If you were around in the 1980s and 90s and old enough to cook, you probably had a copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook on your bookshelf. Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins gave us one of the best cookbooks ever, with a bounty of recipes from their famous Manhattan gourmet food shop. I’ve always collected cookbooks, and read them like books. The Silver Palate is one of those books that I go to again and again.
I can’t remember for sure, but it was probably my friend Amy who turned me on to The Silver Palate Cookbook to begin with, and it was definitely Amy who turned me on to this recipe for Bismarcks, which she made for brunch on one of our trips to visit for a weekend.
Bismarcks are what I would describe as a baked crepe, with an open palate to top however you like. The way the original recipe is written, I think it’s intended to be a sweet brunch recipe, much like a Dutch Baby if you’ve ever made one or ordered one from a pancake house. But Amy made one that was savory and topped it with Everything Bagel seasoning, and it was so incredibly good that it’s become my go-to whenever I’m serving brunch.
The biggest modification I make is reducing the quantity of butter that the original recipe calls for. I love butter, but I don’t like my breakfast nor my baked goods swimming in it. So I’ve cut the butter down from a full stick to 3 tablespoons, and I find it to be more than enough. Feel free to tweak that, though. Make this in a shallow rectangular baking pan, taking care not to scratch the pan when you cut it into squares after baking (been there, done that!)
