Crepes "s'il vous plait,"

The other day I was working a brunch where we had a crepe station set up. While I was standing behind the burner in the 90 deg heat and humidity, I was day dreaming about crepes and when I ate them on streets of Paris. The last one I had there was when I went with my kids to Europe for my 40th birthday, the kids had nutella and chocolate crepes, and I had a more adult blend. I know I had a Grand Marnier crepe and maybe also a Jack Daniels crepe. You have to love the Parisians! These were served from a sidewalk vendor, no Sabrett’s and Knishes here.

My reverie and daydreams were broken when a guest asked me; what's the difference between a crepe and a blintz? I had to think for a second and then answered that the main difference is that a blintz is filled with a cheese filling and rolled before serving.

I guess the answer was sufficient since the guest just moved down the line and continued to fill his crepes; one with the savory vegetable blend with Mornay sauce and the second filled with a fresh fruit compote topped with raspberry coulis and fresh whipped cream.

As he glided down the line, I started to think about other breakfast items similar to crepes. The obvious first thought was pancakes, while they are much thicker then crepes they are very similar with many of the same ingredients.

I then thought of tortillas and the how they are also a staple breakfast item in many cultures. The best huevos rancheros I ever had was not in Mexico but in a little dive in Los Angeles. The tortillas were cooked on a cast iron frying pan older then the gray haired Grandmother cooking them, and the salsa was spicy and hot but not over powering.

In many cultures, pancakes are not always for breakfast. How does Chinese pancakes with green onions sound? Or maybe pancakes with crispy Peking duck? Germans also have pancakes for dinner, they are not served with maple syrup but with filling ranging from jams and jellies to sprouts.


That being said, that the next time you have a meal that is not part of your normal routine, even if its something as simple as crepes, let you mind drift and take a trip around the world. Who knows where you may end up?

Mis en place

Mis en place, does that mean anything to you? Well if you have taken basic French 101 you may know it literally means “to put in place”, but in the cooking world it means “everything in place”. This is one of the most basic, yet perhaps most important trick of the trade when it comes to being a successful cook. What it actually means in laymen’s terms is to get everything ready. If you have ever watched a cooking show on TV or demonstration, you have seen this in action and may not have even known it.

What a successful cook does before starting a recipe is measure all ingredients out after reading the recipe through, and have them lined up and ready when needed. This not only allows the recipe to be created in a seamless fashion, but it also allows you to make sure that you have everything required in the recipe. Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of baking or cooking what should be a wonderful dish, only to get towards the end of the recipe to discover that you have baking soda but not the baking powder required or the curry you thought you had turned out to be mustard or cumin? Sure they may look alike but you can not substitute them in recipes. If you are lucky enough to live close to a store you can run out or better yet send your significant other; but depending on what you are making, there may not be time to do this. If you had set your Mis en place, you would have found this out ahead of time you are missing something and been able to avoid the mishap This will also help you do your slicing and dicing ahead of time if the recipe calls for it.

So next time you take a venture into the kitchen, whether for a new or old time favorite recipe try using this technique. You’ll find this will save you time and help reduce stress in the kitchen, just another trick in making life easier, five meals at a time. Or in this case only one meal. Have a great week and stay cool