Anecdote: Crêpes Suzette

Found in the Autobiography ‘Life a la Henri’ By chef Henri Charpentier, the story of how he created this tasty dish by accident aged fourteen while he was cooking for the Price of Wales in 1895

"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 courtesy. '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."

Its argued that this chef was too young to be serving for the Prince of Wales it is instead thought that the name originated from the association of the French actress Susan Reichenberg nicknamed ‘Suzette’ who in ‘La Comedie Francaise’ had to carry crepes across the stage in her role as a maid. These crepes were provided to the playhouse by Monsieur Joseph, owner of the restaurant Marivaux, who flambéed the pancakes to keep them warm in time for the performance.