Oreillettes Provençales

Oreillettes—literally ‘little ears’—are Provence’s Carnival fritters, paper-thin sheets of dough scented with orange flower water, deep-fried until golden and shatteringly crisp, then dusted with icing sugar. They are Mardi Gras food par excellence, made throughout Provence in the days before Lent as a final indulgence of fat and sugar. The dough is deceptively simple: 500g flour, 3 eggs, 80g sugar, 80g melted butter (or olive oil in older recipes), 2 tablespoons of orange flower water, the grated zest of one lemon, and a pinch of salt. The mixture is kneaded briefly to a smooth, elastic dough, then rested for at least 2 hours under cling film—this rest is essential, as it relaxes the gluten and allows the dough to be rolled to extraordinary thinness without springing back. The rolling is the oreillette’s definitive technique: the dough must be rolled (or stretched by hand over floured fists, like strudel dough) until you can read a newspaper through it—typically 1mm or less. The translucent sheets are cut into large rectangles or diamond shapes, sometimes with a central slit through which one end is pulled to create a twisted, ear-like form. They are fried in clean oil at 170°C for 30-45 seconds per side—they puff dramatically and turn golden almost instantly. Drained on paper and dusted immediately with icing sugar, the oreillettes are eaten within hours of frying, when their crispness is at its most ethereal. They are stacked in towering pyramids on platters—a Provençal Carnival table may hold 200 or more.