TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Crêpes SuzetteCrêpes with Mandarin Butter
- Total
- 3 hr
- Difficulty
- ★★☆☆☆
- Serves
- 4 servings
- Prep 15 min
- Cook 45 min
- Rest 2 hr
Thin crêpes are spread with butter worked with mandarin zest and juice, sugar and curaçao, folded into quarters and warmed in a skillet. Serve with the melted butter. The batter also contains mandarin juice and curaçao. Do not flambé.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (4 servings)
100Authenticity- Plain cake flour150 gSift before use. Use plain soft-wheat cake flour without added starch or leavening.
- Granulated sugar105 g3g for the batter and 100g for the mandarin butter.
- Vanilla extract2 mlFor the batter, in place of vanilla sugar.
- Eggs2 eggs
- Whole milk225 ml
- Water120 ml75ml for the batter and up to 45ml for thinning before cooking.
- Unsalted butter82 g12g, melted, for the batter; 60g, softened at room temperature, for the mandarin butter; 10g for cooking.
- Grand Marnier15 mlFor the batter.
- Unwaxed mandarins2 mandarinsUse unwaxed mandarins. Finely grate only the colored zest of both; measure 15 ml juice for the batter and 40 ml for the butter. Larger mandarins can give a stronger zest flavor.
- Orange curaçao35 ml5 ml for the batter and 30 ml for the mandarin butter.
- Olive oil10 ml
- Salt0.5 gA pinch.
Method
Make a sweet crêpe batter with mandarin juice and curaçao
- 1 Put 150g cake flour, 3g granulated sugar and 0.5g salt in a bowl, make a well, break in 2 eggs and whisk from the center.
- 2 Gradually add 225ml milk and 75ml water, mixing until lump-free.
- 3 Finely grate only the orange-colored zest from the 2 mandarins, then squeeze their juice. Reserve the zest and 40 ml juice for the mandarin butter. Mix into the batter 12 g melted unsalted butter, 15 ml Grand Marnier, 2 ml vanilla extract, 15 ml mandarin juice, 5 ml curaçao and 10 ml olive oil.
Ready when
Continue when the batter is smooth and flows readily from a ladle.
Caution
Alcohol from the curaçao remains. Do not serve this preparation to children, people sensitive to alcohol or anyone avoiding alcohol.
Rest the batter in the refrigerator for 2 hours and make mandarin butter
- 1 Cover the batter with plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- 2 Meanwhile(While it rests) Work 60 g softened unsalted butter with 100 g granulated sugar using a rubber spatula, add the reserved zest, then gradually work in the reserved 40 ml mandarin juice and 30 ml curaçao, using only as much as the butter will absorb. Reserve any juice and curaçao that the butter cannot absorb together in a container.
Ready when
Continue when the batter’s bubbles have settled and the mandarin butter is smooth.
Caution
Grating the white pith makes the butter bitter.
Thin the batter and cook about 15 crêpes in a 20cm skillet
- 1 Stir the batter and gradually add water, up to 45ml, until it has the consistency of heavy cream.
- 2 Heat a heavy 20cm skillet over medium heat and lightly butter it.
- 3 Pour in about 40ml batter and immediately swirl to cover the pan. When the edge colors, turn with an offset spatula, cook the second side for 20 seconds and stack on a plate. Repeat to make about 15 crêpes.
Ready when
Continue when the crêpes are thin and even, with small golden spots on both sides.
Caution
Thick crêpes can split when folded into quarters.
Spread with mandarin butter, fold and warm gently
- 1 Lay out the crêpes individually, divide all the mandarin butter among them in a thin layer on the paler side and fold each in half, then in half again.
- 2 First warm heatproof plates with hot water, then discard the water and wipe the plates dry. Warm a skillet over low heat, add the folded crêpes 1 at a time and warm each side for 30 seconds. Arrange slightly overlapping on the plates.
- 3 Serve 3–4 crêpes per person. If any reserved juice and curaçao remain, add all of them to the skillet and mix with the melted butter over low heat. Pour all the butter mixture remaining in the skillet over the crêpes, even if there were no reserved liquids.
Ready when
They are ready when warm and glossy with melted mandarin butter.
Caution
High heat burns the sugar in the butter and makes it bitter.
About this dish
In late-19th-century Paris, restaurant menus began to list crêpes called Suzette; Paillard is said to have served them under that name in 1891.
Henri Charpentier, who later became a chef in America, is often credited with the name. His memoir says that around 1895, while a 14-year-old apprentice waiter in Monte Carlo, he accidentally set alight crêpes intended for the future British king and named them after a woman at the table. Some researchers consider the story invented, in part because he was so young.
Mandarins appear in French markets from January to April.
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