Celebrating French Chandeleur with Crêpes Photo and Video Essay by Ruth Paget
When I lived in France, I learned that all French people seem to observe the Catholic holiday of Chandeleur whether or not they are practicing Catholics or not.
Chandeleur occurs 40 days after Christmas on February 2nd and celebrates the presentation in the temple of Jesus Christ by his parents Mary and Joseph. The temple referred to is not pagan, but a Jewish synagogue. Jesus was born a Jew to Jewish parents.
Chandeleur marks the beginning of Christ’s life in society and prepares believers for the celebration of Christian Easter in spring.
The French celebrate Chandeleur with a pile of crêpes that can last several days if wrapped in plastic and kept in the refrigerator. I love the nutrition in crêpes at an economical price.
The crêpe recipe my family developed for California uses milk, eggs, flour, water, fleur de sel sea salt from Guérande (Brittany, France), and California olive oil. The recipe follows:
Paget Family California Crêpes Recipe
When your crêpe batter is made, it should be liquid with no lumps. Heat your crêpe pans with olive oil on high. Pour two ladles of crêpe batter into a hot pan and swirl the batter around till it coats the pan with the batter.
The batter will begin to set so that you can move the crêpre back and forth gently like in the videos below. Carefully flip the crêpe over. You are working with extremely hot oil so you might want to use spatulas and mitts to turn over the crêpe.
The flipped crêpe has a golden brown color and dry texture. Let the other side cook for 1 to 2 minutes before placing it on a serving plate.
The French drink hard cider (alcoholic cider) with crêpes. If you prefer sweet cider try Martinelli’s. It pops open like champagne, but has no alcohol. We drink Henry Hot Spurs Cider from Trader Joe’s.
According to webMD.com, hard cider retains vitamins like Vitamin C and antioxidants in its production. Apple cider is also considered to be a laxative by WebMD.com .
The typical French additions to crêpes are butter and grated gruyère cheese. Spreadable Laughing Cow is also liked but not traditional in crêpes.
Dessert crêpes are usually made with jam. Both kinds of crêpes are rolled up and can be heated in a mircrowave.
The following photos and videos illustrate the process of preparing a French Chandeleur celebration at home with crêpes, cider, and fillings for this February 2nd holiday.
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No-lump batter is necessary. |
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Fleur de sel is a fine grain sea salt that reduces lumps in the batter |
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American, Swedish, and Crocheted French Kitchen Towel by Laurent's grandmother |
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The flipped crêpe has a golden cooked sid. |
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Henry Hot Spurs Hard Cider is similar to apple cider from Brittany, France |
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Typical crêpe fillings for a home celebration of Chandeleur. |
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So easy to eat, but time consuming to prepare. |
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A little butter and cheese for filling before rolling up the crêpe. |
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Time to eat! |