Crêpes Suzette

My mother always used this Joy of Cooking recipe for her crepes and it’s a good one. You need to make this batter at least 3 hours before serving and keep covered and refrigerated. (You can also refrigerate overnight.)
The sauce recipe calls for maraschino, curaçao and kirsch. I substitute rum and Grand Marnier. The sauce base should be made at least 12 hours ahead.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Crepes

Ingredients

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon milk

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon butter (more as needed)

Directions

Combine and stir until the ingredients are the consistency of thin cream. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

When ready to cook, heat about a third of the butter over medium heat in either a crepe pan or small (7 to 8 inches) nonaluminum frying pan.

When the butter bubbles, pour a thin layer of batter into frying pan and turn to coat bottom. The thin coating should be “almost like the white of an egg,” according to the Joy of Cooking.

Keep the pan moving. This is a delicate substance. When the batter just begins to come away from the side of the pan and the crêpe is slightly browned, flip to the other side and cook until browned. Add butter as needed.

The pancakes can be made ahead and stacked, with waxed paper between each one. They will be reheated in the sauce. Before cooking in the sauce, fold each crepe in half and then in half again, making a triangle.

Sauce

Ingredients

3/4-inch square piece lemon rind

3/4-inch square piece orange rind

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

4-6 ounces liqueur such as maraschino, curaçao, kirsch or Grand Marnier (or an alcohol such as rum)

Directions

Combine lemon and orange rinds, vanilla and sugar and put in a covered jar for 12 hours or more. It may be refrigerated for months.

Melt the butter in a small skillet, or a chafing dish if you’re doing this at the table, and when it starts to bubble, add the alcohol. Light the sauce and as the flame dies down, add the lemon and orange mixture.

Plunge the folded crepes, one at a time into the hot sauce and turn, spooning the sauce over both sides. Put 2 crepes on each of the 4 plates and spoon remaining sauce over them.

Adapted from a recipe by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker in Joy of Cooking (Bobbs-Merrill, 1964)