Pannequets Meringués

Pannequets meringués (meringue-covered crêpe lozenges) teach one clean lesson: fierce heat and out. Slow heat warms the filling, loosens the meringue, and gives you syrup where there should be a pale, buoyant centre beneath a bronzed piped shell. Know that before you touch a pan, and the rest is orderly work.

The original assumed a pastry hand with Meringue à l’Italienne (No. 2383) ready, a trayful of crêpes waiting, and a salamander standing at service heat. Here the brigade tray becomes eight crêpes and about half a batch of the referenced meringue, enough for four. A home broiler set fully hot, with the rack close, does the salamander’s work. The batter rests while the meringue is prepared, so two pairs of hands become one sensible sequence: one cook, one stove, one evening.

The separate pastry hand and full service tray are scaffolding, so they go. The Italian meringue, both cherry spirits, the roll, the diagonal cut, the piping, and the rapid colouring are the dish, so every one stays. The final colouring decides everything: have the broiler fierce before the dish goes beneath it.