The secret of French crepes has been relieved

Hello, my dear readers! Today I'm going to relive the secret of making French crepes. Honestly, we call them Russian blintz. But, sadly, they are known here in the States as French crepes, so I will call them the same.
I checked with my favorite cookbook by Julia Child and it seems that we have some slight differences in preparation on crepes, but it is just because back in 1950's they didn't have such a wonderful thing as non-stick frying pans aka T-Fal. So, I will give you the recipe assuming that you have a good frying pan with non-stick surface.


For the ingredients part you will need: 1 egg, 1/3 of cup of sugar, pinch of salt, 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup of flour. This will make about 10-12 small pancakes. So, if you desire to make more, increase you dosage respectfully.

Don't forget to prepare a large bowl and whisker. Ready? Let's do it! Here is the FIRST SECRET: place the egg, sugar, flour and salt into mixing bowl and add (attention!) only a half of cup of water!!! Mix them together well. Make sure that you don't have any possible lumps. You will see that your batter is thick - that is good because it means your mixture is blended well. Now gradually add the rest of the water constantly working with your whisker. If you feel that you need more water, add it in very small portion. You don't want it to be very runny.
Quote from Julia Child: "The batter should be a very light cream, just thick enough to coat a wooden spoon."


Here is the SECRET NUMBER TWO: add a tablespoon of vegetable oil into the batter mix! In this case you don't have to grease you pan every time you pour a new portion on batter.

Julia Childs advised that, "Crepe batter should be made at least 2 hours before it is to be used; this allows the flour particles to expand in the liquid ind insures a tender, light thin crepe." But I never followed that advice and it always worked for me. You can fry them as soon as you make the batter. But if you want to try it after two hours, I guess it will work too! :)

SECRET NUMBER THREE: you frying pan should be really hot! Almost smoking. Remove the pan from heat, and pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the pan. Then, quickly tilt the pan in all directions to run batter all over the bottom of the pan, letting it to cover the whole surface.


Return the pan to the hot surface and watch the edges turning dry! It will take about 50-60 seconds. That is the sign that it is time to turn it over. In all Julia Child's movies she just flip it over with the sharp jerk! Don't try it! Without certain practice it is just a messy experience! Use a spatula or your fingers to turn the crepe over. The other side takes less time to bake. So, it almost looks undercooked - just white color with brownish spots.
SECRET NUMBER FOUR: I butter my each crepe and it makes it easy to pull them apart afterwords.


Repeat the process until all butter is gone. At the end you should have a nice-looking stuck of French crepes or Russian blintz - either name works for me!!

Now, you are are ready to consume them! Crepes can be used as dessert: with jam, chocolate syrup, fresh or canned fruit, sour cream - you name it! Or they can be served with scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, or any filling that you have in mind. In Russia they are served with red or black caviar and smoked salmon - the best!


My personale favorite way to eat them - with Nuttela chocolate paste and fresh berries. Yumm!
But since I didn't have anything like that around, I just used canned mandarins and condensed milk:


It was really good! Paul liked them too!

I hope I didn't overwhelmed you with all the information and you are ready to try this easy and tasty recipe! Good luck! Call me if you have any problems! :)