Crêpe Suzette

Crêpe Suzette (pronounced: [kʁɛp syzɛt]) is a French dessert consisting of a crêpe with beurre Suzette, (pronounced: [bœʁ syzɛt]), a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, served flambé.[1]

Contents

Preparation

The most common way to make Crêpe Suzette is to pour liqueur (usually Grand Marnier) over a freshly cooked crêpe with sugar and light it. This will make the alcohol in the liqueur evaporate, resulting in a fairly thick, caramelised sauce. In a restaurant, a Crêpe Suzette is often prepared in a chafing dish in full view of the guests.

Origins

The origin of the dish and its name is somewhat disputed. One claim is that the dish was created out of a mistake made by a fourteen-year-old assistant waiter Henri Charpentier in 1895 at the Maitre at Monte Carlo's Café de Paris. He was preparing a dessert for the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, and his companion Princess Suzanne (daughter of Edward, Prince of Wales, who was the son of Queen Victoria). It was his favourite meal.

This is told by Henri Charpentier himself in Life a la Henri, his autobiography,[2] although later contradicted by the Larousse dictionary.

It was quite by accident as I worked in front of a chafing dish that the cordials caught fire. I thought It was ruined. The Prince and his friends were waiting. How could I begin all over? I tasted it. It was, I thought, the most delicious medley of sweet flavors I had ever tasted. I still think so. That accident of the flame was precisely what was needed to bring all those various instruments into one harmony of taste . . . He ate the pancakes with a fork; but he used a spoon to capture the remaining syrup. He asked me the name of that which he had eaten with so much relish. I told him it was to be called Crêpes Princesse. He recognized that the pancake controlled the gender and that this was a compliment designed for him; but he protested with mock ferocity that there was a lady present. She was alert and rose to her feet and holding her little skirt wide with her hands she made him a curtsey. 'Will you,' said His Majesty, 'change Crêpes Princesse to Crêpes Suzette?' Thus was born and baptized this confection, one taste of which, I really believe, would reform a cannibal into a civilized gentleman. The next day I received a present from the Prince, a jeweled ring, a panama hat and a cane.

Different sources (like the Larousse Gastronomique) however doubt that Charpentier was serving the prince instead of the head waiter because he would have been too young.

The other claim states Crêpe Suzette was named in honor of French actress Suzanne Reichenberg (1853–1924),[3] who worked professionally under the name Suzette. In 1897, Suzette appeared in the Comédie Française in the role of a maid, during which she served crêpes on stage. Monsieur Joseph, owner of Restaurant Marivaux, provided the crêpes . He decided to flambé the thin pancakes to attract the audience's attention and keep the food warm for the actors consuming them. M. Joseph was subsequently director of the Paillard Restaurant in Paris and was later with the Savoy Hotel in London.

In 1896, Oscar Tschirky published the recipe as "Pancakes, Casino Style" with everything in place except the final flambée. This appears on page 629 of his book published in New York, The Cook Book by "Oscar" of the Waldorf.

The dish was already a speciality of the French restaurant Marie's by 1898 (Paris Vécu, L.Daudet, 1929).

References in popular culture

Music

In print

Onscreen

Film

Television

References

  1. ^ Courtine, Robert J. (1984), Larousse gastronomique (French edition), Paris: Librairie Larousse.
  2. ^ Charpentier, Henri & Sparkes, Boyden (2001), Life À La Henri - Being The Memories of Henri Charpentier, New York: The Modern Library, Paperback Edition. Originally published by Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1934.
  3. ^ Claiborne, Craig (1994) Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Food Encyclopedia, Random House Value Publishing.

External links