-
Pour a small amount of sauce
into a frying pan and warm to almost boiling.
-
Place a crêpe into the sauce for a few
seconds to warm it up and to allow the sauce to soak in. Use a couple of spoons
to fold it in half, then fold it in half again. Place the crêpe at the edge of
the frying pan to keep it warm.
-
Repeat the above two steps
until you have done a
crêpe for everyone.
-
Place a crêpe onto a plate for
each person.
-
If you have more crêpes than people, you can put
more than one crêpe onto
a plate. Alternatively, you can put the extra crêpes into a warming disk to
keep them warm until they are ready to be served (to guests that want seconds).
-
Pour a tablespoon (20 ml) of the Grand
Marnier over
each crepe and light. Although this step is part of the traditional recipe, if
one has objections to alcohol or is serving this dessert to children, it can be
omitted and the dessert will still be very tasty.
-
Serve immediately as the crêpes need to be eaten
while still warm.
History:
The origin of
this recipe and its name is disputed. The most common
explanation is that it was created by accident by Waiter Hanri
Charpentier in 1895 when he was preparing a dessert for the
Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII of England) and his
companion whose first name was Suzette. In his autobiography,
Henri Carpentier said:
- “It was quite by accident as I worked
in front of a chafing dish that the cordials
caught fire. I thought I was ruined. The
Prince and his friends were waiting. How
could I begin all over? I tasted it. It was,
I thought, the most delicious melody of
sweet flavors I had every tasted. I still
think so. That accident of the flame was
precisely what was needed to bring all those
various instruments into one harmony of
taste . . . He ate the pancakes with a fork;
but he used a spoon to capture the remaining
syrup. He asked me the name of that which he
had eaten with so much relish. I told him it
was to be called Crepes Princesse. He
recognized that the pancake controlled the
gender and that this was a compliment
designed for him; but he protested with mock
ferocity that there was a lady present. She
was alert and rose to her feet and holding
her little shirt wide with her hands she
made him a curtsey. ‘Will you,’ said His
Majesty, ‘change Crepes Princesse to Crepes
Suzette?’ Thus was born and baptized this
confection, one taste of which, I really
believe, would reform a cannibal into a
civilized gentleman. The next day I received
a present from the Prince, a jeweled ring, a
panama hat and a cane.”
There are a
number of variations of the above, in terms of the relationship
between Price Edward and Suzette (i.e. was she just the daughter
of a guest, or his lover?), as well as whether it was Monsieur Charpentier who was serving or in fact the head waiter (which
would normally seem more likely).
There are also
a few alternative explanations, but they are less accepted. One
is that the recipe was created by chef Monsieur Joseph. It is
said that he invented the disk for a German actress, Suzanne
'Suzette' Reichenburg. Alternatively, it is said that there was
a play running with a maid named Suzette and Monsieur Joseph
supplied the play with a daily allotment of pancakes, which he
named after the maid.
Another
version is that the recipe was created by chef Jean Reboux for
King Louis XV at the request of Princess Suzette de Carignan.
No matter what
the origins, the recipe dates from the late 19th century.
The recipe was
popularised in the US by Monsieur Charpentier, who became John
D. Rockefeller's chef in the USA. Whether he actually invented
the dish during his earlier employment as claimed in his
autobiography is disputed.
