Traditional French Crêpes

Crêpes à la François

Crêpes are supposed to be thin and airy. They should drape like curtains without breaking or tearing. They are fancy, yet also quite utilitarian. You can pair them with honey, chocolate spread, butter, jams, or you can go on the savory side and stuff them with cheese, jam, vegetables, or even egg. It would be easier to make a list of things you can't put on a crêpe – in fact, the list would be near empty.

Winter 2018. Paris, France

During my time living in Paris, I was able to live in Montmartre in an apartment hidden on a quaint, dead-end cobblestone street, which was juxtaposed to an even larger cobblestone road that was home to various shops in a market. It was a dream.

This apartment had the most extensive kitchen I have ever had the chance to call my own (other than that of my childhood home in Colombia). It was an American-style, open-plan kitchen, which is extremely rare to find in the sea of tiny Paris apartments. It had a massive island in the middle, an industrial sink, four (yes FOUR) stovetop burners, a decent sized fridge with a separate freezer (which is virtually unheard of in small apartments in the heart of Paris), and plenty of storage space. It doesn't get any better than that. The best part of it all, or worst, depending on how you look at it, was that it was on the ground floor. I was steps away from the small market at the end of the street, with easy access to high quality meat, cheeses, seafood, bakeries, and a couple of fruit and vegetable stands. It was definitely one of the most beautiful experiences of my life so far.

One of the best memories I have in that kitchen was when my friend François taught me how to make his mom's crêpe recipe. We had recently found out that our friend, Maria, was moving out of Paris, so we all decided to meet at my place to have a crêpe night. It is one of life's greatest moments, at least for me, to learn someone's family recipe for something. I know how precious and loved they are in each person's family and how many memories are evoked every time they are cooked anew.

For François, this recipe took him back to his childhood years in Provence, where he was born and raised. His mom would make the same recipe for him and his two brothers, using 4 pans at the same time. He explained that these crêpes would be used in eating competitions, where, whichever son ate the most amount of crêpes would win. Therefore, his mom would cook four crêpes at the same time: one for each of the three children and a spare that would go in the "save-for-later" pile, and repeated until the batter ran out.

The fact that François was sharing this recipe with me was overwhelming, not only because he was giving me his family recipe, but because I had always wanted to make authentic, good crêpes. Years ago, I used to live in the 5th arrondissement, otherwise known as the Latin neighborhood in Paris. Hidden away in the charming Rue Mouffetard, steps away from my old place, there was (and still is) this small crêpe joint called Au P'tit Grec. These are, without a doubt, the best crêpes in the whole city. People (including me) queue for hours (yes, HOURS) to get their hands on one of their enormous crêpes. These crêpes are stuffed with any combination imaginable of different ingredients. My favorite was the gallette savoyarde – a whole wheat crêpe with raclette cheese, jambon du pays, potatoes, lettuce, and onions. Oh. My. God. My mouth waters just to think about it.

My last day in Paris before moving to Boston to start university, I went over to Au P'tit Grec to have my last supper. As usual, I chatted with the owners and told them I was moving away, and that this would be the last of my daily appearances at their eatery. They offered me a free drink, and Dimitry, the owner's nephew, slipped me a piece of paper. I hesitantly opened it up, and there it was, their crêpe recipe. Best going away gift ever.

Sadly, I never managed to recreate it. The yield was for hundreds of crêpes, which made sense for their purpose. However, for my needs, it was difficult to scale it down properly. The one thing I did retain from it was the use of beer in the batter, as I thought it was rather unusual. Years later, when François gave me his recipe, one ingredient caught my eye – beer! At last, an Au P'tit Grec-Fraçois hybrid recipe.

That night, when Maria and François came over, we made crêpes as if there was no tomorrow. François coached me into making the perfect thin and butter-rich crêpe, we flipped some in the air, stuffed some with all kinds of cheese and ham, slathered Nutella and sprinkled speculoos cookies on top of others.

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Special thanks to François for allowing me to share his recipe for all of you. You can find it below.

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Ingredients

250 g of AP flour

500 g of milk

3 medium eggs

150 g/ml of beer (or 1 shot of rum)

Butter for greasing the pan

*To double the recipe, just multiply everything times two, except for the eggs – use 5.

Method

STEP 1. In a large bowl, add half of the flour and whisk in eggs one at the time. At first, you're going to reread the instructions because your batter will look shaggy and very dry – I thought so too; however, this is how François' mom used to make them so this is how we are doing it. If you are having trouble incorporating the eggs, just tap your whisk against the edge of your bowl to release some of the dough from inside of it and keep going.

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STEP 2. Gradually start adding the rest of the flour and the milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour (add some flour, then some milk, then some flour, until you have added all the flour and all the milk). Mix well in between each addition. Don't worry too much about lumps.

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STEP 3. Add beer or rum and mix well. These are just to add some flavor, so choose whichever sounds tastier for you. I usually go for beer, but François likes to add the shot of rum, specially if he can get his hands on a good quality one. After incorporating, cover and rest for 1 hour.

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STEP 4. Preheat a pan (size accordingly to the size you want your crêpes to be) at medium-high heat. Generously butter the pan, and pour about 1/4 cup of batter in the middle of the pan (although this will vary depending on the size of your pan). Quickly, but gently, stir the pan in circular motions to get the batter to spread evenly throughout the surface. Cook until the surface starts looking dry and the borders of the crêpe easily detach. At this point, you can take a peak (at the side touching the pan) to asses the color of the crêpe and judge if its browned enough to flip.* I usually use my hands to grab the crêpe and quickly flip, but you can also do this with the help of an offset spatula. Cook for a couple of minutes on the other side and transfer into a plate.

Butter generously every time before adding more batter into the pan.

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Eat with just about anything, from fruit jams, to honey, to Nutella, or even turn them savoury and add ham and cheese, or anything else you can think of. My favorite toppings are raclette cheese, steamed potato slices, and jambon du pays (or jamón serrano or prosciutto crudo) topped with herbes de provençe, just like at Au P'tit Grec.

Notes on the recipe:

• Crêpe batter is very thin. This way you can achieve its signature thickness (or lack thereof), so do not panic if your batter resembles the consistency of water – thats what its supposed to look like.

• When teaching me, François was very insistent on adding a good amount of butter to the pan every time I was making a new crêpe. Think of it as part of the ingredients for the batter, just this time, you incorporate it through the cooking in the pan. Don't go overboard though, you are not trying to fry the crêpe.

• Like I said in the method, the rum or beer are just for flavor, so you can go wild and choose between either, or even other types of alcohol. Remember, when using beer, use the 150 g called for, and when using stronger types of alcohol just use one shot.

• You want to use a good pan for this. That old Ikea pan you've had since college that has a couple of scratches on it will not work. It does not have to be nonstick, but it does have to be smooth and able to become nonstick when you add the butter. I use a cast iron skillet which can give you an idea of a pan you can use. Also, if you use a nonstick pan, you still have to add the butter for greasing – like I said, the butter is also part of the batter, its just incorporated differently.

• * When cooking it, don't be shy, let the crêpes brown. François was never satisfied with my amount of browning, he always said "not cooked enough," which, I mean, it's typically French to be unsatisfied with everything, but make sure yours are not pale! (I love French people by the way, I lived in Paris for two years, so no hate).