Lent : (word from classical Latin quadragesima “the fortieth” – day before Easter-). Lent is the forty-day period ofabstinence - the meal gras being authorized on Sunday –, provided for in the Catholic religion as a time of penance before Easter.
The original rigor of Lent imposed not eat ni meat, neither animal fat, neither eggs. THE'ordinary therefore consisted of vegetables, often dry. But we ended up finding various arrangements: thus, for a charity to the clergy, we could use, without however excess, of the butter and egg whites, and certain game bywaterAs castor, were assimilated to fish and therefore allowed. In the kitchen, the bonds withœuf were done at the chair de carp, And the pastry knew how to overcome the difficulty with the crunchy, crackers, scalded, cakes de all-purpose flour au miel and porridge with almond.
The rule ofabstinence has done a lot to develop the imagination of cooks ; thus, the cod, used on many tables during several weeks in a row, is one of fish who knows the preparations most Varied.
arrive as March in Lent: The expression means " fall well ». It has often been taken the wrong way (as a synonym of "like a dog in a game of skittles"), it means above all and originally to arrive ineluctably, with perfect regularity, the forty days of Lent not being able to many of them escape the month of March.
The phrase, very close, as « tide in Lent », which is also used to represent a timely arrival (the fish being welcome in these days of abstinence) will not have helped to clarify things.