Why don’t we blow up the pancakes!!
It’s Candlemas this Wednesday, February 2. In Sarthe, many bakeries are offering single pancakes this week. At the creperie “Les Ducs” in the city center of Le Mans, there is something for everyone.
About fifty different pancakes are on the menu
There is the pancake of the week
The creperie “Les Ducs” in the city center of Le Mans offers crepes in many versions. The sweet ones with of course sugar, but also with honey, maple syrup, caramel, or even salted butter caramel. There are also crêpes flambées which work well. Those that are garnished with fruit, or with chocolate, and whipped cream.
And on the savory side, there are ham, sausage, beef, vegetables, salmon, leek, and of course with eggs and cheese. There is even a pancake of the week. And for this beginning of February, the pancake of the week, it is prepared with an endive with ham.
And despite all these different proposals, it is “The complete” (ham, egg, cheese) that sells the most. It’s a bit like pizzas, there is a whole choice, and the customer ends up choosing “a queen”.
– Christine Caillot
Seasonal pancakes
There are also pancakes which are on the menu throughout the year but work best in winter. “At the moment, this is the case of the “Montagnarde” with different cheeses” underlines Laura Bocco, the restaurant manager. “People like stinky cheese!”
It smells of munster throughout the restaurant
adds the owner of the creperie.
And the flour: black or white?
If Bretons swear only by buckwheat, at the creperie “Les Ducs”, the savory crepes are made with buckwheat but the sweet ones with white flour. A choice due to customer preference.
Finally for this year, the establishment is making a special day this Wednesday, February 2 for Candlemas. It will be possible to come and enjoy a pancake on site throughout the day. The establishment located at 32 Rue des Ponts-Neufs in Le Mans will be open from noon to 10 p.m.
The preferences of the people of Sarthe
We interviewed several residents of Sarthe during this Candlemas week to find out what their preferences were. And there, again, the list is long and different depending on the person.
There is Catherine, for example, who loves the salted butter caramel one because it reminds her of her holidays in Brittany, Paul who opts for the buckwheat pancakes with a wholemeal. Isabelle who likes the salmon one and who loves her niece’s chocolate/chantilly crepe. And Emmanuel, a young high school student from Le Mans who is a fan of the sweet crepe with Nutella. And, this teenager is a little original in salty because he admits to putting kebab in these savory pancakes.
A little historical reminder: why pancakes?
The consumption of pancakes would be a tribute to the cycle of seasons and more precisely to the arrival of Spring which announces better days. This holiday is also accompanied by superstitions. If the peasants did not make pancakes at Candlemas, the wheat would be bad the following year.