10/9/11

Video Attempt: Crêpes Suzette


Hi, friends! Inspired once again by Julia and Jacques, Matt and I made another video of our own. This time, instead of pizza with burnt walnuts, we take you on the epic journey of making our own crêpes and intentionally lighting them on fire. As a bonus, I also let you in on one of Matt's famous URL purchases. (You probably didn't know this, but he is the proud owner of a few very strange URLs.) As always, I hope you enjoy!

Crêpes Suzette (adapted from Food and Wine)
Crêpes
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup cold water
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter, plus more butter for the skillet

Orange Butter
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for buttering
about 1/4 cup of sugar cubes, plus more for sprinkling
1 orange
1/3 cup fresh orange juice (from the aforementioned orange)
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
2 tablespoons Cognac
Long-handle matches

Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, flour, milk, salt and sugar until smooth; the batter will be thick. Whisk in the water, oil and melted butter.

Heat a 6-inch crêpe pan (I used a 9-inch.) or nonstick skillet and rub with a little butter. Add 2 tablespoons of the batter and tilt the skillet to distribute the batter evenly, pouring any excess batter back into the bowl. Cook over moderately high heat until the edges of the crêpe curl up and start to brown -- about 45 seconds. Flip the crêpe(!) and cook for 10 seconds longer, until a few brown spots appear on the bottom. Tap the crêpe out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 12 crêpes, buttering the skillet a few times as necessary.

[Here's where I went off course from the Food & Wine version, and while my crêpes turned out absolutely great, for the much-tested F&W recipe, go here.]

Take 3 to 5 sugar cubes and rub them against the skin of the orange until the cubes are nice and orange-colored/flavored. Then, juice the orange until you get 1/3 cup of the good stuff/juice. Set this aside. Now, melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Once it's melted, you can take it off heat or turn it down really low while you dip the crêpes individually into the butter. Take one crêpe and dunk half of the one side in the butter and then the other half of the opposite side. Next, fold it in half in the pan and then fold it in half again so that you are left with this little quarter circle in the pan. (If these directions don't make sense, I encourage you to watch the folding demonstration on either my video or the Julia and Jacques video.) Do this to all of your crêpes. Once they're all in there, turn the heat to medium-low and add all of the sugar cubes--the orange ones and the non-orange ones alike. Add your orange juice too, and wait until the sugar starts to caramelize in the pan. Once the sugar has completely caramelized, you are ready to add the alcohol and light this SOB on fire!

Safety tip: Never pour the alcohol into the pan straight from the bottle. (Even though if you watch the J&J video, Jacques totally wants to pour the alcohol straight from the bottle, but Julia won't let him.)

OK, so from your measuring cup, pour the alcohol on top of your pan full of crêpes. Calmly and with great confidence, light your long-handled match and set the liquid on fire. If possible (This wasn't really possible for me.), take a spoon, and spoon the liquid on top of the crepes so as to baste them. The good news is that the alcohol will eventually burn off, so if you can't get in there, just be patient and soon enough, your lovely crêpes will stop burning. Once this has happened, turn off heat, congratulate yourself, and enjoy a lovely, homemade crêpe suzette!

37 comments:

Matthew said...

Came SO close to buying bullcrepe.com as well... so close. Loved making this vid and the crepes were AWESOME!!

Andrea said...

I didn't know about the URL investing! Great video! Here are Henry's comments, when asked what he liked about the video: "Aunt Amerz and the colors." Ok?

I liked the cleaning of the plant. We used to do that with cotton balls, but then we stopped.

Marsha and Mark said...

Holy crepe-ola! Fantastic video - nice suspense with the flames. The crepes look awesome and so does Amelia.

Run Fast Travel Slow said...

Oh this is so fun! You're brave to try making crepes... I don't think I have the dexterity...

Megan Taylor said...

I love the fire!!!

Kelsey (Happyolks) said...

You're adorable. Totally impressed with the whole lighting on fire business, I'm afraid my kitchen would totally go up in flames.

tannaz sassooni said...

just watched this while enjoying a heather-taylor date shake. no joke. =)

Jessica said...

Looks like great fun! Absolutely LOVE the flipping montage. I will definitely be using this to help make these for my dinner party dessert next friday!! I'm nervous but will let u know hoe it goes!!
-Jess

Javelin Warrior said...

I'm fascinated by the flipping of crepes - I feel the technique would be achieved only after a multitude of timid failures on my part :)

Natalie (NJ in L.A.) said...

Ha, this video was too funny and sweet! pieceofcrepe.com, how awesome is your guy? This looks like a it would be a fun recipe, thanks for sharing.

Sarah P said...

This video was hilarious. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

This is the best thing I have seen all daY. Pieceofcrepe.com = LOL

sarah said...

I love this video! It's so fun and endearing, and best of all, you show the process rather than editing it down into perfect, polished cuts. You make it look like fun. Surely Julia would approve!

Marisa said...

I am totally with you on how to pronounce "crepe." I just wrote about this last week when I made savory crepes for dinner.

http://thecollegecuisiner.blogspot.com/2011/09/philly-sausage-and-asparagus-crepes.html

Love the video! But my favorite is still the Robin bon appetempt.

Mary Anne said...

i need that URL, let's talk

Mary Anne said...

The flipping was amazing but I was most impressed by the sugar cube trick to remove the orange oil... i want to think up other uses for that!

Meaghan said...

This is bad ass. Thanks for keeping it real. This is my new favorite food blog video ever.

Jes said...

So rad ! "All that to say, pieceofcrepe.com is taken." Hilarious. The crepes look delicious !

jeana sohn said...

matt should speak up!!
my favorite is "craps/crepes on fire"!

SG said...

DUDE! Your videos are so good. All of it from the essential oils on sugar (who knew?) to pieceofcrepe.com (so hilarious).

Anonymous said...

What's the song at the beginning of your video?

Amelia Morris said...

Thanks, friends! So glad you are enjoying it. Apparently, holycrepe.com is still available soooo you have an understanding of what is on Matt's to-do list today. ;)

@anonymous SO excited you asked! It's one of my favorite songs by the band Wesafari called Hiccup. Here's the live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2rCFxSf5vw

Anonymous said...

Holy moly, you lit a pan on fire!!!!!

Michael said...

I clicked over to the Julia and Jacques videos and completely got lost in the vortex of them! So funny they were.

Kara said...

haha bullcrepe.com. I am in stitches over here (There is less entertainment in Colorado).

Also, I second Mary-Anne on the sugar cube/orange rubdown! What a neat trick. Next time I need an essential oil treatment I'm just gonna rake some mint/lemon/frankincense across my face.

Great performances, great editing, you guys! Can I come for dinner sometime??

Linda said...

shouldn't a Fire Extinguisher be on the ingredients list?!?

Heather Taylor said...

how much would @matthew be willing to sell the URL for? this is fab!

tori said...

I have to say, finding your blog has literally made my day. I've just lost the good part of an hour trawling through your archives. Your videos are gorgeous. Hilarious stuff. Thank you for the escapism.

Alex said...

Gorgeous videos! Keep them coming! p.s. "My heart is, like, a million miles a minute." So cute :)

la domestique said...

Love it!

Amelia Morris said...

@tori -- well, your comment just made MY day! so thank you!!!

@heather taylor - there have been many offers for the URL, however, we have decided not to sell for now. thank you for understanding ;) ;)

Mary Anne said...

If anyone wants to buy thatsaloadofcrepe.com, let me know. Thanks.

Neil | Butterfield said...

Stunning! Thanks for the warning about how to pour the alcohol.

Sunday Taylor said...

Amelia, I love this! How great that you took on crepes suzettes! I remember making one of Julia Child's recipe for the first time, maybe steak au poivre, and I had to flambee it. I was nervous but the fire died down pretty quickly and it turned out to be a delicious dish!

Beatrice said...

I LOVED this so much. More please!

Laurin said...

awesome!

Rachel said...

finally getting to watch your videos. these look fantastic! love watching you explore these techniques for the first time - so easy to relate. not that i've ever set any of my cooking on fire intentionally... but some day.