Mardi Gras’s not just a holiday for hedonistic American college kids you know - it’s actually a highly important cultural festival that’s also known as the last night you’re allowed to go mental before you crack on with your sanctimonious festing for Lent. We do like that idea, but we’re also keen to give the whole beer keg/Girls Gone Wild thing a miss. Here’s how to have a super Mardi Gras Party minus the douchey Frat Boys.
The Drink
Where’s the epicentre of Mardi Gras? Yep, New Orleans. Get involved in Mixed Cocktails' drink named after the city.
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Ingredients
1 ½ parts bourbon
½ part Pernod Liqueur
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash bitters
⅓ Part Anisette Liqueur
⅓ Part sugar syrup
Some cubed ice
Method
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You can either buy pre-mixed sugar syrup or if you want to make your own, you can find instructions in the Masterclass section on the Mixed Cocktails app.
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Add the ingredients to a short glass filled with ice
Give your drink a quick stir.
The Food
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Over here where Mardi Gras’s not as big as the States, we still call that day Shrove Tuesday. So obviously we're going to make pancakes. You all know how to make your bog standard egg, flour and milk ones (well actually we just had to ring mum for the recipe) but after years of those (let’s face it quite frankly average things) why not try something a little bit more exciting? Chef Tom Aiken kindly leant us his recipe for blueberry pancakes and you know what? We reckon they’re doable. Here you go.
Tom Aikens - Blueberry Pancakes
(serves 6)
Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
60g sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
150ml milk
300ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond essence
60g unsalted butter, melted
100g blueberries
Method
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Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3. Sift all the dry ingredients together in one bowl. Whisk the eggs, milk, buttermilk, vanilla extract and almond essence together in another bowl, then add them to the dry ingredients. Whisk until smooth, then add the melted butter and continue to whisk until thoroughly mixed in. Carefully fold in the blueberries.
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Grease a non-stick pan with non-stick spray or brush with vegetable oil. Drop in large spoonfuls of the batter and cook in the oven for about 8 minutes until golden in colour. You can also cook these pancakes on top of the stove but they cook more evenly in the oven.
What To Wear
Mardi Gras’s all about the masks. Don’t spend money on them, buy a bunch of sequins and ribbons and play cut n’ stick with these masks you can print out at work beforehand.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jesscommons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.