Crepes--Cook-Off 23

[Pontormo]

SCALLION CREPES WITH STIR-FRY VEGETABLES

So, I reach deep into the cupboard to retrieve my small neglected crepe pan, handle engraved with the number "18." That may be how many years have passed since it's last seen heat.

It looks at me, forlorn, submissive as I wipe it clean, plunge it under running water and then towel it dry. By now, it is starting to wake up.

Placed on the burner, it noticeably brightens. I pour in the oil. Excited, eager, it bursts into flames.

I watch in disbelief, then, finally come to my senses and cover it with a pot lid. It calms down. We try again. This time, I may have over-compensated for my primitive fear of fire by wiping off too much oil in the pan, for as I pour in the prepared batter, the eggy solution clings to overlooked craggy residue on the surface of the pan, sucks up the oil, and begins to char.

We try again.

This time, perfect! I am so, so happy that my pan finally is catching on and not on fire that I overlook the sweet little white custard bowls beside the stove: the toasted sesame seeds and pile of scallions rings as I flip what I can truthfully call a crepe over.

With the next one, I DO remember. The scent of the sesame oil in the batter is lovely and almost seems to rise to greet the golden seeds that I sprinkle over the surface after the scallions. After the finished stack is placed in the oven, I return to the counter.

I used a recipe from Local Flavors, a book by Deborah Madison purchased last summer largely for the text and all the wonderful photographs of farmers's markets across the United States. I had used only one recipe before since most of the dishes would be familiar to anyone who also cooks regularly from her earlier books. Another attraction is its organization: beginning with tender young Alice Waters greens, the narrative and recipes unfold along with the growing season. A tomato soup with peppers (which I roast first) is sublime and this crepe batter works out well, too, although, after a couple of hours in the refrigerator, the sesame oil separates from the mixture and floats, forming a ring close to the surface of the batter. Air bubbles are noticeable, too, which may be why Julia Child recommends keeping the batter chilled overnight.

Instead of following Madison's suggestions for a filling, I used what was on hand: thin half-moons of golden zucchini, same with a red onion and then a generous handful of snap peas along with the usual aromatics (minus scallions) and a simple binding broth. The results were colorful and delicious.

I think I need to add another hook to the wall in my kitchen just for my crepe pan. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

[Shaya]

I'm so happy you made friends again with your crepe pan, Pontormo. Thanks for conveying the story of your reunion so beautifully.

[Chufi]

Somebody stop me.. I can't stop making crepes!

This is a really sweet crepe made with equal amounts of sugar and flour, no milk but melted butter, walnut oil and water for the liquid. oh and 2 tablespoons of brandy

filled with lovely ripe nectarines, creme fraiche and a sprinkling of soft brown sugar.

Snowangel, what happened to your crepe batter? I hope it turned into delicious crepes!

Edited June 23, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[snowangel]

Well, Klary, it turns out that my crepe karma was much better than my blender karma, and I took care of two batches of batter this morning. I used the recipes that Sam supplied on page 2 for each of the batters.

First off, the non-sweet version:

I used a 10" non-stick Calphalon pan. For the first one, I brushed the pan with melted butter (barely any). For the second, I didn't. I returned to brushing the pan with every crepe. Apparently, some oil is pretty key. I think I'll get myself a steel crepe pan because I'm sure that the residual oil on the seasoned pan is most helpful. And, after the first crepe, I did thin the batter out with about a tablespoon of water.

A nice stack of these. Other than number 2, every single one came out perfect.

So, I moved on to the sweet version, which proved to be a different animal to cook.

As you can see, these cooked up much darker.

They were also much more difficult to turn, and they needed to have a spatula run around the whole thing -- there was much more of a sticking problem, and after the first few, I switched to an 8" pan which made them much easier to work with.

Following Sam's lead, I put them on a dishtowel and then transfered them to a cooling rack before stacking. Both stacks are sitting happily in the fridge in plastic wrap (in fact, dealing with the plastic wrap was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing). The boys found that just plain, with a tiny dusting of powdered sugar that these were awesome!

This was really fun! I'll use some of the sweet ones for dessert, and we'll have savory crepes for dinner tomorrow night.

[Pontormo]

Susan--Did you see comment about Julia Child's advice? Overnight resting is recommended, so you did the right thing! It is interesting that sugar led to carmelization in such a thin batter. Makes sense. I am going to see if I get the same results this weekend.

And Chufi, as Tina Weymouth and the Tom Tom Club would say: Don't Stop! The transparent crepe looks beautiful!

* * *

Not a scientific count, especially since I cannot even guess gender of creativeingredients, but so far women outnumber men in this thread is 2:1.

Not even going to try on the first 5 pages of Charcuterie, but I kind of wonder just how sexist I am in suspecting the proportions might be reversed. (With hats off to Abra, Anna N et al. of course.)

Edited June 24, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[SMW]

We had crepes two ways for dinner last night - the crepe recipe as well as the main dish was actually inspired by a recipe off of the Argo/kingsford cornstarch website that for whatever reason is no longer posted there.

In any case, the better was simple - cornstarch, eggs, milk, oil and salt, blended in the blender. I was really happy with how easy this batter was to work with, no problems with sticking, tearing or anything. I did oil the pan between crepes.

First version - summer crepe lasagne - layered in a 9" cake pan (they fit perfectly) with fresh/canned tomatoes and fresh mozzerella and parmesan. This was really good, especially for how simple it was, and I think may be my go to way for making lasagne in the future - the crepes make great thin layers, and it's no more trouble to make them than to deal with lasagne noodles draped over every surface in the kitchen. It was also a reasonable amount for two people - leftovers, but we won't be eating it for a week.

For dessert, spread with Nutella. Yum!

[mrbigjas]

While this does make sense (and Harold McGee says the batter for crepes shold stand an hour or more "to allow proteins and damaged starch to absorb water and air bubbles to rise and escape"... ) I have also seen recipes from sources that I trust, that say it does not really matter much for the final product wether the batter rests or not.

i saw jacques pepin recently turn on the burner, put a pat of butter in the pan and say, 'by the time that butter melts, my crepe batter will be ready'; at which point he threw everything in a food processor, made batter and started cooking.

for what it's worth. i mean, he IS jacques pepin after all.

[Abra]

Ok, isn't it about time someone reported a failure? And shouldn't it be me? So, I've been longing to make that mille crepes cake. I faithfully followed Megan's batter recipe. First one stuck, second one stuck, third one stuck. Shit. I even tried making little dollar sized crepes. Stuck, every one. The batter tasted delicious, I can attest to that, but I couldn't produce one usable crepe.

Ever made crepe batter in a half-sheet pan? It's a desperation move, and I don't recommend it, but I already had the pastry cream made and it was delicious, and I didn't want to throw out the batter, so I cranked the oven up to 500 and baked the batter as a sheet. Cooled it, trimmed it up, stacked it with the cream, which I'd flavored with Paula Wolfert's Basque Aromatic Mixture. The cream is awesome, and merits a much better base. About the best I can say for baking crepe batter in a sheet pan is that it does produce an edible dough. The texture is all wrong, of course, but the delicious cream sort of compensated for it.

Now I want to put that cream in pate a choux puffs, or as a napolean. But I think I'll stick to unsugared crepe batter from now on, unless somebody can tell me what I did wrong.

[Megan Blocker]

Abra, did you grease the pan at all? That's so weird...my friend Miles used the recipe yesterday, too, with lots of success. He used Fra Angelico to flavor the whipped cream, and it was mighty good when I had a slice this afternoon...

[Abra]

Yes, I brushed the pan with canola oil between each and every attempt. Was he using a non-stick pan? Were you? Am I just a dork?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I have always had great success with Julia Child's recipe and instructions. However, our hostess in France makes the best crepes I have ever tasted: thin and light as the wind. She tells me that she uses only egg yolks instead of whole eggs, and only orange juice for the liquid. She also makes the batter very thin, pours in more than enough for a crepe, immediately tilts the pan to cover the bottom and pours out the excess! I haven't taken time to try her method, but it certainly works for her!

[Marlene]

Ok, isn't it about time someone reported a failure?  And shouldn't it be me?  So, I've been longing to make that mille crepes cake.  I faithfully followed Megan's batter recipe.  First one stuck, second one stuck, third one stuck.  Shit.  I even tried making little dollar sized crepes.  Stuck, every one.  The batter tasted delicious, I can attest to that, but I couldn't produce one usable crepe.

Ever made crepe batter in a half-sheet pan?  It's a desperation move, and I don't recommend it, but I already had the pastry cream made and it was delicious, and I didn't want to throw out the batter, so I cranked the oven up to 500 and baked the batter as a sheet.  Cooled it, trimmed it up, stacked it with the cream, which I'd flavored with Paula Wolfert's Basque Aromatic Mixture.  The cream is awesome, and merits a much better base.  About the best I can say for baking crepe batter in a sheet pan is that it does produce an edible dough.  The texture is all wrong, of course, but the delicious cream sort of compensated for it.

Now I want to put that cream in pate a choux puffs, or as a napolean.  But I think I'll stick to unsugared crepe batter from now on, unless somebody can tell me what I did wrong.

←

I haven't made the mille crepe, but it looks to me like the crepes are too thick and so is the filling. But that's just a wild guess on my part. I've got an All Clad non stick crepe pan that I swear by. And even with that, I still butter the pan.

[snowangel]

Abra, if you 'll go up to my post above (post 129), you'll note that I had a TON of trouble with the sweet batter. Now that we've tasted them, we don't find the sweet ones to be in any way superious, and given what a (deleted words) the sweet batter was, I'll not be doing that again.

[Abra]

Of course they're too thick, they were baked in a sheet pan! It made only a 4-layer cake, when it should have been 20-30. Well, a lot of batter did get wasted, but you know what I mean.

But the batter did taste excellent, with all that sugar, and the browned butter. I did think the flavor was actually quite superior, but unless I can figure out the technique, I'll have to sacrifice that flavor.

[Marlene]

Sorry, I didn't mean to point out the obvious.

Abra, what if you took those sheet pan crepes and sliced them in half, similar to a four layer cake slice? You still wouldn't have as many layers as needed, but they'd be thinner.

Edited June 25, 2006 by Marlene (log)

[jenc]

Abra > I used the recipe slkinsey posted and it worked really well for me. Try a different recipe and see perhaps? The non-stick is really helpful.

My second go at crepes this weekend didn't work so well, sadly. I thought my first attempt yielded much thinner, more delicate crepes, though I don't think anyone noticed except for me.

However, I'm finding like Chufi, that I can't stop making crepes! I made another mille crepe too and I'll be making one next weekend. I've been doing my mascarpone filling so far, but I think perhaps I will attempt the pastry creme that everyone else has done... any other reccomendations?

edit: link fix

Edited June 26, 2006 by jenc (log)

[Megan Blocker]

Yes, I brushed the pan with canola oil between each and every attempt.    Was he using a non-stick pan?  Were you?  Am I just a dork?

←

Yeah, we both used non-stick, but I still think you shouldn't be having the issues you're having...maybe try the batter minus the sugar, and see what happens? That cream looks gorgeous, by the way...

[SMW]

For what it's worth, I didn't even use a non-stick pan on mine (just a revereware skillet - I was hoping that I'd be shopping for a new pan when this one didn't work, but I'll have to find a different excuse). I had no problems with sticking (I was shocked!). It wasn't a sweet batter, and I also used cornstarch because my sweetie can't eat wheat flour.

I actually think that the cornstarch leads to really tender crepes- you can't overwork the batter because there isn't any gluten. These were much easier to handle than I remember when we used to have crepes at home, and came out wonderfully.

[spaghetttti]

Wow, everyone's crepes look absolutely heavenly! Please forgive my horrible photos, it's been awhile since I've been here on eG and am trying to get back the hang of things.

I do so love (making and eating) crepes both sweet and savory.

Here's an awful photo of an otherwise delicious spinach crepe that I recently made for a tea time snack

[maggiethecat]

She also makes the batter very thin, pours in more than enough for a crepe, immediately tilts the pan to cover the bottom and pours out the excess!  I haven't taken time to try her method, but it certainly works for her!

←

That's the method I've always used and it works a fair treat -- you can actually pour the excess back into the batter bowl.

And I'm with snowangel -- unsweet crepes work beautifully in desserts and are so much easier. A teeny, teeny bit of sugar at the most.

[Abra]

Yetty, nice to see you back. I was just thinking the other day how I hadn't seen you in a while.

That batter I used had 7 T of sugar, which is really a lot. There was nothing else about it that would make it stick except the sugar. Sam, are you able to do a sweet batter in your same-as-mine pan?

[Marmish]

I made the Mille Crepes using the Martha Stewart crepe recipe and the Pastry Cream from the Hesser article. Since there are just two of us, and my usual leftover eaters are gone for the summers (they're teachers), I halved the recipes. 1/2 the chocolate crepe recipe made about 30 5 1/2 inch crepes. I used about 25 for the cake

The finished stack:

I made vanilla pastry cream, which I forgot to halve, then forgot to add the butter to it. It was verrrry thick. Is that the way it's supposed to be? It's the first time I've made it.

The layered crepes:

Martha uses a chocolate glaze, basically a ganache.

It ended up about 4 inches tall. I don't think we'll have any trouble polishing it off.

[snowangel]

Holy Moly, Marmish. I don't like sweets, but I need a slice of that mille crepes, and I need it now. It looks beautiful! Tell us more about the ease of making the crepes, please, because some of us have seemed to have some trouble making the sweet ones.

[purplewiz]

Marmish, that chocolate mille crepes is making my mouth water! I don't think anyone would have any issues polishing that off!

Marcia.

[Marmish]

Holy Moly, Marmish.  I don't like sweets, but I need a slice of that mille crepes, and I need it now.  It looks beautiful!  Tell us more about the ease of making the crepes, please, because some of us have seemed to have some trouble making the sweet ones.

←

I luckily didn't have any trouble making the crepes. I didn't use a nonstick skillet. I brushed butter on occasionally, but was surprised at how little I needed. Maybe it was because the batter itself has butter in it. The first one, of course, was a disaster, but after that it went ok.

Here are the ingredients, how do they compare with the sweet crepes that are giving you all fits? (This are the full amounts; I halved it)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus meltedfor pan

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups whole milk, room temperature

6 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract