Beka, You Had Me At Heavy Stainless Steel

Crêpes will always be one of my everlasting French food memories. I had been addicted to stopping at the Strasbourg Marché de Noël after school to get a crêpe filled with Nutella and some vin chaud. To be sure, it’s quite difficult to avoid the Christmas market as it has taken over the entire city of Strasbourg in November and December since the year 1570 with miles of gifts, drinks, and gosh darn delicious food. Um, French women don’t get fat, right?

Despite stuffing crêpes, eclairs, croissants, chocolates, and cream sauces into my face (stopping just short of bathing in butter), I somehow returned home to America from my studies abroad lighter than when I had left. Think about that for a moment.

Given all of the crêpe gorging studying that I had done in France, I thought I would be as qualified as anyone to review a crêpe pan.

When I took the Beka Non-Stick Crêpe & Pancake Pan out of the box that had been sitting on my cold January doorstep, I ran my hands over the shiny, stainless steel bottom, fogging up its mirror-like surface. I had a good feeling that the pan would live up to its first impression: sturdy, well-made, slick, beautiful.

I followed Julia Child’s recipe and advice to let the batter chill for 2 hours which would allow the flour to expand in the liquid for a tender, light, thin crêpe. Two hours happened to be enough time to squeeze in a workout in advance of the calorie consumption that would follow. There is a reason French women don’t get fat. Move it, girlfriend.

This pan can be used on any type of stove, so I fired up the smooth top and started cooking. I was immediately impressed. I sprayed the pan for the first crêpe, but it hardly needed oil at all. The non-stick surface was so slick that upon turning the crepe, it almost slid off of the pan onto the stove; which if it had happened would have been the first time anything I was cooking ever slid off the pan and onto the stove. Ah-em. Actually, Beka’s non-stick surface seemed to be as slippery as my white-knuckled, fish-tailing drive home last night in the middle of a winter storm. That is to say, it is dang slick.

The presentation side (first cooked side) of the crêpe turned out absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to make some American flapjacks or a nice fluffly omelet in this thing. The pan rim angle is also lovely; I have used inferior, cheaper crêpe pans that have steeper angles and shorter rims and are not quite as easy to use. This is the real deal. It just feels like it means business.

Staring at the steaming pile of crêpes with my hand on my chin, I was really wishing for some Nutella. I settled on some cream, blueberries, powdered sugar, and mascarpone cheese for a snowy Sunday afternoon meal snack. (And then I ate the rest with butter because I thought that’s what Julia would do.)

Two thumbs up, Beka. If I were stranded on a desert island and could only bring five kitchen tools with me, this crêpe pan would be one of them. Dear Beka: if you would like to send me to a tropical island to test more of your kitchen tools, I have checked my schedule and I am free. My bathing suit and knife kit can be packed in about 3.2 seconds.

For now, the Beka will hang out next to my Staub. I think they’ll be BFF’s