The French Chef (1962–1973): Season 1, Episode 20 - Episode #1.20 - full transcript
The French Chef is made possible
by a grant from Safeway Stores.
I'’m making a lovely, large, lacy, sugary dessert pancake.
And when we cook it, slather it with orange butter,
and flame it in liqueur and brandy, it'’s going to turn
into one of the most famous French desserts, Crepes Suzette.
We'’re doing it today on The
French Chef.
Welcome to The French Chef.
I'’m Julia Child.
Today we'’re going to do French dessert pancakes.
We'’re going to start with some of the more simple ones,
and we'’re going to end with the flaming Crepes Suzette.
French dessert pancakes are made of a much lighter batter
than the entree crepes.
The entree ones are the kinds that you can fill with
creamed chicken or lobster or mushrooms,
and the dessert ones are even lighter in texture.
Here are some great big ones.
They'’re like that.
They should be just like a feather.
And the proportions for them are a little bit different.
We'’re cooking one now, and I'm doing it in a large pan.
I'’m just turning over this side.
And the proportions that you use for the dessert pancake are...
you don'’t use any whole eggs.
You use three to make about a quart and a half.
You use three egg yolks, and three quarters of a cup of milk,
and three quarters of a cup of water, and one and a half cups
of flour, and five tablespoons of melted butter.
Now, this one'’s just about done, and I'’m going to do another one.
I find it extremely... one of the best pans for making
these French crepes are the no-stickum pans, like this.
The French use pans that don'’t have high edges like this.
But you have to rub them with butter or something
before you put the pancake in.
And in this you don'’t have to use any butter or oil at all.
And you just put your batter in.
Put it right in the middle, and then tilt the pan
in all directions.
And this batter I made in the electric blender.
When you get all of your mix, you just put it in the blender
and let it run until... oh, for about 30 seconds or a minute,
until everything is well... is into a nice cream like this.
And then you have to let it rest for two hours,
so that all of the little granules of flour will
absorb the liquid, and that makes the very tender crepe.
Now, this one, which is more delicate,
is often more difficult to flip.
And remember, if you'’re going to use these no-stickum pans,
you have to use wooden instruments.
And as soon as you'’ve seen it brown around the edges,
you lift it up.
And it'’s a good idea to use your fingers, because you use them
very quickly so that they don'’t burn, and they don'’t get
too hot.
Now, this... the underside is always the nicest side
of the crepe.
And once you'’ve cooked that side, then you can flip it over.
But you see that this side here is the non-public side
of the crepe.
So when you fold it or roll it, you always fill this part of it
and then fold it that way, so that this pretty side is out.
And you can use a smaller no-stick pan.
This is about five and a half inches here.
You do it just exactly the same way.
And this one here is about seven and a half inches.
It just depends on what you particularly want to do.
And these crepes... we'’re going to make the butter for the
Crepes Suzette.
And that'’s an orange butter, and it'’s perfectly delicious.
You can use it for other things besides Crepes Suzette.
And to get a perfectly delicious orange flavor,
you have to go to a little work.
But that'’s rather true of many things if you want to have
the best possible flavor.
You first want to get four sugar lumps.
I'’ve only got two and a half here, because I'’m just
going to show you how you do it.
And you have a nice, bright orange.
And you take your sugar.
You want to take your sugar lump and rub it over the orange skin
until you get the orange oil into the sugar lump.
You can probably see how that looks.
And then you have to rub like this.
And the reason that you do this is that you get much more
of the orange flavor if you rub your lump over the orange.
We break it in half.
And you'’re going to have to use four oranges for this.
And you just rub it all over.
This takes quite a while, but you can do it way ahead of time.
Then, when you have your... or you would have four lumps
like that, and you would have used four oranges,
then you take your vegetable peeler, and you want to
peel what they call the zest off the orange.
And that'’s just the orange part of the orange.
Not the white part.
And you want two whole oranges zested that way.
And then to get even more of the orange flavor,
you put it in a bowl along with your sugar lumps,
and you get any kind of a wooden masher, and you just mash it up.
Now, that'’s getting more of the orange oil out of the orange.
And that'’s what gives you the perfectly delicious flavor
in an orange butter.
Then you pour it out.
And then you take your big knife, and you chop that all up
with a little bit of sugar.
With the zest from two oranges and four sugar lumps,
you use about a quarter of a cup of granulated sugar.
And then you chop it, and that gives you even more
of your flavor.
See that method of chopping?
Hold the knife with your two hands like that and just chop
back and forth.
Now, that takes quite a bit longer when you have
more orange peel.
And this is really about the only long part of this
orange butter, but it'’s one of the most important,
because you'’ve got to get all of that flavor.
And then, when you have all of that, you end up with
a little bowl of orange peel and sugar, which is just like that,
and it just has the essence of orange, and it'’s
perfectly delicious to smell.
So I shall add all of this to here.
And then you take two sticks of softened unsalted butter.
And you can do this by hand, but it'’s very easy to do in
the machine.
And you add your orange to it.
And then you cream it until it'’s nice and fluffy.
And then you have some strained orange juice.
And for this amount, you can add up to about two thirds of a cup.
And you add it very slowly, standing away because it
spatters a little bit.
Whew!
That was a mistake.
Ah.
Now, after that, then you put in some more orange flavor,
using a very good brand of orange liqueur.
You don'’t have to use orange liqueur, but it gives
an added orange flavor.
But don'’t use it at all unless you'’re willing to buy a brand
that really tastes very good.
And I'’m going to put in about three tablespoons,
and be sure to take this rubber spatula out before I do it.
And that'’s all there is to the orange butter.
And now this you want to make ahead of time.
You can make, oh, a day or two ahead of time,
or you can even freeze it.
Because the butter will pick up much more orange flavor
when it'’s made ahead of time.
At least... you want at least two hours.
And then, when that'’s done, you'’re all...
and you'’ve made your pancakes, you'’re all ready to make
your Crepes Suzette.
But you can use this butter for other things, too,
in a dish which you call le
crepes fourre,
or stuffed crepes.
And that'’s a delicious dish, and you don'’t have to go through
all the falderal at the dining room table,
because you can get them all done in the kitchen,
and then flame them, if you wish, at the table or not.
And so I'’m going to put in some almonds into this,
which is very nice.
Now, this is... I'’m going to use some powdered almonds.
And theirs, of course, is an almond that hasn'’t been
blanched or peeled.
But in most grocery stores you can buy either a can
or a plastic bag with the almonds all blanched.
Sometimes they'’re whole and sometimes they'’re in
little pieces.
And you just put the little blanched pieces into the
electric blender about half a cup at a time,
and you come out with these nice powdered almonds.
And we'’re going to put about half a cup of this
into our orange butter.
You can put in more if you want.
It doesn'’t really make very much difference what the proportions
are, but be sure whenever you use almonds that you use
a little bit of almond extract, which brings out the flavor
of the almonds.
I'’m going to put in about a capful, which is just about
a quarter of a teaspoon.
Then you mix that up.
And that'’s all there is to that.
And then we'’re going to stuff our crepes.
I have something for this... this rubber thing in.
Then it'’s a good idea to taste it, just to see if it'’s
really as good as it ought to be.
Awfully good.
You could use that instead of hard sauce on a pudding
if you wanted to.
And now we'’re going to stuff some pancakes.
If you make your crepes ahead of time, which you can do--
I made these last night-- and then you put them
in the refrigerator, always wrap them in wax paper.
And then when they'’re cold, you find that they'’re awfully
hard to peel apart, because you have melted butter in them.
So put them in a covered pan, anything, over simmering water,
into a slow oven, until they'’ve warmed up enough so that you
can peel them apart.
Then... well, this is a very nice dessert.
Take a little oven proof platter and butter it.
I'’ve got lots of melted butter here today.
Then take your pancake, using... see, that'’s the nicer side,
and that is the non-public side.
And then just spread this orange butter on it.
You could really eat them just this way, but...
And then you can fold it in quarters like that,
and put it on your plate.
I'’ll do two of those that way.
It'’s very nice to have this orange butter for freezing it,
and then whenever you want to make a quick dessert you can
just make something like this, which really...
as in France, they say "epater
la bourgeoisie,"
or really excites people.
Now, if you don'’t want to fold them in quarters, you can
roll them up.
Then these you are going to put in the oven.
So you want to sprinkle them with some granulated sugar.
And then put on a few drops of melted butter.
And then you can have that all done ahead of time,
and before you want to serve it, put it into a 375 degree
oven for about ten or 15 minutes until it'’s well heated through.
You want to be sure that you get the sugar to caramelize on top,
because if you want to flame it you can'’t flame it
unless the sugar is caramelized.
And now we'’re going to do another version.
I think this is one of the very nicest of all.
We'’re not going to do this with the orange butter.
We'’re going to do this with apples.
And this is going to be a gateau
de crepe a la Normande,
or from Normandy.
Any time anything comes from Normandy it always has
apples in it.
Now, this we'’ll use again an oven-proof platter,
which we butter.
Then these were these big pancakes.
We'’ll center one in the bottom.
And now these are apple slices.
You put these on a cookie sheet, on a buttered cookie sheet,
and then spread the apples mostly in one layer,
sprinkle them with sugar and with melted butter,
and put them in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes
until they'’ve softened.
And then you put a layer of apples.
And then you can use almonds, but we'’re going to use
macaroons.
That'’s a macaroon and almond cookie.
Some of them are just terrible.
But be sure that you get some that taste like homemade ones,
and that have a lovely almond flavor.
And you break them up into pieces like that,
and stick them on a cookie sheet.
And you want to dry them out.
So just put them in a 200-degree oven for about an hour,
until they get brittle like that.
And then put them half a cup a time in the electric blender,
and you come out with a powder like that.
It'’s a lovely flavor.
And then sprinkle this on.
Again, with this, there are no proportions.
You can do very much what you like.
And then put a little bit of melted butter on.
This isn'’t a terribly no-cal dessert, but it'’s awfully good.
And then, if you want, you can sprinkle a little cognac on.
If you were in Normandy, you would use apple brandy,
or calvados.
And if you'’re going to sprinkle anything, put your thumb
over the bottle, and then just shake it like that,
and you'’ll just get a few drops.
You'’ll just want a little bit for flavoring, not very much.
And then put another pancake on top, and you can just go right
on building this up with as many layers as you like.
And then put on some more almonds, and a little more
butter, and then you end, after you'’ve built up your
large edifice, with a pancake on top, and then put on a little
more butter and a little bit of sugar.
This again, if you'’re going to flame it, you always want to
have your sugar on so it will caramelize, otherwise you can'’t
flame it.
And then this you can prepare up to this point well ahead
of time, and then put it in a 350 oven until it is well
hot through, and the butter has... and the sugar has
caramelized on top.
Now I'’m going to take out our crepes which were stuffed
with the almond cream, and we'’re going to flame them.
I have another one which is... has a few more on it
to show you how it will look.
And with this now, we have about a good half cup of
liqueur which you have to warm, and you have to be sure that
this is warm, too.
And just before you serve, you then pour your liqueur over.
If you don'’t use enough liqueur, it'’s not going to flame.
You see all of that'’s bubbling, and it'’s good and hot.
You can flame it in the kitchen and then bring it to the
dining room, but it'’s a little bit tricky, because you might
burn your eyelashes.
There.
These are very hot.
And they'’re so hot that I'll have time to put in
the orange butter for our Crepes Suzette, because this takes
a little bit of time to cook.
I have here a heavy pan that'’s over an alcohol flame.
And I'’ve gotten it good and hot.
And then in goes the butter.
And now we'’re going to flame our rolled almond crepes.
There.
Now, then you spoon the flaming sauce over the crepes
until the flames die down.
And then you serve them.
Now, this type of crepe you can make in several different ways.
This has the almond orange butter in it.
Or you can put in that nice apple filling that we saw.
Or you can use a very simple filling such as sliced bananas
and apricots and almonds.
And you don'’t have to flame them if you don'’t want.
And there'’s a very nice non-alcoholic version of these
rolled crepes in which you use that French pastry cream.
Do you remember the creme
patissiere
that we used
for our French tarts, our fruit tarts?
Well, you can... you can fill them with that and put some
almonds in, and then grate some chocolate over them,
and sprinkle them with sugar and butter and put them in the oven
until the chocolate is melted.
That makes a perfectly lovely crepe.
Now, as you see with this butter, you have to let it cook
for quite a while, because it has to sort of caramelize
and thicken rather into a syrup.
And while this is cooking down, I think I will go back
over the proportions, because I rather skipped over them
rather quickly as to the batter for these crepes.
And that is, if you have a pencil and would like to
jot it down, we have three-fourths cup of milk,
three-fourths cup of water, three yolks, one tablespoon
of sugar-- that was three egg yolks, I meant--
one tablespoon of sugar, and if you like, three tablespoons
of liqueur, one and one-half cups of flour,
and five tablespoons of melted butter.
And if you have a blender, you mix it in the blender
for just about 30 seconds.
And if you don'’t have one, you put your flour in a bowl,
and with a wooden spoon you gradually work in the eggs
and the liquid until you have a smooth batter,
and then you strain it.
and remember to let it rest for two hours at least
before you use it.
There are all kinds of recipes for batter.
We happen to like this one very much.
And now, when you'’re doing your Crepes Suzette at the table,
you have to wait this amount of time while the butter cooks.
And so you have to be rather a good raconteur.
You can speak about the time you were in Paris or somewhere
and had the Crepes Suzette, or when you were on an ocean liner.
You might go into the history of Crepes Suzette,
which is somewhat obscure.
I think one of the best historiques was in
Gourmet magazine in 1961.
And Elsie Lee went into a great investigation,
and she found that it was probably Charpentier,
an old chef, who had invented them back in Monte Carlo
for the Prince of Wales.
And they were named after his little daughter...
no, I guess it was the guest of his daughter, Suzette.
He was only 16 years old at the time.
It seems unlikely.
But if you go to France, you find that hundreds of chefs
have claimed to do it.
And now, when your butter has bubbled down and gotten
a little bit syrupy, it'’s time then to put in your crepes.
And you put them...
you roll them in the butter,
and then fold them like that.
And you ought to practice this.
If you'’re going to do it in public,
you ought to practice it a little bit,
though it'’s not difficult to do.
You just have to get the movements.
I'’m using stainless steel salad knife and fork,
which seem to work perfectly well.
And remember with these that you want to pretty side out.
That'’s the better side, and that'’s the less better side.
So you... when you fold it, you want the attractive one to be on
the outside.
And sometimes, if you make your crepes a little too thin,
they'’re difficult to fold.
So you might try making... if you first do it,
to make them in a rather thick batter.
I mean, not really thick, but just a little bit
thicker than absolutely paper thin, the kind you could
read a newspaper through.
This is a good kind of a platter to do these in.
I tried it in a stainless steel one, but the stainless steel
doesn'’t conduct heat at all, and it would just heat up
in the middle.
I see I'’m making a little bit of a mess of that one,
but you can sort of fake the fold if you manage to do it
rapidly enough.
I'’m using large crepes in this.
These are about seven-inch crepes, so I think two
are enough per person.
But these, when they cook in the butter, they get the most
lovely taste.
Now, here'’s a little five-inch crepe.
And this is a terribly thin batter.
But I'’ll just put one in.
Well, I'’m not folding that very well.
I'’ll put it underneath, so nobody will see it.
There.
Now it'’s time to put in the... flaming it with...
we'’re going to use cognac and orange liqueur.
And if you want it to flame you have to put in a good bit,
about a good half cup of each.
And then you have to wait for a few minutes
until it begins to bubble up.
And you also put a little bit of sugar on,
because the sugar helps the brandy to flame.
Then, now that'’s bubbling up, so I light it, and hope that...
yep, that'’s flaming.
You never can see the alcohol flame very well,
because it'’s a light blue.
But then you... with great drama, you want to lift it up
quite high.
And that'’s the reason you want long spoons,
because it'’s quite hot.
And you just spoon that over until the flames
have almost subsided.
And then you'’re ready to serve.
And be sure that you have your plates hot.
You see, you still are getting a little bit of flame there,
which is very nice.
And then, see, there'’s still a little flame with the liquid
as it goes on, which makes a very attractive
and exciting thing.
And now, we have done three really lovely desserts.
We'’ve done our rolled and folded orange almond crepes.
And as you... I'’ve told you, you can use any kind of a
filling that you can think of with those,
and you can flame them or not.
And then that extremely nice apple gateau.
I think that'’s one of the nicest ones.
And then we'’ve ended with Crepes Suzette,
probably the most famous of all French desserts.
And as you'’ve seen, you can prepare your crepe batter
and make your crepes way ahead of time.
You can even freeze them.
You can get everything done ahead, and the assembly
for a really elegant meal is not very difficult.
And so that is all for this time on The French Chef.
This is Julia Child.
Bon apetit.
Julia Child is coauthor of the book
Mastering the Art of French
Cooking.
The French Chef is made possible
by a grant from Safeway Stores.
by a grant from Safeway Stores.
I'’m making a lovely, large, lacy, sugary dessert pancake.
And when we cook it, slather it with orange butter,
and flame it in liqueur and brandy, it'’s going to turn
into one of the most famous French desserts, Crepes Suzette.
We'’re doing it today on The
French Chef.
Welcome to The French Chef.
I'’m Julia Child.
Today we'’re going to do French dessert pancakes.
We'’re going to start with some of the more simple ones,
and we'’re going to end with the flaming Crepes Suzette.
French dessert pancakes are made of a much lighter batter
than the entree crepes.
The entree ones are the kinds that you can fill with
creamed chicken or lobster or mushrooms,
and the dessert ones are even lighter in texture.
Here are some great big ones.
They'’re like that.
They should be just like a feather.
And the proportions for them are a little bit different.
We'’re cooking one now, and I'm doing it in a large pan.
I'’m just turning over this side.
And the proportions that you use for the dessert pancake are...
you don'’t use any whole eggs.
You use three to make about a quart and a half.
You use three egg yolks, and three quarters of a cup of milk,
and three quarters of a cup of water, and one and a half cups
of flour, and five tablespoons of melted butter.
Now, this one'’s just about done, and I'’m going to do another one.
I find it extremely... one of the best pans for making
these French crepes are the no-stickum pans, like this.
The French use pans that don'’t have high edges like this.
But you have to rub them with butter or something
before you put the pancake in.
And in this you don'’t have to use any butter or oil at all.
And you just put your batter in.
Put it right in the middle, and then tilt the pan
in all directions.
And this batter I made in the electric blender.
When you get all of your mix, you just put it in the blender
and let it run until... oh, for about 30 seconds or a minute,
until everything is well... is into a nice cream like this.
And then you have to let it rest for two hours,
so that all of the little granules of flour will
absorb the liquid, and that makes the very tender crepe.
Now, this one, which is more delicate,
is often more difficult to flip.
And remember, if you'’re going to use these no-stickum pans,
you have to use wooden instruments.
And as soon as you'’ve seen it brown around the edges,
you lift it up.
And it'’s a good idea to use your fingers, because you use them
very quickly so that they don'’t burn, and they don'’t get
too hot.
Now, this... the underside is always the nicest side
of the crepe.
And once you'’ve cooked that side, then you can flip it over.
But you see that this side here is the non-public side
of the crepe.
So when you fold it or roll it, you always fill this part of it
and then fold it that way, so that this pretty side is out.
And you can use a smaller no-stick pan.
This is about five and a half inches here.
You do it just exactly the same way.
And this one here is about seven and a half inches.
It just depends on what you particularly want to do.
And these crepes... we'’re going to make the butter for the
Crepes Suzette.
And that'’s an orange butter, and it'’s perfectly delicious.
You can use it for other things besides Crepes Suzette.
And to get a perfectly delicious orange flavor,
you have to go to a little work.
But that'’s rather true of many things if you want to have
the best possible flavor.
You first want to get four sugar lumps.
I'’ve only got two and a half here, because I'’m just
going to show you how you do it.
And you have a nice, bright orange.
And you take your sugar.
You want to take your sugar lump and rub it over the orange skin
until you get the orange oil into the sugar lump.
You can probably see how that looks.
And then you have to rub like this.
And the reason that you do this is that you get much more
of the orange flavor if you rub your lump over the orange.
We break it in half.
And you'’re going to have to use four oranges for this.
And you just rub it all over.
This takes quite a while, but you can do it way ahead of time.
Then, when you have your... or you would have four lumps
like that, and you would have used four oranges,
then you take your vegetable peeler, and you want to
peel what they call the zest off the orange.
And that'’s just the orange part of the orange.
Not the white part.
And you want two whole oranges zested that way.
And then to get even more of the orange flavor,
you put it in a bowl along with your sugar lumps,
and you get any kind of a wooden masher, and you just mash it up.
Now, that'’s getting more of the orange oil out of the orange.
And that'’s what gives you the perfectly delicious flavor
in an orange butter.
Then you pour it out.
And then you take your big knife, and you chop that all up
with a little bit of sugar.
With the zest from two oranges and four sugar lumps,
you use about a quarter of a cup of granulated sugar.
And then you chop it, and that gives you even more
of your flavor.
See that method of chopping?
Hold the knife with your two hands like that and just chop
back and forth.
Now, that takes quite a bit longer when you have
more orange peel.
And this is really about the only long part of this
orange butter, but it'’s one of the most important,
because you'’ve got to get all of that flavor.
And then, when you have all of that, you end up with
a little bowl of orange peel and sugar, which is just like that,
and it just has the essence of orange, and it'’s
perfectly delicious to smell.
So I shall add all of this to here.
And then you take two sticks of softened unsalted butter.
And you can do this by hand, but it'’s very easy to do in
the machine.
And you add your orange to it.
And then you cream it until it'’s nice and fluffy.
And then you have some strained orange juice.
And for this amount, you can add up to about two thirds of a cup.
And you add it very slowly, standing away because it
spatters a little bit.
Whew!
That was a mistake.
Ah.
Now, after that, then you put in some more orange flavor,
using a very good brand of orange liqueur.
You don'’t have to use orange liqueur, but it gives
an added orange flavor.
But don'’t use it at all unless you'’re willing to buy a brand
that really tastes very good.
And I'’m going to put in about three tablespoons,
and be sure to take this rubber spatula out before I do it.
And that'’s all there is to the orange butter.
And now this you want to make ahead of time.
You can make, oh, a day or two ahead of time,
or you can even freeze it.
Because the butter will pick up much more orange flavor
when it'’s made ahead of time.
At least... you want at least two hours.
And then, when that'’s done, you'’re all...
and you'’ve made your pancakes, you'’re all ready to make
your Crepes Suzette.
But you can use this butter for other things, too,
in a dish which you call le
crepes fourre,
or stuffed crepes.
And that'’s a delicious dish, and you don'’t have to go through
all the falderal at the dining room table,
because you can get them all done in the kitchen,
and then flame them, if you wish, at the table or not.
And so I'’m going to put in some almonds into this,
which is very nice.
Now, this is... I'’m going to use some powdered almonds.
And theirs, of course, is an almond that hasn'’t been
blanched or peeled.
But in most grocery stores you can buy either a can
or a plastic bag with the almonds all blanched.
Sometimes they'’re whole and sometimes they'’re in
little pieces.
And you just put the little blanched pieces into the
electric blender about half a cup at a time,
and you come out with these nice powdered almonds.
And we'’re going to put about half a cup of this
into our orange butter.
You can put in more if you want.
It doesn'’t really make very much difference what the proportions
are, but be sure whenever you use almonds that you use
a little bit of almond extract, which brings out the flavor
of the almonds.
I'’m going to put in about a capful, which is just about
a quarter of a teaspoon.
Then you mix that up.
And that'’s all there is to that.
And then we'’re going to stuff our crepes.
I have something for this... this rubber thing in.
Then it'’s a good idea to taste it, just to see if it'’s
really as good as it ought to be.
Awfully good.
You could use that instead of hard sauce on a pudding
if you wanted to.
And now we'’re going to stuff some pancakes.
If you make your crepes ahead of time, which you can do--
I made these last night-- and then you put them
in the refrigerator, always wrap them in wax paper.
And then when they'’re cold, you find that they'’re awfully
hard to peel apart, because you have melted butter in them.
So put them in a covered pan, anything, over simmering water,
into a slow oven, until they'’ve warmed up enough so that you
can peel them apart.
Then... well, this is a very nice dessert.
Take a little oven proof platter and butter it.
I'’ve got lots of melted butter here today.
Then take your pancake, using... see, that'’s the nicer side,
and that is the non-public side.
And then just spread this orange butter on it.
You could really eat them just this way, but...
And then you can fold it in quarters like that,
and put it on your plate.
I'’ll do two of those that way.
It'’s very nice to have this orange butter for freezing it,
and then whenever you want to make a quick dessert you can
just make something like this, which really...
as in France, they say "epater
la bourgeoisie,"
or really excites people.
Now, if you don'’t want to fold them in quarters, you can
roll them up.
Then these you are going to put in the oven.
So you want to sprinkle them with some granulated sugar.
And then put on a few drops of melted butter.
And then you can have that all done ahead of time,
and before you want to serve it, put it into a 375 degree
oven for about ten or 15 minutes until it'’s well heated through.
You want to be sure that you get the sugar to caramelize on top,
because if you want to flame it you can'’t flame it
unless the sugar is caramelized.
And now we'’re going to do another version.
I think this is one of the very nicest of all.
We'’re not going to do this with the orange butter.
We'’re going to do this with apples.
And this is going to be a gateau
de crepe a la Normande,
or from Normandy.
Any time anything comes from Normandy it always has
apples in it.
Now, this we'’ll use again an oven-proof platter,
which we butter.
Then these were these big pancakes.
We'’ll center one in the bottom.
And now these are apple slices.
You put these on a cookie sheet, on a buttered cookie sheet,
and then spread the apples mostly in one layer,
sprinkle them with sugar and with melted butter,
and put them in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes
until they'’ve softened.
And then you put a layer of apples.
And then you can use almonds, but we'’re going to use
macaroons.
That'’s a macaroon and almond cookie.
Some of them are just terrible.
But be sure that you get some that taste like homemade ones,
and that have a lovely almond flavor.
And you break them up into pieces like that,
and stick them on a cookie sheet.
And you want to dry them out.
So just put them in a 200-degree oven for about an hour,
until they get brittle like that.
And then put them half a cup a time in the electric blender,
and you come out with a powder like that.
It'’s a lovely flavor.
And then sprinkle this on.
Again, with this, there are no proportions.
You can do very much what you like.
And then put a little bit of melted butter on.
This isn'’t a terribly no-cal dessert, but it'’s awfully good.
And then, if you want, you can sprinkle a little cognac on.
If you were in Normandy, you would use apple brandy,
or calvados.
And if you'’re going to sprinkle anything, put your thumb
over the bottle, and then just shake it like that,
and you'’ll just get a few drops.
You'’ll just want a little bit for flavoring, not very much.
And then put another pancake on top, and you can just go right
on building this up with as many layers as you like.
And then put on some more almonds, and a little more
butter, and then you end, after you'’ve built up your
large edifice, with a pancake on top, and then put on a little
more butter and a little bit of sugar.
This again, if you'’re going to flame it, you always want to
have your sugar on so it will caramelize, otherwise you can'’t
flame it.
And then this you can prepare up to this point well ahead
of time, and then put it in a 350 oven until it is well
hot through, and the butter has... and the sugar has
caramelized on top.
Now I'’m going to take out our crepes which were stuffed
with the almond cream, and we'’re going to flame them.
I have another one which is... has a few more on it
to show you how it will look.
And with this now, we have about a good half cup of
liqueur which you have to warm, and you have to be sure that
this is warm, too.
And just before you serve, you then pour your liqueur over.
If you don'’t use enough liqueur, it'’s not going to flame.
You see all of that'’s bubbling, and it'’s good and hot.
You can flame it in the kitchen and then bring it to the
dining room, but it'’s a little bit tricky, because you might
burn your eyelashes.
There.
These are very hot.
And they'’re so hot that I'll have time to put in
the orange butter for our Crepes Suzette, because this takes
a little bit of time to cook.
I have here a heavy pan that'’s over an alcohol flame.
And I'’ve gotten it good and hot.
And then in goes the butter.
And now we'’re going to flame our rolled almond crepes.
There.
Now, then you spoon the flaming sauce over the crepes
until the flames die down.
And then you serve them.
Now, this type of crepe you can make in several different ways.
This has the almond orange butter in it.
Or you can put in that nice apple filling that we saw.
Or you can use a very simple filling such as sliced bananas
and apricots and almonds.
And you don'’t have to flame them if you don'’t want.
And there'’s a very nice non-alcoholic version of these
rolled crepes in which you use that French pastry cream.
Do you remember the creme
patissiere
that we used
for our French tarts, our fruit tarts?
Well, you can... you can fill them with that and put some
almonds in, and then grate some chocolate over them,
and sprinkle them with sugar and butter and put them in the oven
until the chocolate is melted.
That makes a perfectly lovely crepe.
Now, as you see with this butter, you have to let it cook
for quite a while, because it has to sort of caramelize
and thicken rather into a syrup.
And while this is cooking down, I think I will go back
over the proportions, because I rather skipped over them
rather quickly as to the batter for these crepes.
And that is, if you have a pencil and would like to
jot it down, we have three-fourths cup of milk,
three-fourths cup of water, three yolks, one tablespoon
of sugar-- that was three egg yolks, I meant--
one tablespoon of sugar, and if you like, three tablespoons
of liqueur, one and one-half cups of flour,
and five tablespoons of melted butter.
And if you have a blender, you mix it in the blender
for just about 30 seconds.
And if you don'’t have one, you put your flour in a bowl,
and with a wooden spoon you gradually work in the eggs
and the liquid until you have a smooth batter,
and then you strain it.
and remember to let it rest for two hours at least
before you use it.
There are all kinds of recipes for batter.
We happen to like this one very much.
And now, when you'’re doing your Crepes Suzette at the table,
you have to wait this amount of time while the butter cooks.
And so you have to be rather a good raconteur.
You can speak about the time you were in Paris or somewhere
and had the Crepes Suzette, or when you were on an ocean liner.
You might go into the history of Crepes Suzette,
which is somewhat obscure.
I think one of the best historiques was in
Gourmet magazine in 1961.
And Elsie Lee went into a great investigation,
and she found that it was probably Charpentier,
an old chef, who had invented them back in Monte Carlo
for the Prince of Wales.
And they were named after his little daughter...
no, I guess it was the guest of his daughter, Suzette.
He was only 16 years old at the time.
It seems unlikely.
But if you go to France, you find that hundreds of chefs
have claimed to do it.
And now, when your butter has bubbled down and gotten
a little bit syrupy, it'’s time then to put in your crepes.
And you put them...
you roll them in the butter,
and then fold them like that.
And you ought to practice this.
If you'’re going to do it in public,
you ought to practice it a little bit,
though it'’s not difficult to do.
You just have to get the movements.
I'’m using stainless steel salad knife and fork,
which seem to work perfectly well.
And remember with these that you want to pretty side out.
That'’s the better side, and that'’s the less better side.
So you... when you fold it, you want the attractive one to be on
the outside.
And sometimes, if you make your crepes a little too thin,
they'’re difficult to fold.
So you might try making... if you first do it,
to make them in a rather thick batter.
I mean, not really thick, but just a little bit
thicker than absolutely paper thin, the kind you could
read a newspaper through.
This is a good kind of a platter to do these in.
I tried it in a stainless steel one, but the stainless steel
doesn'’t conduct heat at all, and it would just heat up
in the middle.
I see I'’m making a little bit of a mess of that one,
but you can sort of fake the fold if you manage to do it
rapidly enough.
I'’m using large crepes in this.
These are about seven-inch crepes, so I think two
are enough per person.
But these, when they cook in the butter, they get the most
lovely taste.
Now, here'’s a little five-inch crepe.
And this is a terribly thin batter.
But I'’ll just put one in.
Well, I'’m not folding that very well.
I'’ll put it underneath, so nobody will see it.
There.
Now it'’s time to put in the... flaming it with...
we'’re going to use cognac and orange liqueur.
And if you want it to flame you have to put in a good bit,
about a good half cup of each.
And then you have to wait for a few minutes
until it begins to bubble up.
And you also put a little bit of sugar on,
because the sugar helps the brandy to flame.
Then, now that'’s bubbling up, so I light it, and hope that...
yep, that'’s flaming.
You never can see the alcohol flame very well,
because it'’s a light blue.
But then you... with great drama, you want to lift it up
quite high.
And that'’s the reason you want long spoons,
because it'’s quite hot.
And you just spoon that over until the flames
have almost subsided.
And then you'’re ready to serve.
And be sure that you have your plates hot.
You see, you still are getting a little bit of flame there,
which is very nice.
And then, see, there'’s still a little flame with the liquid
as it goes on, which makes a very attractive
and exciting thing.
And now, we have done three really lovely desserts.
We'’ve done our rolled and folded orange almond crepes.
And as you... I'’ve told you, you can use any kind of a
filling that you can think of with those,
and you can flame them or not.
And then that extremely nice apple gateau.
I think that'’s one of the nicest ones.
And then we'’ve ended with Crepes Suzette,
probably the most famous of all French desserts.
And as you'’ve seen, you can prepare your crepe batter
and make your crepes way ahead of time.
You can even freeze them.
You can get everything done ahead, and the assembly
for a really elegant meal is not very difficult.
And so that is all for this time on The French Chef.
This is Julia Child.
Bon apetit.
Julia Child is coauthor of the book
Mastering the Art of French
Cooking.
The French Chef is made possible
by a grant from Safeway Stores.