Mesturet, pastry | Bonjour Terroir

History & Origins

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A winter dessert born of fruit shortages

Mesturet, also called "Mihassou au potiron", is a pumpkin cake from the Tarn. During the winter, villagers prepared it because fruit was scarce at that season: the cook had to use vegetables, notably pumpkin, to make a dessert.

Traditionally, it was made without eggs or flour; over time, these ingredients began to be added. Many cooks have revisited it, but many Tarnais remain faithful to the original recipe.

A name that comes from maize bread

In Languedoc and Gascogne, the term "mesturet" referred to a small maize bread scalded in boiling water, then baked in the oven in a cabbage leaf.

A Confrérie gastronomique du Mesturet et du Pays graulhétois, based in Graulhet, features on the calendar of brotherhood chapters.

Product characteristics

Sensory profile

Appearance

a cake baked in a rectangular dish no more than 3 cm high, whose surface, brushed with melted butter during baking, forms a soft and deeply coloured crust.

Taste

pumpkin, maize flour and sugar, lifted by orange and lemon zest and a glass of rum.

How it is made

Cook the pumpkin

cut 1.5 kg of pumpkin into dice and cook it down slowly in a saucepan with a finger of water, stir and add salt.

Mix

once the pumpkin is cooked, add 300 g of maize flour, 300 g of sugar, the grated zest of an orange and a lemon, 5 well-b… Read more

once the pumpkin is cooked, add 300 g of maize flour, 300 g of sugar, the grated zest of an orange and a lemon, 5 well-beaten eggs and a glass of rum.

Bake

pour into a buttered and floured mould, bake for about 1 hr 30 at 130 °C (thermostat 4–5); after the first half-hour, br… Read more

pour into a buttered and floured mould, bake for about 1 hr 30 at 130 °C (thermostat 4–5); after the first half-hour, brush melted butter over the surface.

Tasting & pairings

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The recipe from Tarn Tourisme, rated "easy", is intended for four people and requires 35 minutes of preparation.

Mesturet

At a glance