Sunday, August 19, 2012

Pets de Putain, de Nonne & Old Farts

Since mostly men wrote cookbooks of old, I assume the scandalous names of Pets de Putain [farts of a whore 17thC] or Pets de Nonne [farts of a Nun 18thC] can be chalked up to little boy humor, AKA old farts. They've even titled a lovely jacket or demi-robe as Pet-en-l'air [fart in the air]. Bad jokes aside, these tender and crusty pastries are a real treat.

Farts of whore.
Make your fritter paste stronger than usual [thicker than one would use for including items such as apples, vegetables, marrow, etc.], by the means of an increase in flour & eggs, then stretch [drop from a spoon or use a syringe] the dough [into] large or thin [pieces], & as soon as they will be cooked [deep-fried] serve hot with sugar, & water of scent [flower water–orange, violet, etc.].
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40. Pets de putain.
Faites votre paste de beignets plus forte qu'à l'ordinaire, par le moyen d'augmentation de farine & d'œufs, puis les tirez fort menus, & lors qu'ils seront cuits servez les chauds avec sucre, & eau de senteur.
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Le Cuisiner François, La Varenne. Chez Pierre David, Paris, 1651, p. 103.

3 comments:

A bird in the hand said...

I wonder if they called them that in la Nouvelle Orléans before they became known as beignets? Thank you for the culinary history. I love the concept of your blog, and the contents!
Bonne journée,
Colette

Jon Townsend said...

Maybe it could be translated more genteelly as "toots of a tart".

Anonymous said...

What a fun blog! Merci!!

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