Bon Appetit
I didn’t have a particular reason for making French food this week, except to try making it. French cuisine is so well known, but so hard to perfect — this served as a reason enough. I wanted a challenge, and of course, a chance to experiment with food from a different region of the world.
So I decided to make crêpes, niçoise salad, and choux au craquelin. Typically I’d make a full meal out of the three dishes for the week. But this week, since these three vary in the time of the day they are served, I made one for each meal. Crêpes for breakfast, niçoise salad for lunch, and choux au craquelin as a dessert.
CREPES
Origin:
Crêpes are a traditional french “pancake” born in Brittany, France, that soon spread across the country. They are extremely thin and often bland on their own. But filled with other ingredients, they become two variations, the sweet crêpe, and the savory crêpe. Sweet crêpes are often have fruit, whipped cream, jams, chocolate, etc. The savory crepe is for those who may not have so much of a “sweet-tooth” and typically contains cheese, tomatoes, eggs, ham, onion, etc. and is often treated as a variation of an omelet in the US.
Around the world, there are many paper-thin bready dishes similar to crêpes -- such as African injera, Indian dosa, Spanish tortillas, traditional English pancakes, and American pancakes. In the US, crêpes are known as a french breakfast food and you can often find crêpe stands in boardwalks and tourist-towns of the US.
Process:
For crêpe makers and fanatics, there is a large pan used for making crepes. We do have one from my mother’s days of making crepes for our breakfast, but they require a lot of control and focus, and can often be dangerous if you don’t know how to handle them. Instead, I decided to make it in the biggest non-stick pan I could find, which ended up working great.
Crêpes are a very simple to make. The hardest part is knowing how much is the perfect amount of batter to put on the pan and when to flip and remove from the pan. Both these actions have to be precise and perfectly timed, since the crêpes are very thin and can burn almost immediately.
Before this, however, I had to make the batter. You can usually eyeball how much of each ingredient you put, and it’s made from a combination of flour, milk, and eggs. I also put a teaspoon or so of sugar, as to not overpower the sweetness of the filling.
I used a stainless steel ladle to ensure I was pouring enough batter on the hot pan, and watched the crêpes like a hawk so they would cook evenly on both sides. The first few were a little difficult to predict on cooking time, but eventually, I got the hang of it, and the crepes came out great. I found that no spatula would really do the trick in flipping the crêpes, so I used my hands the whole time, which burned a little but turned out to be worth it.
I served the crêpes with a combination of mixed berries, and along with a lemon-sugar syrup I had made and Nutella, and enjoyed the breakfast with my family.
Taste:
The interesting thing about crêpes is that the taste really depends on what you fill them with, almost like a tortilla, or injera. It doesn’t have much flavor on its own, but the fillings form the taste of it with the crepe acting like an edible shell holding it together. The crêpes were far from bland when they were filled with fruit, chocolate, and the lemon sauce, and brought back memories of eating them in my childhood. The fruit and Nutella was a delicious combination, and the fruit and sugar-lemon syrup added a sweet, sour and tangy zing which made every bite full of flavor. I would definitely recommend trying this out for yourself, and perhaps making it a household staple for you and your family!
NIÇOISE SALAD
Origin:
Niçoise salad (or Salade Niçoise) originated on the Cote d’Azur in Provence, France, and is named after the City of Nice. It’s one of, if not, the most popular salads and a staple light lunch in France. Although France is the home of many popular pastries and desserts, French food is also known to be very light. Niçoise salad is a great example of this -- a fresh and filling salad, served with bread.
Process:
Before arranging the ingredients to make the niçoise salad I tried a new French method that I learned in my research. Mise en place is a term meaning “everything in its place”, which refers to preparing all the ingredients and putting them in separate bowls/containers so I would have all the ingredients at my fingertips to use easily. I tried this with both the niçoise salad and with parts of the choux au craquelin and it worked great for both!
Unlike many other salads, however, niçoise doesn’t have a base of salad leaves and is instead made from fresh vegetables, tuna, and boiled eggs. Typically the seasoning and dressing include olive oil and basil, but a vinaigrette is also commonly made from mustard and mashed anchovies to complement the niçoise flavors..
I used a traditional niçoise recipe. First, I prepared my ingredients -- boiled small red potatoes, tuna, and fresh vegetables. Once these had been cooked and cut, I prepared the plate in sections (with each ingredient in its own distinct position on the plate). I topped it off with the vinaigrette, sprinkled some other toppings, and the salad was ready to serve.
Taste:
The niçoise salad made for a fantastic lunch. I served it with thick slices of fresh walnut sourdough bread that my mother had baked. It made for a refreshing and filling lunch. The salad wasn’t as complicated as the dessert I would be making later, but it was a wonderful introduction to simple, authentic French cuisine.
I’d recommend this salad, not as a particularly hefty or filling meal, but as perhaps a late lunch, with a light soup or bread on days you are craving a light, fresh, healthy meal.
CHOUX AU CRAQUELIN
Origin:
Choux pastry was invented in 1540 by chef Pantanelli. Pantanelli was the head chef for Catherine de’ Medici, an Italian noblewoman who lived in Florence. He moved from Italy to France and soon after came up with the idea for his pastry. It’s named after its odd shape that somewhat resembles a cabbage or “choux” in French.
Over the centuries, the pastry has evolved, but it is still typically filled with cream, topped with fruit, nuts, chocolate, or cream, and eaten cold. It has also been known to be served with a filling of vegetables, cheese, and various types of shellfish, although this version is much less common. There are many versions of choux pastry, including eclairs, choux buns, profiteroles, and of course choux au craquelin.
Choux au craquelin is made from choux dough but varies due to the craquelin, a brown sugar topping. The word craquelin, like choux, is derived from a French word. Craquelin translates to cracker, possibly referencing it’s crunchy texture. Choux au craquelin also has a birthplace of France but is not as prominent in French cuisine as the traditional pastry.
Process:
This was by far the longest I’ve taken to bake something. It took three days to assemble the finished choux au craquelin. I’d tried to make choux pastry once -- when I was 11 or so -- but the finished product was far from a success. Choux au craquelin is a whole new beast, with the filling and craquelin topping requiring time and patience to perfect. So although I now had four more years of experience under my belt, I still didn’t have very high hopes for this project.
There were three parts to this “project” — each taking a day. On day one I made the craquelin dough, using rimmed cookie cutters to cut out circular pieces of dough. This will make sense later in the process. I left this in the freezer in Ziploc bags overnight.
On day two, I made the choux pastry dough, a fairly simple dough made from flour, eggs, sugar, and other basic ingredients. Unlike other typical desserts, choux pastry uses steam to rise instead of a leavening agent, leaving hollow molds that are later filled with cream. Once I combined these ingredients I covered the dough with saran wrap very tightly and left this in the fridge.
Next, was the final, and possibly the hardest part to perfect: the caramel filling. Custards are very delicate, so I had some difficulty with this. You have to pay close attention to how long you cook the custard, make sure to flawlessly combine it with the other ingredients, and not raise the heat too much as to burn the custard.
So on the third day, I made a caramel-cream base and then added color along with the other required ingredients. The first step was to make the caramel by browning sugar until it reached a golden amber color.
I messed this up and burnt the caramel on my first try. So I had to start over again. My second try all was going well, until I accidentally added too much egg and the color and consistency ended up not being what I had envisioned. I ended up dividing just this part of the custard into four bowls and serving the custard to my family. It was delicious and we all enjoyed it. But it was, just simply not a custard. It took three tries, but finally, I finished the custard. It still wasn’t the desired consistency or color that I had seen in the pictures, but that was ok, I was still pretty happy with the finished result.
I believe that the flaw was in my adding the eggs. The first time around, the main problem in this was that I added too much, but even with the correct measurements, there remained a problem with the product. When I added the egg, it would curdle at the bottom of the pan and make an almost chunky consistency. After my third try, I realized this was most likely unavoidable for me, with the few tools and little experience I had. I finished off by mixing the cooked custard with the rest of the cream to make a smooth, beige, whipped cream custard and set it aside.
Then I took out the choux batter and placed it in lumps on a baking sheet. I couldn’t exactly shape this well because I didn’t have a piping bag to pipe the dough onto a sheet, but I flattened the mounds and added the cut-out uncooked craquelin on top. Finally, I put them into the oven, took them out once they had cooked through, and waited for them to cool.
Surprisingly, they came out wonderful -- they were cooked evenly throughout, had rich color, and a beautiful crackly top. They looked great and I was very proud of the finished product. If I had a piping bag and tip they would have risen more, but I was still pleased with the outcome. Filling them, after this, was pretty easy. I took out a small part of the bottom of the pastry and filled this with the cream filling using a Ziploc bag. Once I finished filling all of them, I cut them in half to check they had cooked evenly and that the filling had reached throughout the pastry. This took three days and three tries but they were finally ready!
Taste:
The choux au craquelin came out better than I could have ever anticipated! It was a very heavy and sweet pastry, and possibly one of my favorites. Sure it could use some work, and there were a few ways that I could’ve improved the pastries, but for an amateur baker, not bad at all. The caramel added a kick of flavor to the dessert, and the consistency, though not what I had planned for, was delectable. You could feel the crunch through each bite, and I was left wishing I’d made more for us to eat. If you are patient and are really looking to gain experience and face a challenge, I’d definitely recommend making this, but otherwise, you’ll most likely end up disappointed in the outcome and amount of work you have to put into these pastries.
Research:
https://bakerpedia.com/processes/choux-pastry/
https://behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.com/2013/05/salade-nicoise-most-famous-of-all.html
https://pastry-workshop.com/choux-au-craquelin/
http://www.excusemyfrench.co.nz/a-little-crepe-history/
https://www.regions-of-france.com/regions/provence_alpes_cote_dazur/food-gastronomy/nicoise-salad
Photo Credits:
Maya Pandey
