Crêpes are very thin cooked pancakes that can be used for both sweet and savory dishes. The common ingredients include flour, milk, eggs, butter and a pinch of salt.

According to Jacques Pepin, “in France the crêpe used to be called pannequet, from which the word pancake is probably derived. A very thin pannequet resembles the wrinkled, fragile looking fabric which we know as crêpe.”

I remember a crêpe-like dish my mom would make that we called “egg cakes”. My sister and I would gobble each one up as fast as she made it, spread it with butter, roll it up, and dip it in pure maple syrup. Yum. One lunch time when we were in high school, we raced home to make them. Using our mom’s square electric frying pan (that did not have a non-stick coating by the way), we quickly started frying up our egg cakes. And quickly, they started sticking and burning and smoking up the house. I think we managed to get a few good egg cakes made even so. Little did I know we were making (or attempting to make) crêpes!

Wrapped around your favorite filling, such as chicken, asparagus and mushrooms or curried seafood, crêpes can be served as an appetizer, a main course, or even brunch. Often, buckwheat flour is used in savory crêpes giving them an earthy, mild mushroom-y taste. And, it’s gluten-free; however, it’s often mixed with wheat flours to mellow out the buckwheat taste.

Sweetened with sugar and vanilla, they can be filled with jam, melted chocolate, ice cream, fruit, or even Nutella (a hazelnut spread). Drizzled with maple syrup or lemon juice, sprinkled with icing sugar, topped with whipped cream or all of the above, crêpes are a simple but delicious dessert. Often, wheat flour, such as all-purpose flour, is used in sweet crêpes.

Crêpes come from Brittany (as does Pâté Pantin), a region in the northwest of France. It occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of the country, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south.