Do I need a special crêpe pan?
Nope, you don’t. A standard 9″ nonstick sauté pan works perfectly. If you really get into crêpes you can consider getting a specialized crêpe pan. The nice thing about one of those, even though it’s a pan that only does one thing, is that you tend to baby it when you wash it, which is a good thing when you need to maintain that nonstick surface. They’re also relatively cheap. But there’s no reason to run out and buy one if you’re just trying them for the first time.
I’m going to have to unearth the pan my mother passed along to me some time after the American crepe trend had ended and she was cleaning out the backs of her cupboards. (I have long rescued kitchen tools from my elders and greats). This pan is definitely not non-stick and will have to be given a sound scrubbing and re-seasoning.
When seasoning a cast iron pan or a new iron wok I scrub with salt then a mixture of scallions and coconut oil and lemon grass and ginger. Perhaps a crepe pan could be seasoned with just the salt and oil? Do you have any tips for re-seasoning an old crepe pan?
Hey Connie! There are a couple of methods for seasoning that I overview in this post:
http://www.joepastry.com/2011/positively-polymerized/
More detailed instructions are in the attached link! Cheers,
– joe
Oh, very good! I hadn’t run across that post.
As an antidote, my husband has always maintained that if anyone every washes your cast iron with soap that to “fix it” you bake a box cake in the dutch oven to draw out the residue taste and then throw the cake away.
Never heard of that before, Connie! A non-traditional technique for sure, but it probably serves the purpose of coating the metal with oil. Thanks for this!
– Joe