Notes From a French Kitchen

by Marie-Christine Perry

The holidays are behind us, and after Epiphany and its traditional cake, galette des rois (cake of the kings), the next festive celebration on the French calendar is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. This is an important day for the French, who make crêpes and beignets that day and celebrate with masked balls, for adults and children alike. Although Halloween has made some headway, particularly with children, in France the day to wear a costume and a mask is Mardi Gras. Just before Lent, with its culinary restrictions, we eat rich fried foods to prepare for the 40 days of deprivation that lead us to Easter Sunday.

When I was eight years old, I made crêpes for the first time with my mother, the two of us in the kitchen, armed with four frying pans and a large bowl of batter made the night before. I had to learning the tricky turn of the wrist that would safely flip the crêpe up in the air and return it magically to the pan, landing on the other side. My first ones ended up on the floor, and one, worse fate, on the ceiling! I remember the joy of mastery when I became able to make a dozen crêpes without mishap.

In my family everyone came to the dessert table fully expecting to eat at least a dozen thin golden crêpes sprinkled with sugar, so the task was to make at least 100 crêpes for our family of nine. I cherish the memory of these hours spent with my mother in the hot kitchen, the pride of having mastered a difficult skill, the delicious feeling rising in me at the “compliments to the chef” that our arrival in the dining room would provoke. The aroma of Grand Marnier and orange zest spread through the house, mixed with the scent of espresso, our traditional accompaniment.

We usually make wheat crêpes for dessert. We can go from simply sprinkling sugar and lemon juice on them to stuffing them with berries and crème Chantilly, and even Nutella. For a more elegant presentation, we can flambé them with Grand Marnier or another liqueur. For savory dishes, we make buckwheat crêpes, stuffed with mushrooms or chicken in béchamel sauce, creamed spinach, warm ratatouille or, as in Brittany, country sausage and a fried egg. In each case, the batter recipe is simple, and I encourage you to try your hand at flipping your crêpes in the air. Of course, one cannot leave the subject of crêpes without mentioning the versatile Russian blinis, also made with buckwheat and served with caviar or homemade gravlax, and a dollop of crème fraîche.

Wheat crêpes:
2 cups wheat flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
A pinch of salt
3 cups milk (or a mix of milk and water), and a tablespoon of Grand Marnier or vanilla extract
Butter for the pan

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and slowly add the liquid until the batter is smooth. Let it rest overnight in the refrigerator.

Pour a small ladle of batter into a hot shallow pan that you have brushed with some melted butter—just enough to coat the bottom of the pan—and swirl it around to make sure you have a thin, even coating. If the batter is too thick to swirl easily, add a bit of water. Let the crêpe cook on one side, and then practice flipping it in the air and hope for the best. When the crêpe is golden on the other side, it should slide easily onto a platter. Sprinkle with sugar and a few drops of lemon juice, or flambé. Butter the pan between each crêpe.