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A crêpe (pronounced /ˈkreɪp/, French IPA: [kʀɛp]) is a type of very thin, cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled." While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is nowadays widespread in France. Crêpes can be compared to the African injera, the tortilla, the Indian dosa and the Mexican sope. Crêpes often have a fruit syrup, filling mixed berries, fresh fruit, and lemon cream.
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Origin
Buckwheat came to North America from Southwest Asia and also spread to Eastern Europe, where a similar meal, called blintz, also developed. In Brittany, crêpes are traditionally served with cider. In Italy, it is crespella. In areas of Eastern Europe, the meal is called palačinka (Bosnian, Serbian,Bulgarian, Macedonian, Czech, Croatian and Slovenian), palacinka (Slovak), Palatschinken (in Austria), palacsinta (Hungarian), all these terms being derived from Latin placenta meaning "cake"). A cognate of the word exists in Romanian, plăcintă, but it is actually more similar to a quiche than to a crêpe; the Romanian word for crêpe is clătită. In Danish, it's Pandekage, in most German regions it's Pfannkuchen, and in Dutch it's pannekoeken. The Polish version is called naleśniki. In the Spanish region of Galicia, they're called "filloas", and may also be made with pork blood instead of milk.
Preparation
Crêpes are made by pouring a thin liquid batter onto a hot frying pan or flat circular hot plate, often with a trace of butter or oil on the pan's surface. The batter is spread evenly over the cooking surface of the pan or plate either by tilting the pan or by distributing the batter with an offset spatula.
Common fillings for meal crêpes include: cheese, asparagus, ham, spinach, eggs, ratatouille, mushrooms, artichoke (in certain regions), and various meat products.
When they are sweet, they can be a dessert. They can be filled with various other sweet items: jam, melted chocolate, dairy, ice cream, Nutella (a chocolate and hazelnut paste), bananas, berries, nuts, poppyseeds, cinnamon etc. Popular sweet toppings include sugar (granulated or powdered), maple syrup, lemon juice, whipped cream, fruit spreads, sliced soft fruits, etc.
Types and special crêpes
Crêpes are especially popular throughout France. The common ingredients include flour, eggs, milk, butter and a pinch of salt. Crêpes are usually of two types: sweet crêpes (crêpes sucrées) made with wheat flour and slightly sweetened, and savoury galettes (crêpes salées) made with buckwheat flour and unsweetened.
Mille crêpe is a French cake made of many crêpe layers. "Mille" ("mil") means "a thousand," implying the many layers of crêpe. However, due to the number of times crêpes are folded, the same effect is often achieved, even with a single crêpe.
Another standard French and Belgian crêpe is the crêpe Suzette, a crêpe with lightly grated orange peel and liqueur (usually Grand Marnier) which is subsequently lit.
It is also a fairly common practice to roll or envelop them and then lightly fry, bake or sautée them, not unlike blintz, whose preparation is otherwise similar.
The batter of the original French crêpe is usually made with white wheat flour when the crêpe is served as a sweet crêpe. It is made with buckwheat flour when the crêpe (rather called "galette") is served as a savoury crêpe. A batter made of 100% buckwheat flour is gluten-free. This makes it possible for people who have a gluten allergy or intolerance to eat crêpes / galettes (as long as the other ingredients of the dish are gluten-free, too, of course).
It is also possible to make crêpes without eggs, and crêpes without milk.
A common recipe practiced among bodybuilders is what is called a "Bodybuilder's Crêpe", traditionally made with whey protein powder, flavoring, egg white, and other popular ingredients such as cottage cheese, oats, and peanut butter. They are prepared the same way as normal crêpes are, but can sometimes cook much faster. There are also dessert crepes such as crepes filled with hazelnut spread or filled with jam and powdered sugar.
Crêperies
A crêperie may be a takeaway restaurant or stall, serving crêpes as a form of fast food or street food, or may be a more formal sit-down restaurant or café.
Crêperies are typical of Brittany in France; however, crêperies can be found throughout France, Europe, and even Tokyo, the United States and Canada. In the Canadian province of Quebec, crêperies are especially abundant because of the French influence.
Because a crêpe may contain a variety of fillings, it can serve as both a main meal or a dessert. Savoury courses are usually served in the form of buckwheat galettes. Crêperies may therefore be quite diverse in their selection and may make other baked goods such as baguettes. They may also serve coffee, tea, buttermilk and cider (a popular drink to accompany crêpes).
Crêpes in culture
In France, crêpes were traditionally served on Candlemas (La Chandeleur), February 2. This day was originally Virgin Mary's Blessing Day but became known as avec Crêpe Day, referring to the tradition of offering avec crêpes. It is believed that if you could catch the crêpe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your left hand and holding a piece of gold on your right, you would become rich that year.[1]
See also
References
- ^ Clay, Xanthe. "With a flame in your art". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
External links
- Crêpe RecipesCollection of crêpe recipes
- Crêpe recipe with step-by-step pictures
- How to make a crêpe
