Crepes Suzette Flambé, Recipe and Story

Step 1

Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt and sugar).

Step 2

Gradually add eggs, milk, melted butter and beer, constantly mixing to prevent any lumps. Let it stand in the fridge ideally for one hour.

Step 3

As everything goes very fast when it comes to caramel, start by preparing and measuring all ingredients: weigh sugar, dice butter. Zest oranges with a zester (ideally make thin strips). Squeeze oranges and lemon to get the required quantities. Measure Grand Marnier.

Step 4

Pour sugar in a saucepan, with no water, and heat without whisking. When it turns to a beautiful amber color, add diced butter and whisk immediately (it will stop the cooking process).

Step 5

Then add the orange and lemon juice. Stir well and leave over medium heat to reduced.

Step 6

Note that if you accidentally have remaining sugar rocks (formed by the temperature shock when you added butter to the caramel), they will little by little dissolve and disappear. By reducing, caramel and juices will form a nice and glossy syrup.

Step 7

Grease a pan by adding butter knob. When butter start to melt, use a paper towel to lay butter all over the pan and remove any excess. Stir batter that have rested so that texture is even. Pour one ladleful in the hot and greased pan.

Step 8

After 1 or 2 minutes flip to cook on the other side. Go on and on, you should make about a dozen with this amount of dough. Ideally let them stand in the oven at 30 – 40 °C so that crêpes stay warm.

Step 9

Then 2 solutions heat Grand Marnier, pour it in the sauce and immediately flambé. Scratch a match and approach the hot sauce with alcohool. Flames will suddunly appear and for a few minutes alcool will burn off. When no alcohol remain, flames will disapear. Cover crêpes folded in 4, cover with orange zests.

Step 10

Or soak folded in 4 crêpes in the sauce. Heat Grand Marnier and flambé. Add orange zests.

Step 11

Whatever solution you choose, ideally leave crêpes in the Suzette sauce for a few minutes so that crèpes take all the sauce flavours.