How to flip without flipping out over crepes

Chef Francine Marz likes a good fight.  That is to say - she's a competitor and she's out to win.  She's organized competitions, judged them - and competed.  (She'd rather be competing, and, unless you're on her team, you'd rather have her organizing.)

So she's good at it.  And she always has a few pertinent words of advice. Here’s what she's had to say about crepes.

·       Timing, timing, timing.  If you make your pastry cream first, drop a sheet of plastic wrap right on top and keep it in an ice bath at your station.

·       Make sure your eggs aren’t curdling; keep stirring!

·       Keep your pastry cream smooth and as light (thin) as possible.

·       Keep your crepes as thin as possible.

·       Make sure your crepes are the right color.

·       Practice folding your crepes.

·       Play with the presentation before you get to competition, to give yourself a plan and options in plating.

·       Be careful about your chocolate sauce, and how you pipe it onto the crepes and plate.

·       Chocolate piping doesn’t need to be too glitzy! (This is a competition that's dependent on timing, so unless you can time everything to give you an extra three to five minutes for dressing up your crepes, ditch the desire to draw an Eiffel Tower on your plate.)

·       Finally – don’t forget to taste!  The pastry cream should taste sweet enough, with a whisper of vanilla.  

    Check back through this blog for photos of crepes from past competitions!

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