Crepe Bootcamp; ‘that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!’
As a young cook studying at the CIA, I was extremely respectful of my Chef Instructors. I revered them and totally loved being a CIA student. In one of the final, restaurant style classes I was tasked with making consomme. I assembled the grinder blade backwards (to grind beef for the raft) and quickly became the Chef’s day one demo! He called the entire class over to view my disaster, basically cursing and abusing me for about 10 minutes. I recall him saying I had wasted my parents money & wasn’t even capable of washing pots in any NYC restaurant. I was embarrassed for my mistake but didn’t flinch or make excuses which made chef much angrier and more abusive… but class got better.
On day 4 we were making Crepes a la Reine. The Chef showed us his sacred, crepe pans lined with fine tissue paper to avoid scratches. He explained the technique of creating a one inch square of pork fatback with a slit carved into the skin to hold the fatback when we melted the fat onto the hot crepe pan. He explained how to make perfect crepe batter and how to place the crepe pans on the flat top to heat to the correct temperature. He ceremoniously demonstrated how to carefully ladle one ounce of crepe batter, tilt and swirl the pan to get the thinnest, light, golden crepes. He explained how to gently flip the crepe with our bare fingers to avoid scratching the pans. It was all about the special pans.
Chef asked the class who was assigned to make the crepes, my had flew up and he laughed. He warned me not to scratch his pans, he told me a good cook could make crepes with 3 pans at a time but doubted I could manage one pan. I think he actually took my wallet as collateral to make sure he got his pans back in perfect condition… the good old days.
I got the hang of it quickly and was soon using five pans, making good crepes. It was so hot, my face was bright red from the heat and my pants and socks were literally soaked with sweat (flat tops are incredibly hot). He came over to inspect and grunted something.
Six months later I was working as the poissonnier at Le Cirque in NYC, arguably the finest restaurant in North America at the time. One of my many tasks was making crepes (for curried shrimp). I was able to use seven pans and being reminded that I was to slow and that I wasn’t in school any longer and needed to work faster and harder. This is my favorite crepe recipe-homemade manicotti.
Crepe batter for Baked Manicotti (about 8 crepes) 1 Cup AP Flour, sifted 1 Egg 6-8 oz Milk 1 oz Browned Butter Place the flour into a large bowl. Whisk the egg and milk together in a second bowl. Slowly whisk the egg/milk into the flour to avoid clumps. Whisk in the brown butter and let rest for several hours, covered. Adjust thickness and begin making crepes. Lay out onto parchment paper. Note-I used a spray instead of fat back- but use very little spray or the crepes won’t stick to the pan. I still flip each crepe with my bare fingers-and yes… it hurts a little.
Ricotta filling for Baked Manicotti (about 8 crepes) 2 lb Ricotta 2 Egg yolks 2 oz Parmesan cheese, grated 6 oz Fresh Mozzarella, shredded 1/4 tsp Nutmeg, optional Place the ricotta into a large bowl. Add the egg and whisk. Add the cheeses and nutmeg, mix together. I don’t add salt or pepper- I prefer the filling to be very delicate. Lay out the crepes and fill each evenly with ricotta filling-roll and place onto sauce. Top with additional sauce and shredded mozzarella and bake until heated through-about 15 minutes at 350F.
