Crepes Suzette Flambé
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Crêpes Suzette; a dish of sweet, thin, crepes, served in a hot sauce of fresh orange juice sauce flavored with a combination of liquors. Traditionally the sauce poured over the crepes, is set alight, flambéed, in front of the diners. Today, more than 100 years since the tradition was created many restaurants no longer flambé the dish considering that bit of restaurant theatre to be passé.
Crepes Suzette with ice-cream
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Crepes served in different sauces had long been popular desserts in France, but the flambéed Crepes Suzette became an overnight sensation. The time was 1896, and the place was the restaurant, the Cafe de Paris in Monte Carlo. Then a group of diners hosted by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward the VII of the UK, ordered crepes in an orange-flavored sauce as a dessert.
The Cafe de Paris today.
A young, commis chef, an under-chef, the
16-year-old Henri Charpentier (1880- 1961) was tasked to serve the dish to the
diners from a chafing dish heated by a direct flame underneath. By mistake, or
possibly with malice aforethought, a drop of the alcoholic sauce fell on the
flame, and the rest is history. The fire that arose created shock and awe but
was immediately turned into controlled restaurant theatre. Henri Charpentier
never lost his cool and explained to the Prince that this was a new creation.
Henri then asked the Prince to choose the name of the dish. The Prince chose the name of the
eight-year-old young lady sitting next to her father, a guest of the Prince and
voila; we now have Crêpes Suzette.
There’s one place left, so you can still park your yacht.
Monte Carlo Harbor today.
www.flickr.com/photos/betzywd/5393605302/
Often, mistakenly, the Prince of Wales'
lady guest, Suzette, whose name is forever connected with the crepes, is
described as a courtesan. The Prince had
a real-life reputation as a lady's man, but the courtesan story is spurious.
The Prince of Wales did have a lover who was not his wife, Alice Keppel. Then, discussing Alice Keppel can make for an
engaging discussion of coincidences when ordering Crêpes Suzette. Alice Keppel's great-great-granddaughter is
Camilla Parker Bowles, the second wife of the present Prince of Wales, Prince
Charles. Royalty may say that heredity is everything; however, Alice and
Camilla would probably say that from one Prince of Wales to another, tradition
is everything!
The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.
Now back to Crêpes Suzette; certainly
this was the first time a dish would be flambéed in the dining room of the Cafe
de Paris, Monte Carlo. Until that day,
dishes that had alcohol added for flavor had excess alcohol burned off in the
kitchen and the act of controlling the flame was part of any aspiring chef’s
job. Now the guests would be provided with a new stunt in the arsenal of
restaurant theater,
The Casino, Cafe de Paris.
Crêpes Suzette remains a great dessert and is
still on many menus. The alcoholic eau-de-vie used to flavor the fresh
orange juice sauce will probably be Cointreau or Grande Marnier. That
despite Henri writing that the recipe was a combination of Maraschino, Curacao,
and Kirsch and so chefs still argue about the liquor in the original recipe. That, however, is, beyond
dispute, it is all there in black and white, in English, in Henri’s first book:
Life à la Henri.
Chefs may tell you that Henri became famous because he
was a good showman not because he was a good chef, but that is just kitchen
envy. Chefs do not ignore good restaurant theatre, and many of the most
exceptional chefs have covered up their errors with excellent
showmanship. Anyone questioning Henri’s story should be reminded of the
origins of Tarte Tatin.
Following his apprenticeship at the Cafe de Paris Henri
traveled and worked in a number of famous restaurants in Europe. His most
memorable apprenticeship was working under Escoffier and
César Ritz at the Savoy Hotel in London. Then, in 1905, Henri, aged 21 already
married and a father, Henri, and family emigrated to the United States. Directly
off the boat, Henri began work at the legendary Delmonico’s French restaurant
in New York. As could be expected from Henri’s whirlwind lifestyle within
a year, Henri opened his own restaurant. The web address http://lynhistory.com
takes you to the Long Island Shore and Lynbrook website.
The restaurant, Henri’s French Restaurant, was an
instant success and rapidly grew in size; then, in 1920, came prohibition. Under
prohibition a French restaurant that wished to offer aperitifs, serve dishes
like Crepe Suzette, Coq
au Vin or Tournedos
Rossini accompanied by Champagne
and followed by a
fine Cognac, either closed or became a speak-easy. Henri
closed his restaurant and returned to France.
Henri Charpentier on the cover of his book
Life à la Henri.
IIn 1945, Henri privately printed with the W.B. Conkey
Co, another book called: Food and Finesse -- The Brides Bible. That book was
reprinted in 1970 and is still on sale, mostly in second-hand book stores,
under the title: The Henri Charpentier Cookbook, printed by Price/Stern/Sloan
Publishers Inc.
After further culinary adventures in Chicago and Los
Angeles somewhere around 1947 Henri retired to Redondo Beach, California.
Henri, however, was a born chef and could not just fade away. In the front room
of his home, Henri opened another small restaurant where, unless you were a
close friend, there was a two-year waiting list. Everything was prepared by Henri in his tiny
kitchen.
Henri died in 1961 in California. The town of Contes,
near Nice, France, where Henri grew up, (he was born in Nice), has named a
street after him. That’s very gratifying, but I am sure his descendants would
have been happier with the royalties on Crêpes Suzette.
In Tokyo, Japan, there are three patisseries named
after Henri. Whether they are among the finest patisseries in Tokyo and honor
his name is disputed.
Patisseries
from the Henry Charpentier Patisserie, Tokyo.
Photograph
courtesy of Vivie Hsu
www.flickr.com/photos/vivieyh/8423939033/
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019
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