Crêpes

We were very pleased when the gîte owner asked if we would like to get together for a dinner of savory crêpes, made right here in our rental. We have few in-depth interactions with locals when we’re traveling, unfortunately – we’re taking in the culture at a distance. Interacting in French and eating crêpes sounded like a great two-for-one deal. I’ve made crêpes at home since I was a teenager (originally with my mother), but they are always sweet ones, filled with jam, rolled up, and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. We ate them for Sunday breakfast. In France, it’s a different story entirely. Savory crêpes are made with buckwheat flour and filled with all kinds of things – cheese, meat, egg, seafood, veggies, … The possibilities are endless. They’re eaten for lunch or dinner, with crêpes made with wheat flour and sweet fillings for dessert – but never rolled up like the crêpes at home. We’ve eaten both kinds at crêperies, so trying homemade ones is a great next step.

We checked out the new crêpe maker in the rental, wondering what the various tools were for. (At home all we have is a smallish metal pan for the stovetop – I’d never seen one of these electric models before.) In particular, what’s that T-shaped thing for? And the curved plastic container? We were about to find out.

C and P brought all the ingredients as well as a second crêpe maker, speeding up our production. Their batter was a mix of buckwheat and wheat flour, letting us make both savory and sweet crêpes with it.

So, the T-shaped device? It spreads the batter out. Getting the correct wrist motion and pressure definitely takes practice. We got to try it out after P made the first round for us. M’s had a hole, mine had a divot in the middle. Fortunately, it doesn’t affect the taste at all!

After cooking both sides, the crêpe is turned back over, it’s rubbed with butter (note the big block with the fork in it – can never have too much butter in Brittany!) and fillings are added. In our case, those were cheese, ham, mushrooms in cream sauce, and an egg (an oeuf miroir, a “mirror” egg, or sunny-side up). Then the edges are folded up and voilà!

For dessert, our crêpes could have sugar, chocolate, caramel, and of course, whipped cream! When we’re at a restaurant, I frequently have apricot jam – a reminder of the crêpes my mother and I made. I could definitely see getting a crêpe maker like this for home, though I don’t know if they’re available in the US. Time to do some research!

I’m a foodie, so I’ve focused on the crêpes, but at least as good as the food was the company. M was very pleased that he understood about 70 percent of the conversation in French. His listening comprehension has really improved since the last time we were here. (Watching TV5 Monde regularly is really helpful.) My French vocabulary failed me a couple of times – only German words came to mind, despite the French ones being in there somewhere. But there’s nothing better than a real-time failure to get me to remember the words in the future! Here’s looking forward to more practice!