Crêpes Suzette

Crêpe Suzette

Flambéed citrus Crêpe Suzette
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	France
Main ingredients	Crêpe, beurre Suzette (caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao liqueur)

Crêpe Suzette (pronounced: [kʁɛp syˈzɛt]) is a French dessert consisting of a crêpe with beurre Suzette (pronounced: [bœʁ syzɛt]), a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, prepared in a tableside performance, flambé.

The most common way to make Crêpe Suzette is to pour liqueur (usually Grand Marnier or Blue Curacao) over a freshly-cooked crêpe with sugar and ignite it. This will make the alcohol in the liqueur evaporate, resulting in a fairly thick, caramelised sauce.

The origin of the dish and its name is disputed. One claim is that it was created from a mistake made by a fourteen-year-old assistant waiter Henri Charpentier in 1895 at the Maitre at Monte Carlo's Café de Paris. He was preparing a dessert for the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, whose guests included a beautiful French girl named Suzette. This story was told by Charpentier himself in Life à la Henri, his autobiography, although later contradicted by the Larousse Gastronomique.

It was quite by accident as I worked in front of a chafing dish that the cordials caught fire. I thought it was ruined. The Prince and his friends were waiting. How could I begin all over? I tasted it. It was, I thought, the most delicious medley of sweet flavors I had ever tasted. I still think so. That accident of the flame was precisely what was needed to bring all those various instruments into one harmony of taste . . . He ate the pancakes with a fork; but he used a spoon to capture the remaining syrup. He asked me the name of that which he had eaten with so much relish. I told him it was to be called Crêpes Princesse. He recognized that the pancake controlled the gender and that this was a compliment designed for him; but he protested with mock ferocity that there was a lady present. She was alert and rose to her feet and holding her little skirt wide with her hands she made him a curtsey. 'Will you,' said His Majesty, 'change Crêpes Princesse to Crêpes Suzette?' Thus was born and baptized this confection, one taste of which, I really believe, would reform a cannibal into a civilized gentleman. The next day I received a present from the Prince, a jeweled ring, a panama hat and a cane.