Mardi Gras - Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler
Feb. 7th, 2013 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teddy_radiatorFebruary 12 is Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras. It's traditionally the last blow-out before Lent, and no one does a blow-out like New Orleans. My Uncle has spent most of his life there, and I still have bags and bags of beads and doubloons to show for it.
When we owned the Victoria, we always made a big deal out of Mardi Gras - we played Cajun and Zydeco music all day long, we gave away tons of green, gold and purple beads, and we baked King Cakes. The customer who found the baby in their piece got his next meal free on the house.
One of the most important Mardi Gras tradition is the King Cake. If you go online and look up the King Cake and its origins, you’ll find as many different answers as there are websites for it. Wikipedia probably describes it most succinctly:
The "king cake" takes its name from the Biblical three kings. Catholic tradition states that their journey to Bethlehem took twelve days (the Twelve Days of Christmas), and that they arrived to honour the Christ child on Epiphany. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night and Epiphany Day), through to Mardi Gras. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season.
The King Cake of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche, topped with icing or sugar, usually coloured purple, green, and gold with food colouring. Some varieties have filling inside, the most common being cream cheese followed by praline.
Tradition also demands that you hide a plastic baby somewhere in the cake, and in New Orleans the person who finds the baby is responsible for buying next year’s King Cake. You can buy the plastic babies in gold, green and purple on the net; they are stunning and have a great impact. If you serve this at a Mardi Gras party, you may want to give a special gift to the person finding the baby; for an office party, you could give the finder a choice of donating collected money to their favourite charity.
Making your own is easy in spite of the daunting recipe; especially if you have a stand mixer. Here is the recipe:
For the Brioche:
1 Envelope Active Dry Yeast
2 tbsp/30 ml warm water (115°F)
1 tsp/5 ml Iodized Salt
2 tbsp/30 ml granulated sugar
¼ cup/75 ml milk
2 tsp/10 ml orange zest, minced
1 tsp/5 ml lemon zest, minced
2 cups/500 ml plain flour, sifted
1 tsp/5 ml cinnamon
½ tsp/2.5 ml ground allspice
2 Eggs, beaten
6oz/175 g cold Unsalted Butter, cut into very small dice
1 Egg beaten with 2 tbsp/30 ml water, for the egg wash
1 plastic baby trinket
Dissolve the yeast in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment; let stand until frothy.
Dissolve the salt, sugar, orange zest and milk in a small bowl. When dissolved, combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture. Mix the cinnamon with the flour.
With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, then gradually add the flour, until all is incorporated. Knead on low speed for 10 minutes, or until a smooth elastic dough is formed. A little more flour may be necessary. With the motor running, incorporate the butter into the dough, a little at a time but rather quickly so that it doesn’t heat up and melt.
Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot.
When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
Roll the dough out to a 6 x 18 inch rectangle. Spread the filling (recipes below) out in the middle of the rectangle along the whole length, leaving about 1 1/2 inch on each side. Fold the length of the dough over the filling and roll up tightly, leaving the seam side down. Turn the roll into a circle, seam side down and put one end inside of the other to hide the seam, and seal the circle. Place the cake on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Place the king cake into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. When the cake cools, place the plastic baby somewhere in the cake (I simply lifted the edge of the cake, sat the baby on the plate and lowered the cake onto the baby, allowing gravity to help conceal it).
Brush the cake with some of the glaze (recipe below) thinned out with more cold water. This will help the sugars adhere. Decorate the cake with the colored sugars and drizzle some of the thicker glaze onto the cake. You can find these in the cake decorating section of any craft store. It's not like the old days when you had to colour them yourself!
Place on a large round serving plate and decorate with Mardi Gras beads, doubloons and whatever else that you like.
For the Praline filling:
1 cup/250 ml pecan halves, broken up slightly and roasted until fragrant
2/3 cup/150 ml brown sugar
1 tsp/5 ml vanilla extract
1 tsp/5 ml cinnamon
½ tsp/2.5 ml ground allspice
1 pinch of salt
¼ cup/60 ml golden or caro syrup
Combine all of the ingredients together.
For the glaze:
½ cup/125 ml Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp/15 ml Bourbon, optional
Water (enough to make a paste that can be drizzled)
Combine the sugar and bourbon, whisk in enough water to make a glaze that can be drizzled. The glazes can be coloured to match the sugars.
For the Cream Cheese/Fruit Filling:
1 can any type of fruit pie filling – my favourite is either blueberry or lemon
8 oz/250 g cream cheese
¼ cup/60 ml sugar
2 tbsp/30 ml flour
2 egg yolks
1 tsp/5 ml vanilla
If necessary, drain extra juice from pie filling. Mix the cream cheese with the sugar, flour, egg yolks and vanilla. Spoon an inch-wide strip of fruit filling the length of the dough, about 3 inches from one edge. Spoon the cream cheese mixture alongside the fruit, about 3 inches from the other edge. Brush both sides of dough with egg wash, then roll and bake.
When we owned the Victoria, we always made a big deal out of Mardi Gras - we played Cajun and Zydeco music all day long, we gave away tons of green, gold and purple beads, and we baked King Cakes. The customer who found the baby in their piece got his next meal free on the house.
One of the most important Mardi Gras tradition is the King Cake. If you go online and look up the King Cake and its origins, you’ll find as many different answers as there are websites for it. Wikipedia probably describes it most succinctly:
The "king cake" takes its name from the Biblical three kings. Catholic tradition states that their journey to Bethlehem took twelve days (the Twelve Days of Christmas), and that they arrived to honour the Christ child on Epiphany. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night and Epiphany Day), through to Mardi Gras. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season.
The King Cake of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche, topped with icing or sugar, usually coloured purple, green, and gold with food colouring. Some varieties have filling inside, the most common being cream cheese followed by praline.
Tradition also demands that you hide a plastic baby somewhere in the cake, and in New Orleans the person who finds the baby is responsible for buying next year’s King Cake. You can buy the plastic babies in gold, green and purple on the net; they are stunning and have a great impact. If you serve this at a Mardi Gras party, you may want to give a special gift to the person finding the baby; for an office party, you could give the finder a choice of donating collected money to their favourite charity.
Making your own is easy in spite of the daunting recipe; especially if you have a stand mixer. Here is the recipe:
For the Brioche:
1 Envelope Active Dry Yeast
2 tbsp/30 ml warm water (115°F)
1 tsp/5 ml Iodized Salt
2 tbsp/30 ml granulated sugar
¼ cup/75 ml milk
2 tsp/10 ml orange zest, minced
1 tsp/5 ml lemon zest, minced
2 cups/500 ml plain flour, sifted
1 tsp/5 ml cinnamon
½ tsp/2.5 ml ground allspice
2 Eggs, beaten
6oz/175 g cold Unsalted Butter, cut into very small dice
1 Egg beaten with 2 tbsp/30 ml water, for the egg wash
1 plastic baby trinket
Dissolve the yeast in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment; let stand until frothy.
Dissolve the salt, sugar, orange zest and milk in a small bowl. When dissolved, combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture. Mix the cinnamon with the flour.
With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, then gradually add the flour, until all is incorporated. Knead on low speed for 10 minutes, or until a smooth elastic dough is formed. A little more flour may be necessary. With the motor running, incorporate the butter into the dough, a little at a time but rather quickly so that it doesn’t heat up and melt.
Turn the dough into an oiled bowl, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot.
When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
Roll the dough out to a 6 x 18 inch rectangle. Spread the filling (recipes below) out in the middle of the rectangle along the whole length, leaving about 1 1/2 inch on each side. Fold the length of the dough over the filling and roll up tightly, leaving the seam side down. Turn the roll into a circle, seam side down and put one end inside of the other to hide the seam, and seal the circle. Place the cake on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Place the king cake into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. When the cake cools, place the plastic baby somewhere in the cake (I simply lifted the edge of the cake, sat the baby on the plate and lowered the cake onto the baby, allowing gravity to help conceal it).
Brush the cake with some of the glaze (recipe below) thinned out with more cold water. This will help the sugars adhere. Decorate the cake with the colored sugars and drizzle some of the thicker glaze onto the cake. You can find these in the cake decorating section of any craft store. It's not like the old days when you had to colour them yourself!
Place on a large round serving plate and decorate with Mardi Gras beads, doubloons and whatever else that you like.
For the Praline filling:
1 cup/250 ml pecan halves, broken up slightly and roasted until fragrant
2/3 cup/150 ml brown sugar
1 tsp/5 ml vanilla extract
1 tsp/5 ml cinnamon
½ tsp/2.5 ml ground allspice
1 pinch of salt
¼ cup/60 ml golden or caro syrup
Combine all of the ingredients together.
For the glaze:
½ cup/125 ml Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp/15 ml Bourbon, optional
Water (enough to make a paste that can be drizzled)
Combine the sugar and bourbon, whisk in enough water to make a glaze that can be drizzled. The glazes can be coloured to match the sugars.
For the Cream Cheese/Fruit Filling:
1 can any type of fruit pie filling – my favourite is either blueberry or lemon
8 oz/250 g cream cheese
¼ cup/60 ml sugar
2 tbsp/30 ml flour
2 egg yolks
1 tsp/5 ml vanilla
If necessary, drain extra juice from pie filling. Mix the cream cheese with the sugar, flour, egg yolks and vanilla. Spoon an inch-wide strip of fruit filling the length of the dough, about 3 inches from one edge. Spoon the cream cheese mixture alongside the fruit, about 3 inches from the other edge. Brush both sides of dough with egg wash, then roll and bake.
