Sweet and Savory Crepes

Caramelized Apple w/ Vanilla Ice Cream and Candied Walnuts



Chopped Beef Brisket w/ Barbecue Sauce

Making the actual crepes themselves were a lot easier than I thought it would be. The first time I attempted to make the crepes I actually succeeded in doing so (and let me tell you, whenever you're trying a new recipe or technique that's a rare thing). I even bought a new blue steel crepe pan that took me about an hour to season and prepare it to where the batter wouldn't stick to the pan. Sure I could have gone the easier route and bought a non-stick crepe pan, but where's the challenge and fun in that. During my practice session the crepes were made with flour, heavy cream, eggs, salt and sugar. The consistency was a little thicker than normal crepe but it would have been perfect for a sweet dessert crepe. The crepes tasted perfect and you could actually eat them without any filling, which I did, it had a slight sweetness to it but was also perfectly balance with the little salt I added.

On recreation day (the day I attempt to recreate the dishes I've reviewed), my get together of 2-3 people turned out to be an outright party of 11 or so people. Luckily, I bought a full size brisket and just enough apples to make dessert. To make the crepes more universal I decided to dilute the batter by adding 2 parts whole milk to 1 part heavy cream. This worked out perfectly, now the crepes were the perfect consistency for both the sweet and savory crepes.

For the sweet crepe, I decided to use Granny Smith apples (the green ones just in case you're wondering) instead of pears because the apples maintain a slight tartness to them when cooked. To add a little insurance policy on the tartness I added lemon zest and juice to the apples. Don't worry, I also added some sugar to help balance it out. I'm not a big fan of super sweet desserts. The apples were also seasoned with cinnamon and all spice.

I wanted to try something that might take this dish to a different level so I deep fried the crepe in canola oil. I filled the crepe and tied it with butcher twine to ensure that the filling would stay when frying. After letting it cooled a bit, it was topped off with powdered sugar, vanilla ice cream, and candied walnuts.

For the savory crepe I didn't do much to change what Crepes Mille presented. I seasoned the brisket with salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, sugar, and garlic powder and added 2 cups of beef broth and cooked it in a pressure cooker for 90 minutes. The meat came out so tender it was hard to keep it together while taking it out of the pressure cooker. This made it easier to shred and chop to the perfect filling size. The barbecue sauce was an easy combination of sautéed onions and garlic with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, honey, and black pepper. I also added a lot of the barbecue sauce to the inside of the crepes as my major complaint was that the crepe I had at Crepes Mille was too dry.

Ingredients:

Crepes Batter:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 cups whole milk
3 cups all purpose flour
8 large eggs
3 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoons kosher salt

Apple Filling:

8 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch slices)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon all spice

Candied Walnuts:

1 cup walnuts crushed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Brisket:

10-12 lbs brisket (slightly trimmed)
4 tablespoons ground black pepper
4 tablespoons garlic powder
4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Barbecue Sauce:

16 ounces ketchup (approximately 2 cups)
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 whole onion chopped (red, white, or yellow)
6-8 large garlic cloves (minced)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

For the crepes batter whisk or blend the flour, milk, cream, eggs, salt and sugar. Make sure there are no lumps and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Heat up a crepe pan or non-stick pan on medium heat. With a ladle, slowly pour the batter in a circular motion and rotate your pan in a circular motion as well. You should have a nice thin layer of batter that's in a circular shape. Let this cook for 1-2 minutes or until the crepe releases itself from the pan. Next, flip the crepe on the opposite side and cook for an additional 30 seconds to a minute. Flip the crepe onto a plate and fill it with your favorite sweet or savory crepe.

I might have gotten a little bit ahead with the crepes as you'll want to have the fillings for the crepes ready well ahead of time.

For the apple filling, combine: the apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and all spice all in an oven safe casserole dish and mix well. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and cook the apples covered with aluminum foil for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool.

For the savory filling rub black pepper, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, and sugar on all sides of the brisket. You can slow cook this in the oven for 4-5 hours at 250 degrees or use the pressure cooker method. In order for me to fit the entire brisket into the pressure cooker I had to break down the brisket into small pieces. The cook the brisket on high pressure cooker for 90 minutes. When using the pressure cooker method, make sure you add some liquid, I chose to use about 2 cups of beef stock. Once the brisket is fork tender you can begin shredding or chopping the meat to your desired size.

The brisket alone can be served and enjoyed as is, but that doesn't mean you can't enhance the flavors with a little bit of sauce. To make this barbecue sauce add the oil to a stock pot on medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until it is slightly translucent. Then add your garlic and continue stirring for 3-5 minutes. Next add your Worcestershire sauce and ketchup and mix well. Add the sugar, honey, and black pepper to taste. Continue cooking on simmer for at least 30 minutes so that the flavors meld together. Let it cool and add to blender and puree into a nice smooth sauce.

When filling your crepes you can fold the crepes in any way you like. You can fold all the corners in to make a square, roll it like a burrito or just simply fold it in half like an omelet. Though presentation is key to a nice looking dish, flavor is the most important part of the dish so make sure there's flavor in each element of your dish.

Project Austin Food Trailer Tour: Crepes Mille was Run of the Mill (Austin, TX)

Over the holidays, my nephew from Iowa posed a question that I was ashamed to answer truthfully, "Do you know how to make crepes?" After a short and brief pause, my simple answer was no and we moved on to the next subject. What I didn't tell him was that this actually bothered me. In order to enhance my culinary abilities I made myself a promise to learn how to make crepes- if not for me, then at least for my nephew.


After doing some research on crepes, I learned how versatile this dish could be. Crepes can be filled with not only sweet dessert fillings but savory meats, as well. The more I thought about it, I realized that a crepe is nothing more than another serving vessel such as tortillas, rice paper, etc. Okay, maybe it's a little fancier than the two mentioned but it pretty much serves the same purpose.


On that note, before attempting to make crepes I decided our next stop on Project Austin Food Trailer Tour should be Crepes Mille off of S. Congress.


Upon our arrival to Crepes Mille, I noticed that there were several familiar items on the menu. Foods that I'm used to seeing because of my ethnicity; Thai dishes, such as Panang Curry (chicken curry), and sweet-sticky rice dessert crepes. I didn't choose those dishes because they would have needed to be more than spectacular to earn a great review from me. I tried my best to not be subjective from the get-go, so I took a different route. I chose one savory crepe, barbecue pulled brisket, and one sweet crepe, caramelized pear. Between my friends, they ordered the rotisserie chicken crepe, the berry delight, and a Nutella filled crepe topped with ice cream. I managed to sample all of these except the rotisserie chicken, but for the purpose of this review I'll focus on the two dishes I ordered. 


BBQ Beef Brisket

  

Caramelized Pear



Berry Delight



Rotisserie Chicken

Crepes Mille did a great job on presentation; all of the dishes above were served on thin paper plates and looked very appetizing. They would look even better on white ceramic plates if given the opportunity. On that note, it’s also important to have your flavors well-balanced to compliment the plating. With that aspect in mind, Crepes Mille was mediocre at best.

The barbecue beef brisket was a great idea for a savory crepe, however, the execution of the dish was slightly disappointing. The meat inside the crepe did have some flavor but it was masked by the dryness of the meat. The sauce on top of the crepe tasted like your standard barbecue sauce and it probably would have served a better purpose inside the crepe to help give it a little moisture. Cutting into the crepe and trying to get a decent bite size also became a challenge because of the fibrous meat. In this case I think that a finely chopped beef or thin slices of brisket would've served as a better filling than the pulled beef. The actual crepe that wrapped the beef lacked flavor and could have easily been fixed with maybe a little more salt and sugar in the batter. As I stated earlier, the idea behind this dish was a great one but the execution of it needs a little tweaking. A little more barbecue sauce on the side would have greatly been appreciated and needed.

The next dish I tried was the caramelized pear crepe. I love caramelized fruits such as pears, peaches, and apples. The cooking of these fruits brings out their natural sweetness that balances well with a slight acidity tone. After all, who doesn't enjoy a bit of sweet and sour together. This crepe was topped off with a caramel sauce and whipped cream sprinkled with inklings of corn flake. My first bite surprised me a little with its sweetness. I made sure not to get any caramel sauce the second time to see if it was the caramelized pears inside the crepe that were overpoweringly sweet; indeed they were. The next couple of bites I incorporated the whipped cream with the pears and it helped tone down the sweetness a bit. Some might enjoy this and even make a case that a dessert is supposed to be super sweet but I'm going to make a case that a little acidity and a little bit less sweetness would've made this dish almost perfect. The caramel sauce looked great on the plate but I didn't need anymore sweets to add to this dish so I could have done without it. The whipped cream was too small of a serving for me since I needed a lot of it to try to tone down the sweetness. The corn flakes on top of the whipped cream added visual appeal but nothing constructive, taste-wise, to the dish.

To recap our visit to Crepes Mille I want to start off by saying that these dishes we tried weren't too bad. Each of them could use a little tweaking or maybe even tasting prior to being served. These are all easy fixes that can be done, if made aware. Now that I've thought about it, maybe I should have tried some of the Thai flavored crepes. I might do that on our next visit but that probably isn't going to be anytime soon.