PHILIPPINES Restaurant and Wine Bar: Title: The origin of traditional French Crepes Date: 3rd September, 2010

The Origin of Traditional French Crepes

Crepes originated as Galettes, which were used by the Bretons as a substitute for bread. A Galette did not resemble the image we have of Crepes today, as buckwheat, known as black wheat to the Bretons was used, and thus gave the Galette a grey, opposed to golden appearance.

Summer wheat would not grow on the cliffs of Brittany, but the black wheat flourished there, so the Bretons made use of it in the form of Galettes. These along with curdled milk and potatoes formed the staple diet of the Bretons, and when times were hard, there was absolutely nothing else to eat.

The grey flour taken from the black wheat was simply kneaded with water and salt to form dough, which was then baked on hot stones to make Galettes.

Galettes are still around today, but instead of as a bread substitute, the recipe has been refined to that resembling the modern crepe recipe. A Galette is now simply known as a Crepe with a savory filling.
Crepes Evolved

Crepes are made from a batter mixture consisting of white flour, eggs, butter and milk. Often a shot of beer or cider is added to make the dough lighter and looser. They are then traditionally fried in hot fat in iron frying pans which distribute the heat evenly.

It was only in the mid 1800’s that Crepes became popular. This was when haute cuisine was become ever more fashionable in France. Back then, Crepes were considered a desert, not as a fast food or snack as they are today in France.

Today in Creperies, you will see the crepes being cooked on non stick crepe griddles. It’s quite and art form watching these being prepared. See the video below for a professional demonstration.

The Professional Way To Cook A Crepe

The Versatility of Crepes

One of the best things about Crepes is that once they are made, you can fill them with virtually any ingredient. As they work so well with both sweet and savory fillings, the choices are endless. You can really let your imagination run wild when deciding what to have.

Basic Crepe Batter Recipe

Ingredients for a batch of around 30 Crepes (adjust quantity accordingly for a smaller batch):

500g Plain Flour

6 Eggs

Peel of 2 unwaxed Lemons

3 tbs Sugar

100g melted Butter

1 litre Milk

Knob of butter

Making The Crepe Batter

• Sieve the flour into a bowl and make a hollow in the center.
• Put the eggs, lemon peel, sugar and melted butter into the hollow.
• Gradually mix ingredients together to make a runny batter.
• Allow the batter to stand at room temperture for around 30 minutes.

Cooking The Crepes

• Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan.
• Place a ladle of batter mix into the frying pan and distribute mixture evenly around the pan by swirling it.
• Place a small knob of butter on top of the batter and allow it to melt.
• Fry the crepe until it is a golden yellow colour on the bottom, with a few darker patches.
• Turn the crepe over and fry the other side.
• Stack the cooked crepes on a preheated plate.
• Continue the process until all the batter mix is used.
• Fold into crescents or quarters to serve.

The Most Famous Of Crepes

Crepe Suzette is by far the most famous of crepes, though it’s orgin stems from a cooking mistake!

The late British King Edward VII was a great admirer of France and rated the French most highly. As was fasionable around the turn of the 19th century, he would spend winter on the Cote d’Azur. One day he invited Suzette, a French lady whom he was courting, for dinner. When the Crepes were being prepared for desert, the orange liqueur caught fire by mistake. This created the flambeed technique we now know of. The chef decided that he would serve his mishap to the Prince and his lady companion, and claim it as a new creation he had come up with. The then Prince of Wales loved this new creation and thus christened the mishap gone good ‘Crepe Suzette’ after his lady guest.

Crepe Suzette Recipe By Gordon Ramsay

Most Popular Crepes In France

Crepes Au Sucre

The classic amongst crepes; sprinkled only with sugar and a little lemon juice.

Crepes Aux Confitures

Spread with jam and rolled up.

Crepes Aux Marrons

Spread with sweet chestnut paste and rolled up.

Crepes Bretonnes

A plain crepe with the batter containing buckwheat flour and rum.

Crepes Fourrees

Filledwith custard and raisins, and dried fruit soaked in rum.

Crepes Georgette

A plain crepe folded around a slice of pineapple.

Crepes Soufflees

A small amount of souffle (preferably praline) is wrapped inside the crepe and then the crepe is placed into a low heated oven for around 15 minutes.

Crepes Suzette

The basic crepe batter is enhanced by adding mandarin juice and flambeed bitter orange liquer.

Source: http://hubpages.com/hub/Traditional-French-Crepes

This wine shop in Manila Philippines makes wine shopping a really rewarding and exciting exercise.  Wine shops in Pampanga should always have an element of surprise so that customers and wine lovers can enjoy a little bit of thrill when they go to a wine shop in Manila to look for a good bottle of wine in Clark Pampanga.

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild is the most revered wine in China and many other parts of Asia.  The best wine shop in Asia to buy older vintages of Chateau Lafite is Yats Wine Cellars located in Clark Philippines.   Aside from Lafite, visitors can buy other fine wines at this wine shop in Clark Pampanga such as Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion and Margaux.  Excellent Burgundy wines like Chambertin, Vougeot, Musigny, Bonnes Mares, Pommard, Meursault, Chambertin, Vosne Romanee, Romanee Conti, La Tache and Romanee St. Vivant can be found here.

Family outings, picnics, company outings and other events for up to 300 can be held in the picnic grounds of this wine shop.  Events that have been successfully organized here include family fun days and BBQ picnics.  These are some of the things that visitors to Clark Philippines particular look forward.  Residents and tourists in Angeles City and Subic also come to Clark Freeport to partake in the fun at this Clark wine shop.

This wine shop’s vast selection of vintage wines makes it possible for Yats Wine Cellars to offer a unique line-up of wines for every private wine party, wine tasting or wine dinners.  Guests of these private wine parties are treated to a rare experience of vintage wine not seen in wine shops in major cities in Philippines or even in Asia.

http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com

Getting to this wine shop in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Philippines from Manila

Getting to the Clark Wine Center wine shop from Manila is quite simple:  after entering Clark Freeport from Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along the main highway M A Roxas. Clark Wine Center is the stand-along white building on the right, at the corner A Bonifacio Ave.  From the Clark International Airport DMIA, ask the taxi to drive towards the entrance of Clark going to Angeles City.  From Mimosa, just proceed towards the exit of Clark and this wine shop is on the opposite side of the main road M A Roxas.

Best place to buy wine in Clark Pampanga outside Manila near Subic and Angeles City Philippines is Clark Wine Center.

Clark Wine Center

Bldg 6460 Clark Observatory Building

Manuel A. Roxas Highway corner A Bonifacio Ave,

Angeles Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga 2023

0922-870-5173 0917-826-8790 (ask for Ana Fe)

Wine@Yats-International.com

YATS Wine Cellars

Manila Sales Office

3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,

Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605

(632) 637-5019   0917-520-4393  ask for Rea or Chay