Food: Crepes 101

Food Photography by Ryan Macalandag

I really hadn't known crepes are real easy to make. Our French friends Miriam and Tuff had made them once at their home in Manga (when they where still here) but I was so busy at the liquor table. Pastis are irresistible you know, so don't bum me about not helping in the kitchen! #$@*!

Anyways, to make the long story short, my wife insisted we (meaning me) tried making some. Turned out it was real easy. Piece of cake.



Here my recipe to a basic crepe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups skim milk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons oil (or butter)
salt to taste (optional)

Preparing the batter:
1. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl. Get a bigger mixing bowl if you're clumsy like me or you'll be throwing stuff all around.
2. Pour in the flour and milk in small amounts at a time.
3. Mix well until there are no lumps of flour in the batter. I used a wooden ladle to mix and tried to squish the lumps on the side of the bowl. It works. Honest.
4. Mix in the oil and salt.

"Frying" the batter:
1. Get a real good crepe pan. One that is flat, round and non-stick. I heard in France, crepe pans are family treasures. They are kept for a long time and even passed along to children (when they grow up, not when they're small, dummy).
2. Heat the pan to about 200-and-then-some degrees or when it is really hot or about 3 minutes on medium heat.
3. Wipe some oil to keep the batter from sticking.
4. Pour in about 3/4 of a cup of batter into the pan. Flatten the batter by tilting the pan sideways and round.
5. After a few seconds, flip the crepe (I flipped the crepe one handed on my first try! Psheeeet). I like my crepes a bit browned on both sides. Then, that's it. A crepe for you and your family!

Eating the crepe:
Easy huh? There are a lot of ways to eat crepe. You can use choco cream, peanut butter, olive oil, margarine, butter, fruits, meat, or just about anything.

There are also different kinds of folds. I can't tell you the ways 'coz mostly I just dunk 'em crepes into my hungry mouth!

A word of caution though, never try to put all fillings altogether or you'll be full in no time!

Some references:
Basic Crepes
How to make a basic crepe
Cooking Debauchery: Crepes
Food Network: Crepes