Crepes at home – With tips from local chef Kevin Black

Years ago, a work friend gave me a crepe pan as a going away present. I was changing jobs, and he was a practiced crepe maker who frequently brought his finished products into the office the way people do pies and cakes. After that, I played around with that crepe pan often, mastering the art of crepes that were delicate yet pliable enough to hold all kinds of sweet and savory fillings.

It had been a while since I’d busted out the crepe pan, and a lot had changed since I’d first used it, like having three kids and no time for dishes. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered that crepes weren’t hard and were really fun to make. For tips, I called Kevin Black, chef/owner of Go Ya Ya’s creperie in the Main Street Market downtown. Go Ya Ya’s has been inside the market for three years, and before that, Black had a crepe food truck of the same name.

“One thing that helps is to make the batter at least two hours ahead of time, preferably overnight,” Black says. “It keeps the crepes from becoming brittle and breaking.”

I got out my pan, a six-inch Cuisinart, and got to work. I used my favorite batter recipe—one from a ordinary crepe and omelet cookbook that calls for 1 cup of all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 2 eggs, 1 Ľ cups of milk and tablespoon of melted butter. Indeed, as Black suggested, the batch I made right away was less successful than the batch I made later that evening after the batter had time to calm down. These are the same elements he uses in his crepe batter, but says he’s still playing around with ratios.

Crepes hold an insane variety of ingredients. I made savory crepes with tarragon, chicken and English pea filling for dinner (shown) and sweet ones filled with Nutella and sliced banana the next morning for breakfast.

A crepe pan is preferred, but making crepes can absolutely be done a nonstick skillet as well. I tried it and it worked fine, although I like my crepe pan better. It’s important to roll any pan in a way that allows the batter is spread in an even circle. The pan should also be hot enough to cook the crepe in one minute on one side, and 30 seconds on the other.

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