Notice: Function add_theme_support( 'html5' ) was called incorrectly. You need to pass an array of types. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 3.6.1.) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 5833 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php:5833) in /customers/6/8/f/missfoodwise.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1723 {"id":3261,"date":"2018-08-09T18:06:08","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T16:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.missfoodwise.com\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2018-08-10T10:46:04","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T08:46:04","slug":"buns-saint-hubert-mastellen-ghent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missfoodwise.com\/2018\/08\/buns-saint-hubert-mastellen-ghent.html\/","title":{"rendered":"Buns for Saint Hubert: Mastellen from Ghent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The city of Ghent \u2019s most famous bake is called \u2018Mastel\u2019 and it is a soft bun flavoured with cinnamon shaped into a round with a dimple in the middle made by pressing down four fingers in the dough. The name Mastel comes from ‘masteluin’ a bread mixture made with wheat and rye flour, it was an old practice to grow the two grains mixed on one single field to improve yield. Since medieval times the bun was consecrated by a priest and eaten as a preventative against hydrophobia or rabies on the feast of St Hubert on 3 november. Today the bun is often blessed on the 3rd of november but no one really believes it will protect them from hydrophobia or rage.<\/p>\n

Mastellen are also sold dried to use for making a pudding called \u2018Aalsterse Vlaai\u2019 and the dried out bun was also often soaked in buttermilk to eat as a gruel. A custom that is in decline is that of the \u2018ironed mastel\u2019 where a mastel bun is sliced in two and spread with butter and a generous topping of brown sugar. The bun is then crushed under the weight and heat of an old fashioned heavy cast iron well eh – iron. The kind that used to be kept on the stove. The result is a crisp biscuit that resembles a Lackman waffle. Truly delicious. This ironing of the mastel is popular on the first weekend of august in the Ghent area called Patershol during the Patershol feasts, a jolly folk festival in one of Ghent’s most culturally diverse area, it is therefore also called Cot\u00e9 Culture. (Patersholfeesten are his weekend if you\u2019re in the area! Also check previous post on where to go and eat in Ghent<\/a> – I will be adding to this post over time.)<\/p>\n

The custom of eating consecrated bread on St Huberts day comes from the story that the saint cured a man of rabies by giving him bread to eat. St Hubert was the Bishop of Liege and the patron saint of hunters, on the 3rd of november an event takes place in Liege where the hunting hounds, masters and staff are blessed by a priest. This date also marks the start of the hunting season.<\/p>\n

There are other places where the custom of eating a special spiced bun or bread on St Hubert is still alive, the area round Essen in Belgium where they carry a carved in cross and are called \u2018Huubkes\u2019 after St Hubert and other areas of East Flanders of which Ghent is the capital. In the the Dutch town of Breda in Brabant, the buns are called Hupkes and the tradition is identical. God fearing farmers even ordered the consecrated buns to feed to their livestock to protect them from disease.\u00a0Some bakers have to go to church with their baskets of mastellen, Huubkes, or Hupkes, other priests come to the bakery to give their blessing there.<\/p>\n

Originally the St Hubert buns were flavoured with aniseed and in some areas they still are, others are made with raisins, but for as long as anyone can remember their seasoning in Ghent has been cinnamon, and I\u2019m sad to say that even the cinnamon version is getting rarer as my local market in the town I just left, only sold a few with cinnamon, most of the mastellen were plain buns.<\/p>\n

It is very possible the custom of eating a blessed bread, either with a dimple made with four fingers or a cross comes from pagan times as st Hubert is known for evangelising pagans in the Ardennes forests in Belgium (then France). The best way to assimilate is to take over customs, something christianity is famous for as many christian traditions are adaptations of pagan rites.<\/p>\n

The recipe for these mastel buns are those that are sold today, the buns sold in the 8th century would have been much more heavy and not to modern taste. As with everything, the recipe evolved over time to what it is today.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to Ilse Buyens, a former baker in the Essen area and a friend for nearly 20 years!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you need,\u00a0For 15 mastellen<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n