The spit cake, emblematic of the Pyrenees, is a small miracle worthy of the city of Lourdes. It is composed of a kind of very simple pancake batter, flavored or not with anise, rum, vanilla… On the other hand, it’s in the cooking that it gets complicated ! It takes two people to cook it in front of a wood fire: it is cooked AROUND and not IN a cone-shaped mould, itself fixed on a spit which rotates permanently. One person regularly pours ladlefuls of batter onto the mold, and the other turns the spit, sometimes for hours, depending on the size of the cake… As it bakes, it will form small peaks, which will harden in contact with the flame. Once finished, it looks like a kind of fir tree, all golden and crispy, especially since it can be kept for up to 3 months!
His story is a little vague but one thing is certain, he is not from the region! It is thought to have arrived in France from Eastern European countries thanks to soldiers of Napoleon’s Grande Armee, in the 19th century. In Prague, for example, there is a very popular cake, the Tredelnik, baked on a spit and sold on the street, which is very similar to ours!
You can accompany the tasting with an Alsace wine such as Riesling Vendanges tardives white, sweet or sweet, or a sweet or sweet Côteaux du Layon Blanc too! Always in moderation of course…
And since we are in wines, there is one, a red, tannic and robust, produced locally and which goes very well with regional gastronomy such as duck and meats in sauces or grilled: Madiran. The vineyard is very old, in the 11th century, Benedictine monks began to cultivate it and develop the vine. Those are pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, which will ensure its fame by consuming it. It is also used as a mass wine!
About 400 years later, the wine trade to Lourdes, Tarbes and Bagnères is developing: these three towns export wood, and the merchants of Madiran, their wine, in the other direction. Today, it will be used to water a few good sprinters, for the great mass of the Tour de France!