A few days ago I was talking with Miriam, from the blog El Invitado de Invierno, about some of the shop's products and she told me how happy she was with the crêpe pan since she used it a lot. Hearing the recipes she made and how often she used it, she conveyed an enthusiasm that left me no choice but to ask her to tell us about crêpes and give us some good tips to get the most out of the pan. Here’s her post!
Crêpes, filloas, frixuelos, pancakes, blinis… are very old formulas present across much of the cultures from Europe to Asia and from Africa to America. They are so ancient that one cannot say where they originated.
What could be easier than mixing a liquid, such as eggs and milk, with some starch, and then cooking the batter in a pan or griddle? I imagine early humans making pancakes on a flat stone heated over the fire… The Greeks were already making a kind of crêpe in a pan. And as we know, from Greece to the rest of the world, like democracy.
These flat cakes like crêpes or risen like blinis served to hold other foods when utensils weren't used and they still fulfill this function in many places today. Precisely because of the mild flavor of the batter, crêpes are perfect for pairing with all kinds of toppings, sweet or savory.
In the past it was customary to say that the first crêpe or pancake always had to be thrown away, because it tended to come out badly, sticking to the pan more easily than the following ones. But I don't think that applies if we use a good crêpe pan, with suitable heat diffusion capacity and if it is properly heated before pouring the first ladle of batter. There's nothing to waste, come on.
That's why I find cast-iron pans to be an especially wonderful utensil for preparing crêpes or pancakes. The thickness of the iron combined with its excellent heat conduction, which produces a very even distribution across the surface, makes them ideal for this type of preparation, especially in the case of crêpes, made from a very thin layer of batter and usually prepared in large size, so we want them to cook properly across the whole surface. In fact, so much so that there is a special cast-iron crêpe pan, with lower sides, and it's actually the one I use.
To make perfect crêpes or risen pancakes, therefore, all we need is a good cast-iron pan and a little care. The key is to give the pan enough time to heat thoroughly and grease it lightly before pouring the batter. Generally it is only necessary to grease the pan, either with butter, oil, or by rubbing a piece of bacon, before making the first crêpe, because if the pan is of good quality it will remain sufficiently greased so nothing will stick.
As mentioned before, this very mild batter is very versatile because it pairs with practically everything. I love using crêpes in savory recipes to wrap all kinds of leftovers: from a roast chicken (add a little sauce and you're done), from vegetables, which we can mix with some béchamel; even with simple slices of cooked ham and cheese we'll have a quick and easy dinner that kids will love. Oh, and try topping some pisto with a fried egg and wrapping it in a crêpe.
For sweet recipes, all kinds of jams, preserves and sweet creams go perfectly.
The basic crêpe recipe can be found in the article about the crêpe and lemon cream cake we have on the blog, a good example of how to use crêpes in sweet preparations. I want to emphasize that once the batter is prepared it is very advisable to let it rest for at least half an hour, so that all the flour hydrates well. It will spread better and be more uniform.
If we want to use the perfect utensils, besides the cast-iron pan, all we need is the wooden batter spreader to spread the batter evenly so it becomes perfectly thin, and the wooden spatula to flip it without tearing. They are not essential, but they work very well.
Here are some other delicious examples of crêpe and risen pancake recipes:
- Savory crêpe cake with smoked salmon
- Classic and chocolate American pancakes
- Blinis with cream cheese and quail eggs
So now you have all the tools to make crêpes or pancakes that will have everyone in your home licking their elbows. Go ahead, you can do it.
Recipe for classic and chocolate American pancakes, by El Invitado de Invierno
