History Of A Dish - Crepes Suzette

The Age

Tuesday July 8, 2008

Joanna Savill

The French associate crepes with the northern region of Brittany, where crepe stands at every village market offer savoury and sweet fillings. Its more hearty cousin, the pancake, can be found world-wide, drizzled with maple syrup (US) or filled with walnuts and chocolate (central Europe). But crepes suzette come bathed in melted butter, sweet orange syrup and Grand Marnier (or curacao, Cointreau or a combination). A tableside flambe adds effect. There's a legendary and accidental beginning to the tale, told in the memoirs of Henri Charpentier, a disciple of the great Escoffier. Charpentier recounts creating the dish in Monte Carlo in 1895, for the then Prince of Wales, who named it for one of his young female guests. "One taste (of this dish)," its modest creator raved, "would reform a cannibal into a civilised gentleman." Provided no one singes their eyebrows in the process. -- JOANNA SAVILL

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