Crepes is French for pancakes and Suzette is a girl's name. As the Americans say in the song, Little Suzie. (The spelling ette is pronounced et, rhyming with you bet, debt, get, let, met, and yet.
Search on the internet and you will find that there are three stories, some say 'legends' about how crepes Suzette got its name. Take your choice. Was it in Paris in 1897, after an actress called Suzanne, whose stage names was Suzette? She played a servant, serving pancakes in a play, and to add drama the play's director decided the pancakes should catch fire?
Or was it at royal dinner two years earlier? The dish caught fire when young chef, Charpentier, only 14 years old, perhaps nervous because of his young age, or the important guests, most memorably knocked over a nearby bottle of alcohol, when preparing pancakes at a dinner party. The dinner took place in magical Monaco, in the presence of Queen Vicotria's son, the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The Prince of Wales is the heir to the throne). So the chef created the dish by a happy accident.
But the dinner host liked the dish so much he asked for the name. When told it could be Prince (some versions of the story say Princesse), with royal politeness, he said it should be named after his lady guest, or the teenage daughter of one of his guests.
The chef told the story in his book of memoirs. Could we perhaps combine the two stories? Let's pretend that, on hearing of the first event, the second was created deliberately!
Crepes Suzette Ingredients
The classic crepes Suzette is made with Grand Marnier. You can recognize the bottle by its broad shoulders. Why grand? (Grand is French for large, big.) A bit of marketing. By the man who invented the marketing for the Ritz hotel.
Grand Marnier is a strong drink, a spirit. Made from Brandy . That is a spirit made from wine, from grapes. Isn't all alcohol from grapes? No. You make rum from sugar cane, beer from hops, vodka from potato or just about anything. Spirits, used in cocktails are strong, bitter, and biting, and acidic, sting your mouth and throat. So you dilute them, with water or tonic, or sweet and flavoured juices (unless you like sour, in which case you add something savoury or sour such as lemon or Angostura bitters).
Pancake Day's Biblical Origin
You can make pancakes for pancake day, the start of lent, when you give up a food such as flour, or eggs, before the new harvest. (This dates back to the biblical era. The US TV Discovery programme investigated the plagues on Egypt's pharaoh, when Moses demanded Let my people go. Their experts decided that the firstborn Egyptian sons died because the firstborn were given double portions of infected wheat, which was infected by mould, (which in more modern times caused St Vitus's dance. The Hebrew servants and slaves escaped because they had a different cereal, a poorer diet. To this day the Jews clear all the old wheat out of the house and eat only unleavened bread for Passover, which recalls the passing over of the angel of death. Lent is the legacy of dietary restrictions at the end of winter, before the new spring harvests.
The Real Or Imaginary Dangers of Flame and Flambe
For years, I resisted ordering Crepes Suzette. I thought that crepes Suzette was just a way of charging a lot for pancakes, which I can cook at home. Why pay for the distraction and suspense of having them prepared in front of you?
I did not like the unnerving drama by creating a flame, which I always thought was an accident waiting to happen. Flames, I felt, unnecessarily endangered the chef - and bystanders, as well the property of the restaurant - and guests.
All that changed when I tried Crepes Suzette at the Churchill Room restaurant, in Singapore's centrally located Tanglin Club. Unlike the overpriced, huge and wafer thin pancakes served by the French at Mont St Michel, just across the Channel from the UK, Crepes Suzette were thick and almost undercooked. Pale and melt in the mouth. Served with delightful orange syrup sauce.
I would like to make this a once a week treat. What about re-creating it at home? That is one of the delights of travel, to a nearby restaurant, or one in a foreign country. You discover new dishes, or how to create a new version of one you already like, in this case, pancakes. What is actually in this dish?
Pancakes in the UK
We start with everyday cheap ingredients. Pancake mix was the first one my son learned from his granny Netta, my mother, in the UK. When he was a child, he astonished friends at their house when he showed them how to make pancakes. They said, "We have run out of the pancake mix. We'll buy another for you, for the next time you visit us."
He retorted, "You don't need a pancake mix. It's just flour and milk and an egg. And butter to cook it."
British pancakes are thicker than French pancakes. The size of a saucer or side plate.
American Pancakes
When we went to live in the USA, we found that American pancakes were half the size and twice the thickness of British pancakes. More like Welsh cakes (which are like half height scones, served hot, with currants inside).
For any flambe dish, a UK fire safety organization recommends a fire-proof apron, frying pan lid, fire blanket, fire extinguisher.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%AApes_Suzette
http://bathwestfire.co.uk/blog/
About the Author, Angela Lansbury
BIOGRAPHY
Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5
The Author of several books including Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.
Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com
dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com
Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President
Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time on bha.learncool.sg
Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;
Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;
Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.
More details from Toastmasters International find a club.
Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.
Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.
Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.
Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.
Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.
Language and speech workshops in Singapore.
Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.
Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.
Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.
Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.
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