Grande Pates
Beignets get the fanfare in New Orleans, but if you go to some rural areas in S. Louisiana, you will find grand pates (pronounce grom (soft m) pots). No need to google it because your results will be pate which it definitely is not.
Grande pates is dough that is pulled, fried, and served with smoked sausage and a good helping of Steen’s cane syrup. It’s a perfect harmony of sweet, savory, and smoky. Bacon and maple might have had (still having?) its moment, but it has nothing on Steen’s and smoked sausage.
Traditionally, grand pates was eaten as a quick Sunday supper. You’d pass by a bakery and buy raw bread dough so all you’d have to do is fry it and brown the meat. Growing up we only ate it a few times a year, but was always a special treat.
If you make the dough yourself, all you need is a basic white bread recipe (flour, water, salt, and yeast). If you don’t already have a recipe, King Arthur does thorough recipe testing before publishing so you can trust their recipes will work.
I don’t know of any restaurants that sell these puffs of delight, but you can have them for breakfast if you stay at Auberge du Chene Vert Bed and Breakfast in St. James Parish. Depending on the season you visit, your breakfast will include yard eggs, fruit, and fresh squeezed orange juice all produced on the property. Be sure you tell them I sent you!
Disclaimer: My mom just let me know grande pates is actually only the bread, but I think it’s sacrilegious to even consider eating it without sausage.
Grande Pates Ingredients
vegetable oil
smoked Sausage
water
bread dough
Steen’s cane syrup
Grande Pates Directions
Heat 2” of oil in a Dutch oven to 375.
While the oil heats, cut your smoked sausage into ½” thick rounds. In a frying pan, add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and add your sausage. Heat the pan hot enough so it sizzles. When the underside is brown, flip the sausage over. Let the second side brown. You need the pan hot or the sausage will dry out before it browns.
Take the dough, pull it, and cut into about 2-3” pieces. The size does not need to be exact and the pieces will be slightly different shapes and sizes. Use a sharp knife and make a 1” long slit in the middle of the dough (sort of like a doughnut hole but a slit). Fry the dough until it’s light brown. Flip it. When both sides are light brown, remove it from the oil. Do not crowd the pan.
To serve. Put sausage and bread on a plate and drizzle cane syrup over it.
Notes
Whatever you do, please do not use maple syrup or honey. The whole point of this meal is the cane syrup.
