Crêpes Suzette

This week, in case you hadn't noticed, is in The Ritz, 100% upmarket. Don't worry until the bill arrives. Today's classic is one of a few dishes which they feature in the Arts De La Table section of the menu. For the non French speakers among you, this translates as Pure Swank.

The menu continues, What started as a mistake turned into a legendary dessert created by Henri Carpentier (sic) in 1895 whilst preparing a dessert for the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of England. (sic)

I think I'd heard the story, though I'm not sure I knew about the mistake. Let's look first at the legend. The evidence, it should be said, is from a book entitled Life à la Henri, autobiography of one Henri Charpentier. He claims to have been preparing crêpes for the Prince of Wales and a lady companion in Monaco's Cafe de Paris. The dish accidentally caught fire. It tasted good, so he served it and the company was delighted. The Prince asked  the name of the dish. Crêpes Princesse, improvised our hero. Edward, fancying his chances with the lady, asked Henri to change it to Crêpes Suzette. There you have it.

The only trouble with the legend is that, at the time, our Henri was 14. The idea that a 14 year old would have been let loose on a VIP guest is laughable. Our hero did go on to become a superstar chef in New York, so it suited him to take the credit. Sweet crêpes with booze had been around for decades. In a later interview Henri admitted his foster mother had made something similar. Who did the first flambé? Who knows - it's all up in smoke.

Want to do it yourself?. Not that hard, but please be careful. Make sure there's nothing flammable in the vicinity, and have a fire blanket to hand, just in case. I know my readers have a tendency to be generous people. Just remember, the more alcohol, the higher the flame.

So there's the history. Just before the recipe, a word of warning, a quotation from my very aristocratic French grandmother-in-law (from first time round). Only prostitutes eat crêpes Suzette, she would intone gravely.

I studied a variety of recipe books. Julia Child says that everyone has their own recipe for crêpes Suzette, so I'll give you my mum's version, which has become mine.

Meg Johnston's Boozy Pancakes

Ingredients (makes about 12)

For the pancakes

2 eggs; 140g plain flour; 220ml whole milk; vegetable oil.

For the filling

100g unsalted butter; 100g caster sugar; zest of a medium size orange; slug of orange based liqueur, eg Cointreau, Grand Marnier or Orange Curacao.

For the sauce

For each panful, a knob of unsalted butter; a good squeeze of orange juice; a good slug of orange liqueur; (some would have you add cognac as well - your choice).

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Make the batter first. Break the eggs into the flour, then beat in about one third of the milk. Gradually add the remainder of the milk, beating hard until the mixture is well combined. Make sure you have a little milk left over in case the mixture needs loosening. Refrigerate for at least half an hour. A rest for at least two hours is better, and it will do no harm if you leave it overnight.

For the filling, soften the butter and cream it a little before adding the sugar a bit at a time. Add the orange zest and a little of the liqueur. It needs to be of a spreadable consistency. Note that some recipes add butter and sugar to the crêpe mix. As this one doesn’t you can afford to be quite generous with the sugar.

To make your pancakes, use a pan about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. (Sorry metric lovers. I mean a standard sized omelette pan.) Remove your batter from the fridge at least 15 minutes before you plan to use it and check the consistency. See above. Heat your pan (hot but not too hot – I go to 7/9 on my induction hob) and pour in about a dessert spoon of a neutral oil. When the pan is hot, add some batter. You want only enough to cover the pan with a thin layer. The first one is usually either too thick or too scrappy. Put the cooked pancakes on a plate covered with kitchen paper sprinkled with some caster sugar. Make your batch and allow to cool. Spread each pancake with the butter mixture and fold into quarters. This can be done in advance.

To finish, melt some butter in a pan (not too much) to about the same heat you cooked the pancakes at. Add the quartered pancakes and heat for a minute or two. Turn, then after another minute add the booze and the orange juice and let it bubble to form a sauce. Flambé if you must – it will impress the prostitutes – but I wouldn’t bother.