IT'S Shrove Tuesday today – but do your pancakes come out like a flipping mess, rather than a chic crêpe?
Chef Romain Havard shares his recipe for pancakes – or crêpes as they are known in France – which includes beer among the ingredients – and some tips for getting them right...
Perfect pancakes
Makes around 15 crêpes
Ingredients
250g flour
4 eggs
250ml whole milk
250ml beer
20g melted butter
1 drop of vanilla extract or 1/4 of a vanilla pod
1 pinch of salt
Method
I like to make pancakes with beer as it makes them lighter instead of just milk.
Mix all the ingredients together in the same order as in the list above.
Instead of just melting the butter, place it into a saucepan and let it become slightly brown – it will give a nice nutty flavour.
To avoid any lumps, pour the mix through a sieve.
Don't use the mix straight away – leave it to rest for one hour (the gluten in the flour it makes it elastic) and then add some milk if it has become too thick.
Use a thin non-stick frying pan – the lower the edges, the better. Heat the pan on the gas and spread some oil – use a potato cut in half and pike it with a fork, dip the cut part into some oil and use it like a brush.
Pour some of the mix into the pan and spread it all over, leave it to cook for one minute, then flip it over and leave for an other minute.
To serve
Crêpes can be eaten with anything – jam, sugar, chocolate spread. But I love them with caramelised apple flambeed with Calvados, which is a French apple brandy, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or caramelised banana and rum.
In a frying pan melt 15g of butter until golden, add your apple or banana in wedges, stir until they are slightly brown, add 15g of demerara sugar and flambé with a shot of Calvados or rum.
