I think it is only appropriate that I beat Mario Galaxy the day before school starts back up again. Although… I still have about 15 stars to get… I can get those on the weekend. More to come on the game itself…
Supposedly each major civilization has a version a thin, flat, flour based treat. South Americans are widely know for the tortilla. In Russia, one might enjoy a blintz, and in India, a dosa. Americans like myself are quite fond of the pancake. But it is perhaps the French that are most famous for their version of this universal and versatile food that is known to the French as the crepe.
Saturday morning Kyle and I attempted to replicate the crepe, and in doing so made quite a mockery of the food that is so much a part of the collective unconscious.
I faithfully followed the recipe as espoused by Alton Brown, who is widely known by food nerds the world over. I refrigerated the batter for an hour as per the instructions. Meanwhile, I did the dishes and read the news and then obnoxiously woke Kyle. He wasn’t thrilled when I woke him by hopping around on the bed, but when I told him I made crepe batter and that all he had to do was cook the crepes, he quickly perked up.
Cooking the crepes was not quite as trivial as I may have made Kyle believe. One must note that the most essential quality of the crepe is its thinness. Now, putting the correct amount of batter in the pan is a reasonably easy task. However, what one does next with said batter proved to be quite difficult. Despite a generous lubing of our new Teflon pan with butter, the crepes clung onto dear life to the bottom of the pan, as if they were trying to say (in their best French accents), “Screw you silly Americans! You have no business making crepes!” Since they were sticking to the pan in protest, they were impossible to flip. Kyle tried to salvage whatever was in the pan by turning the crepes over as best as he could. The result was a big glob of greasy goo in the middle of the pan.
We discovered our fatal flaw was finding the ideal temperature. However, after much trial and error Kyle finally found the correct temperature and even perfected his flipping technique. I think by the end, Kyle produced two decent looking crepes. He kindly gave those to me and he ate the huge glob of crepe goo.
We poured a little bit of maple syrup on them and sprinkled them with powered sugar, and they were quite delightful. They may have been a bit unorthodox, but they were tasty and we had a lot of fun making them.
I think authentic French chefs shed a tear for us that day, but come on, it was our first try! Perhaps the only thing we can do to perfect the delicate and complex art of the crepe is to keep practicing. That’s totally fine with me, as long as Kyle is willing to eat the mess-ups.
Watch as Kyle perfects his flip!