-nun with the timeless Ginette Mathiot (1). Start by making a choux pastry. You need 125 g of flour ; 80 g of butter ; 15 grams of sugar ; 25 key of water ; 4 eggs ; a pinch of salt. Put the water, salt, sugar, butter in a saucepan. Warm it up. When boiling, remove the pan from the heat source. Throw in the flour. Mix well, swirling with a wooden spoon. Then put the pan back on low heat, stirring to dry out the dough. It should form a ball and pull away from the pan. Remove from heat. Add two whole eggs, then the other two eggs. Leave to cool completely.

For the nun’s pets, plan a frying bath such as grapeseed or peanut oil. Drop in spoonfuls of choux pastry (the size of a walnut). As the donuts puff up, increase the heat. Remove them when they are golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and serve sprinkled with sugar. You can also accompany these pets-de-nonne with a vanilla or caramel custard.

(1) The kitchen for all by Ginette Mathiot (ed. The Practical Pocket Book, 1973)

It’s your turn ! If you would like to submit your own recipe, you can send it to us at k.hullot-guiot@liberation.frtelling us, in three or a hundred words, what it means to you, whether it’s a family recipe, a dish you’ve adapted from a cookbook, a recipe stolen from a friend, if it evokes a particular episode in your life…