
Crêpes
I’ve had a love affair with crêpes since I was a little girl, which is when I learned how to make them. I would make a “stack,” sprinkle a little white sugar on them, and eat them just like that for breakfast.
My first introduction to crêpes was when my mother made Crêpes Suzette. My French friend Stéphane from My French Heaven gave me some interesting factoids about this fabulous, flaming dessert and crêpes in general!
♥ Crèpes Suzette is a recent thing: In the early 1900’s, Edward VI was having crêpes in a restaurant on the riviera. The chef had flambéed Grand Marnier with them. Edward asked the waitress what it was but she didn’t have a name for the dish. So the king asked what her name was, which was Suzette. They have been called crêpes Suzette ever since.
♥ As for savory crêpes, they are an ancient specialty from Bretagne. They are made with black wheat and are called galettes. Only the sweet ones can be called crêpes.
♥ You eat crêpes with apple cider always as they produce a lot of apples there (Bretagne is close to Normandy).
♥ The restaurants where they serve crêpes only are called crêperies. The best ones have a chef who is a Maître Crêpier.
After seeing the above photo, I put Bretagne on my travel bucket list. Besides, I want to one day try the real deal in a crêperie.
There are many different recipes for crêpe batter, and I’m sure they’re all good. The only rule in making the batter for crêpes, to me, is the viscosity. Once you have that, you get proper crêpes. If the batter is too thick, you get pancakes, if it’s too thin, you get nothing.
Here is a basic recipe for crêpes, whether you’re going to use them in a sweet or savory manner.
Crêpes
Makes about 20
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup milk or half & half
6 tablespoons oil*
Couple pinches of salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
Whisk together the egg, milk, and salt together well in a medium bowl. Gradually add the flour, whisking gently, until it is all incorporated and there are no flour lumps.
Set the bowl aside for at least 5 minutes to make sure it doesn’t thicken. If it does, add a tiny bit of milk or to get the consistency back to where it should be.
To prepare to make the crêpes, have a well-seasoned crêpe pan on hand. Mine has angled sides and an 8″ flat bottom, made from steel. I’ve had it for 42 years. I know this, because my mother sent me off to college with the same pan!
Also have on hand some butter, the batter and large spoon (about 1/4 cup capacity is perfect), a spatula, and a plate on which to place the cooked crêpes. I always use a very sturdy but thin, flat spatula to help lift the thin pancakes.
Heat a little dab of butter over medium-high heat in the crêpe pan. I personally prefer butter because of the flavor. You might have to start with about a teaspoon of butter, and subsequently use about 1/2 teaspoon per crêpe.
Before starting, give the crêpe batter a whisk. Test the viscosity again and adjust if necessary.
When the butter is hot, add a full spoonful, or approximately 1/4 cup of batter, to the pan. With the other hand, turn and tilt the pan until the crêpe batter has covered the whole bottom of the pan. Cook for no more than 30 seconds, then turn over gently with the spatula and cook for no more than 10 seconds. Place immediately on the plate by sliding or flipping over.
The cooked crêpe should be lightly golden, especially on the first side, but not browned. Adjust your burner setting accordingly, keeping in mind that if the heat is too low, the batter will just sit there and nothing will happen.
The pan has to be hot enough to “grab” the batter. If the pan is too hot, it will cause the batter to become bubbly and you probably won’t be able to spread it around. Sometimes the first crêpe is a dud because you must test the heat of the pan, and the batter.
Continue with the remaining batter.
These crêpes will hold well for a day or two in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap. Before using, bring to room temperature first, or they will possibly break instead of roll. Even a little heating in the microwave will help make them more malleable.
Note: If you’re using these for a sweet dish, add a teaspoon of sugar and some vanilla to the batter, and make sure you use a flavorless oil.
I need to try my hand at crepes. I’ve never made them before. These look delicious!
Oh, they’re really lovely, and can be used in both sweet and savory ways, which I love. thank you!
I used to make savory crepes quite often, for some reason they totally fell off my radar….
need to bring them back!
:-)
I love making savory crepes because you can make them the day before. I love chicken and ham in a white sauce. oh my. now i need to make some more crepes!
thank you so much Bobbi!
I’m no expert, but have just been making them for a long time! Can you imagine a kid going off to college with a crepe pan?!!!
These look just delicious and I appreciate the step by step instructions, thank you!
Thank you! I appreciate that!
This is a great tutorial. We have really just started eating crepes, and I’ve never made them. Your crepes look delicious!
Thank you! They’re very easy. Just very thin pancakes!
Thanks Suzanne!
I love crepes as well! Very nice step by step! Lovely looking!
Thank you!
very nice!
A great tutorial Mimi. I love my crepes with fresh lemon and brown sugar. But I’ll take them anyway I get them!
that sounds lovely, too!
I’ve been making sweet and savory crepes for a long time – I have 3 out of 5 recipes posted already. I love them too and all the recipes you can make using them. Any time I made any crepes Gene always expected a couple extra so he could make his Crepes Suzette. He created his own dessert :)
hahaha! That’s great!!!
Mimi, I love your photos and your crepes. Your crepe pan is week seasoned. I had the good fortune to spend a week in Bretagne this summer. It was special and I hope you get to go soon. Have a great week.
thank you! i can’t wait to go. have you seen Stephane’s post on Bretagne?
No, I haven’t but I will look. I also posted my trip to Bretagne under Wanderlust. I meant to write that your pan is well seasoned.
I knew what you meant! I will check out your post now!
I can’t find it!!!
I love Stephan’s blog , thank you for pointing it out to me. It’s hard to get to my blog because I’m not on WordPress, here is a link Mimi: http://www.sunnycovechef.com/wanderlust-blog/ile-de-re-and-brittany
thank you! it’s what I try to do with my blog in any case, but i’m always thrilled when seasoned cooks/chefs follow me!!
Love this! And I agree, my first crepe is always a dud!
Renee
Isn’t that funny how that happens!
These look wonderful! My picky eater son would probably love them! :)
Ha! I’m sure he would!
you learn something new every day… well, more like 20 new things just by reading your post It’s pretty awesome. I had no idea about the names or the flour choice. I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper savoury crepe then. Every restaurant I’ve had them, they are made with AP flour. I gotta try this. Thanks so much for this link! There are many creperies around here in Vancouver but those too like they are made with AP flour. I’ll investigate :)
unfortunately i forget more than what i learn on a daily basis! So savory crepes are really galettes, which i never knew, but i only grew up with sweet crepes (french mother). I first had buckwheat groats in the 70’s when i was in college – it was hippy food, and i didn’t like it back then or now. but as i said, when cut with AP, it’s good. I’m really fine with crepes as we both make, them though.
some pies are also called galettes right? this is so confusing! My mom was born in France but she was very little to bring any french cooking culture into the family. My grandma was from the basque country. She was an amazing cook. She made galettes with AP flour. That’s probably the only flour one could find in Venezuela. My family moved from France to Venezuela during WWII.
oh this is interesting. that’s how you were born there! wish you had a bio on your blog! and yes, a galette is the rustic pie crust with fruits, with the crust folded over. do you follow stephane’s blog? it’s myfrenchheaven.com. i’ll be visiting him soon for the third time, and his blog is my favorite. he can explain such things. in fact, i think i’ll email him about that. it is confusing.
I was born in Venezuela, in Caracas… where pretty much all Venezuelans are born. I do follow Stephane :) And follow his instagram too. There is a bio on my blog but it’s not very visible. Let me see if I can send you the link. It’s pretty old and not a lot of info on it. I also need a better photo hahahaha
funny, cause i’d just looked again and didn’t find it! thanks, i’ll check you out! Love the old photo – I’m assuming that’s you! I did email Stephane, so we’ll find out what the confusion is all about!!!
hahaha, yeah, that’s me and that’s my actual age ;) I’ll create an about link on the side menu. It’s not there, you have to click on that share icon, that’s where I have the link now… not very clever of me.
http://thatothercookingblog.com/about/
great bio! Now I know what you mean about the photo. I’m a little nuts about bios – i love knowing something about the person behind the blog. on some blogs, you don’t even know if it’s a male or female! It drives me so crazy that i wrote a post on this subject, and a few people added profile photos to their names!! I loved that!
https://chefmimiblog.com/2014/08/21/a-slight-rant/
hahahaha this was really funny. Let me fix this bio link ASAP! :) I’m 43, or is it 42? I can’t keep track.
i just followed you on Instagram and realized how young you are! Great photos! I honestly didn’t think you’d have time to read the whole post. I mean, you do have a day job!
I do have a day job but took a sick day today. Thanks for the insta follow! I’ll follow back! Btw, fixed the Bio situation. Check it out.
what’s your instagram name? I can’t see you for some reason.
chefmimi – i’m not very active
those are the cutest kids!
you’re either referring to my beautiful daughters, or my grandbaby! But thank you!
:) beautiful family
I don’t make these enough – when I do, I think “ooh, need to make these more often!”. Yours look fabulous :)
I do that with pasta!
Your post has reminded me that I have some black flour in my cupboard that I bought specifically to make palettes. Just love savoury!
Yes, I do too!
They really are fun!
YUM! True story: My daughter forsook crepes because the first ones she tried were on an airplane and contained ricotta and raisins. I made her try a crepe when we went to Paris and she has never looked back since.
hahahahahahaha! although i’d love them with ricotta and raisins…
She actually brought up this story today…unprompted by our conversation. That’s how much it scarred her. It was on Quantas airlines lol
I know! can’t wait!!!
Just lovely, I do so love crepes, and your tutorial is really well done. Will have to bookmark this for future reference.
Thank you so much!
YES! I have my mother’s copper crepes suzettes maker – haven’t made them in about 20 years!
A lovely post Mimi – I adore both crepes and galettes! You have me craving one of each now! ;)
Hahahahaha! Sorry!
Mimi, I would love some of your delicious crêpes for my breakfast now! :)
I wish I could oblige!
Definitely!
Big fan of Crepe Suzette. I also love galettes. Though the galettes we had were made with buck wheat. Wonder if that is the same as black wheat?
That’s a good question. And I don’t have the answer!
Thank you so much!
I thought so!
Thanks for a wonderful tutorial on how to make crepes Mimi, I love your pan. I’m lucky enough to spend 6 months a year in Bretagne and I love visiting our local creperie for a galette, they are so delicious.
I am so jealous!!!
Great post, and such interesting facts!!
Thank you so much!
I have to try my hand at the crepe making again! Problem is, I could easily eat 5 and want 5 more lol!
5? Is that all?!!!
Beautiful crêpes! Of course, I am catching up in reverse order so now see that they come into play with the b’stila next post! Oh-la-la!
hahahahaha! you’re forgiven!!!
You can use butter in the batter as well. I personally think the oil helps with the smoothness of the batter. And it keeps the crepes from sticking. But I will always cook them in butter!
I adore crepes. They are my absolute favourite. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful post. I hope you and the family are well. Have a wonderful week. xx
Thank you! Give little Alice a big squeeze for me! And Miles, too.
Thanks SO much for sharing! I too love crepes, but I have never thought of making them myself (I guess it always seemed too “hard” haha). Now I’ll definitely give it a go :)
Nah, seriously – if you can make pancakes, you can make crepes!
Haha okay, I’ll take your word for it ;)
Oh I love, love LOVE crepes! I’m so glad that you wrote about them because I used to make them all the time but just haven’t for ages. I’ve been trying to come up with something other than the same old, same old and I think I’ve found the solution. Now I’m going to have to go through my oldest recipes to try to find this seafood crepe that I used to make that was fabulous. I’m pretty sure it had scallops in it but that’s about all I remember – except that it was at least 25 years ago (I can remember making it in my old house … see how I remember things by associating?). At least that narrows down the possible files and cookbooks to maybe a half dozen.
You don’t need a recipe for seafood crepes! Just make a white sauce and add Fontina !
I’m thinking there was something that gave it a very nice flavor – do you think it might have been thyme? Funny you mentioned fontina since I just got a call from my husband at the grocery store – “What’s Fontina?” That was for another recipe but since I’ve got it, what the heck!
I use thyme a lot, and personally I think it would work if there are a lot of shallots or onions. Otherwise thyme might overpower the delicate seafood. But maybe it was saffron?
Possibly saffron, that’s a good suggestion.
I am so impressed! You made these perfect crepes when you were a little girl? Wow. I’ve always thought those thin, luscious crepes would be too difficult to make at home. But now you’ve given me plenty of tips, and I’m going to tackle them. Maybe for company this weekend. . . .after I’ve practiced of course.
I think one of the fun things about gourmet cooking is growing the courage to try new things. I wonder if the waitress Suzette possessed an inkling of how famous she would be come.
Thank you for inspiring me.
RuthAnn
inspiringcuisine.com
Well thank you for stopping by! The good thing about cooking when you’re young is that you don’t know what’s supposed to be “hard” or not, but trust me, they’re not!
hahahahahahaha! That’s funny!
Such thin crepes are called blini in Russia, and I absolutely love them! They are perfect with any filling! I like your tip that you wrote above for Diane- to make white sauce and add fish. I usually just add cured or smoked salmon and cream cheese, but with some sauce on side crepes sound interesting; almost a new dish! :)
I think just about anything in crepes would be good! I’ve even made a beef bourguignon filling – no white sauce in sight – and it was wonderful. So, aren’t all blini made from buckwheat?
I just love crepes! I was amazed at how easy they are to make yet they look so intimidating!