Flamboyant, flaming and French, it’s hard to outshine this booze-soaked classic. At Melbourne’s Gimlet, a guéridon trolley allows for extra fanfare, with each crêpes Suzette dish flambéed and finished tableside. Andrew McConnell and head chef Colin Mainds’ crêpes Suzette recipe can be recreated at home, with safety and planning an essential ingredient.
“Preparation is key to executing the final stage of the recipe,” says McConnell. “Measure the ingredients and have them sitting next to the cooking area at arm’s length. And be very careful when igniting the sauce, using extra-long matches.” Lighting the sauce burns off the alcohol, leaving a more intense citrus flavour. There’s also the option to serve the crêpes Suzette sauce as is, without setting it alight.
How to make Andrew McConnell’s crêpes Suzette recipe
Ingredients
Method
For batter, sift flour, baking powder and ½ tsp sea salt flakes into a bowl and set aside. Combine milk, sugar, and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and melt butter (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and cool to room temperature (10-15 minutes). Add eggs to milk mixture and stir to combine. Then add flour mixture and stir with a whisk until well combined. Pass through a sieve and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
For candied orange peel, place peel in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil (3-5 minutes). Strain and repeat 3 more times. Cool, then cut into julienne. Place sugar and 240ml water into saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add peel and reduce heat to low. Simmer until tender and translucent (4-5 minutes); cool to room temperature.
To cook crêpes, heat a 20cm crêpe pan over medium-high heat, brush with melted butter, then pour in 40ml crêpe batter, swirling pan quickly to spread evenly over base. Cook until golden on base (1-2 minutes) and bubbles appear on surface, then turn to cook other side (30 seconds). Transfer to a tray lined with baking paper, wipe out pan with paper towels and repeat with remaining batter, stacking crêpes as you go. Makes 8. When ready to cook fold crêpes into quarters.
Place a large frying pan over medium heat and scatter over sugar. Shaking pan, cook until sugar starts to caramelise (1 minute). Add butter, shaking and swirling pan to combine with sugar. Allow to bubble and begin to turn golden (2-4 minutes). Add juices and cook until reduced by one-third. The colour will darken and sauce thicken.
Add Cointreau followed by crêpes, overlapping them to fit. Carefully add Cognac, step away from pan and ignite the sauce with a long barbecue lighter or matches. The flame will burn out as the alcohol cooks. Once the flame has extinguished itself, spoon cooking liquid over crêpes while in the pan. You want the sauce to reduce and thicken so it coats the crêpes.
To serve, carefully lift crêpes onto your serving plate, spoon over a generous amount of orange sauce and top with candied orange zest.
It is best to use a non-stick 20cm crêpe pan for cooking. A small ladle that holds 40gm batter is ideal to ensure each crêpe is the same size and thickness.
This crêpes Suzette recipe also calls for chilling (see method).
Note
