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Basic Crêpes
from Pierre Franey's Kitchen
, page 127
Recommended Wine: Val de Mer Cremant Rose
A crêpe pan is not an omelet pan, but it's close. It is shaped somewhat differently from the omelet pan, with sides that are gently curved to allow for the easy intrusion of a small narrow spatula to turn the crêpe. Some accomplished cooks are able to flip the crêpe and here, too the sides are well suited to this. Pierre preferred a 5 1/2 inch bottom diameter, black steel pan. However the crêpes can be made quite satisfactorily in a nonstick pan rather than one of black steel. We recommend serving with a Strawberry Sauce or a Martinique Rum Sauce both noted below.
INGREDIENTS
2 eggs1 cup flour
2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups milk
4 tablespoons butter
PREPARATION
1. In a mixing bowl blend the eggs, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and milk.2. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan and add it to the batter, whisking briefly. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, pushing solids through with a rubber spatula. The finest mesh is required to ensure a thin, smooth batter. Let batter rest about 20 minutes before use.
3. Melt the remaining butter to brush the crêpe pan as necessary. If a black steel crêpe pan is well seasoned it will need little or no butter before receiving batter. If it is not well seasoned, brush it thoroughly before each use.
4. Using a ladle, pour about 1 ounce of batter into very hot pan, rapidly tipping and moving the pan in a figure-8 motion so that the batter quickly spreads evenly and thinly over the surface, covering the surface completely and slightly up the wall of the pan, if necessary, to keep it evenly thin throughout. This will take practice.
5. Brown the crêpe on one side, about 40 seconds. The signal that it is time to turn the crêpe is slight browning at the edge. Then turn it with a narrow spatula to brown the other side. The consistency is correct if the crêpe is lace-like when it is done.
6. Serve with Strawberry Sauce or as Crêpes Martinique with Rum.
Note: Crêpes can be stacked and covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated until needed.