Italian Abruzzese Crepes in Broth | Scrippelle 'Mbusse
Scrippelle 'mbusse tells you immediately that you have crossed into the province of Teramo. Thin egg crepes are cooked one at a time, dusted with sharp grated pecorino, rolled into tight cylinders and set in a warm bowl, and a ladle of clear chicken broth is poured over them at the table. The word 'mbusse is Teramano dialect for soaked. That is the whole technique and the whole difficulty: everything depends on how thin the crepe is, how clear the broth is, and how few seconds pass between the pouring and the eating.
It is not a soup with pasta in it and not a stuffed crespella baked under sauce. The crepes carry no milk and no butter, only eggs, flour and water, which keeps them light enough to swell with broth instead of turning to paste. The cheese is a seasoning rather than a filling. The broth carries all the depth, so the broth is where the work goes.
Yield: 6 servings, two rolls each. Prep: 35 minutes. Cook: 3 hours for the broth plus 25 minutes for the crepes. Rest: 30 minutes for the batter. Total: about 4 hours, with the broth easily made a day ahead. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: primo. Region: Abruzzo, province of Teramo.
The Story
Teramo claims this dish without argument from the rest of Abruzzo. The city sits between the Gran Sasso and the Adriatic, in a province that has always eaten differently from Pescara and Chieti. The local telling credits a cook at the Teramo garrison in the middle of the nineteenth century who dropped a stack of crepes into a pot of broth instead of onto the plate and served the accident rather than admit it. The story is almost certainly invented after the fact, but it survives because it describes the dish exactly.
What is documented is the role of the crespella in Abruzzese cooking long before the anecdote. Thin egg batters cooked on a flat iron stretched a few eggs across a whole family and appear all over central Italy. Teramo did two things nobody else did: it refused to bake them, and it married them to the broth of a boiled hen, the other pillar of the local Sunday table.
The cheese matters as much as the crepe. Teramano cooking leans on pecorino from the hills around Farindola and Campli, sharp, dry and salty, nothing like the mild table cheeses of the north. Today the dish appears on every serious Teramano menu at Christmas and Easter, and in the old trattorie it is still the first thing brought out on a cold Sunday, long before the meat.
Ingredients
For the broth
Stewing hen or free range chicken, with bones, 3 lb (1.35 kg)
Beef shank on the bone, 1 lb (450 g)
Cold water, 12 cups (2.85 L)
Yellow onion, medium, 1, halved and left unpeeled
Carrots, medium, 2, cut in large pieces
Celery stalks, 2, cut in large pieces
Ripe tomato, small, 1, halved
Flat leaf parsley stems, 6
Bay leaf, 1
Black peppercorns, 8
Fine sea salt, 2 tsp (12 g), added at the end
For the scrippelle
Large eggs, 6
All purpose flour, 1 cup (125 g), sifted
Water, at room temperature, 1 1/2 cups (355 ml)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp (15 ml), in the batter
Extra virgin olive oil or clarified butter, for the pan, about 2 tbsp (30 ml) in total
For filling and finishing
Aged pecorino from Abruzzo, finely grated, 1 1/2 cups (150 g)
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated, 1/2 cup (50 g), optional, to soften the sharpness
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1 small pinch, optional
Preparation
Step 1
Start the broth cold and bring it up slowly. Put the hen, the beef shank and the cold water into a tall stockpot over low heat, with no vegetables and no salt yet. The proteins that cause cloudiness coagulate between 140°F (60°C) and 170°F (75°C) and come off cleanly only on a slow rise, so give it 40 minutes to reach the first movement on the surface.
Step 2
Skim, then add the vegetables. Lift off the grey foam as it gathers, until what rises is white rather than grey. Only then add the onion, carrots, celery, tomato, parsley stems, bay leaf and peppercorns. Set the heat so the surface barely trembles. A visible boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and clouds the broth at the same time.
Step 3
Simmer, strain and degrease. Hold that bare simmer for 3 hours, topping up with hot water if the solids break the surface. Add the salt only in the last 20 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with damp muslin without pressing on the solids, refrigerate overnight and lift off the set fat in one sheet. You should finish with about 8 cups (1.9 L) of clear golden broth.
Step 4
Mix the batter and rest it. Whisk the eggs until uniform, add the sifted flour in three additions whisking each smooth before the next, then pour in the water in a thin stream, followed by the salt and the olive oil. Rest 30 minutes. After resting it should run off the whisk in a thin continuous ribbon, closer to heavy cream than to pancake batter. If it clings, add water a tablespoon at a time.
Step 5
Cook the scrippelle pale, not golden. Heat an 8 inch (20 cm) nonstick or well seasoned crepe pan over medium heat and wipe it with the barest film of oil. Ladle in about 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of batter and swirl immediately so it runs to the edges. Cook 30 to 45 seconds until the surface sets and the edges lift, turn, and give the second side no more than 15 seconds. Stack them as they come off; the trapped steam keeps them flexible. Expect 12 to 14.
Step 6
Season and roll them tight. Scatter about 2 tablespoons (12 g) of pecorino evenly over the whole surface of a crepe, grind over black pepper and add a grating of nutmeg if you like. Do not heap the cheese down the centre. Roll firmly into a long thin cylinder, the way you would roll a cigar rather than a parcel. A tight roll holds its shape in the broth; a loose one unwinds into ribbons.
Step 7
Heat the broth and assemble at the last second. Bring the degreased broth to just below a simmer, around 200°F (93°C), and taste for salt. Warm six shallow bowls with hot water and dry them. Lay two rolls side by side in each, ladle about 1 cup (240 ml) of very hot broth over them so they sit two thirds submerged with their tops showing, and dust with pecorino.
Plating
Use wide shallow bowls rather than deep soup plates, and warm them properly. A cold bowl pulls the broth down by 15°F (8°C) within seconds and the dish goes tepid before it reaches the table. Fill the bowls with hot water while the broth comes up, then empty and dry them at the last moment.
Set the two rolls parallel and slightly apart in the centre, not crossed and not stacked, so they read as two clean cylinders. Ladle the broth in around the edge of the bowl rather than onto the crepes, and stop at about two thirds of their height. The pale tops must stay above the surface, because the contrast between the cheese crusted top and the soaked base is the whole visual idea.
Finish with a small pinch of pecorino over the exposed tops and one turn of the pepper mill. Nothing else goes in the bowl: no parsley, no oil drizzle, no croutons. Teramo serves this plain and it is right to. The dish has a working life of about three minutes before the rolls go soft, so tell the table to start.
Professional Technique
The governing technique is clarification by temperature control rather than by a raft. Restaurant consomme is cleared with egg white and lean meat, but a Teramano broth is never treated that way because the process strips out the poultry fat and gelatine that give the dish its mouthfeel. Clarity comes instead from never letting the pot boil: albumin coagulates into large removable clumps on a slow rise and into a fine suspension on a fast one. The muslin catches particles, not cloudiness.
The second technique is the lean water batter. A French crepe batter uses milk for fat and sugar for browning; this one uses water only, so nothing in it browns and nothing enriches it. That is the point: a lean batter gives an open, slightly porous crepe that absorbs hot broth by capillary action within seconds, swelling without dissolving. A milk and butter batter goes slippery and sheds the broth.
The third is how the cheese is distributed. Scattered across the entire surface it meets the crepe over the whole area, so when the broth arrives it softens against the egg and forms a thin savoury seal that lets the roll drink at a controlled rate. Cheese heaped down the middle gives a hard core and two bland ends.
Texture and Moisture Control
Everything here is a race between absorption and service. The scrippella is dry when it goes into the bowl and starts drinking the instant the broth touches it. At the right thinness the roll reaches its ideal state at about 45 seconds: the outside yielding, the centre still faintly resilient, the whole thing cutting cleanly under a spoon. Two minutes later the structure is gone. There is no way to slow this down, so you build the service around it.
Broth temperature is the other half. Below about 190°F (88°C) the cheese does not soften and the dish tastes flat and greasy. At a full boil the crepes disintegrate on contact and the broth turns turbid from agitation. Hold the pot at 200°F (93°C), lid on, and fill all the bowls in one pass, because the difference between the first bowl and the last is what the table notices.
Fat control separates a clear savoury broth from a heavy one. Lifting the solid fat cap after the overnight chill lets you add exactly the richness you want back through the cheese. The broth should look like clear tea with a few small golden eyes on the surface, not a slick.
Professional Mise en Place
This dish is entirely front loaded. Almost every minute of work happens the day before and service itself is two minutes of pouring.
Equipment and tools
Tall stockpot, at least 6 quarts (5.7 L), taller than it is wide to limit evaporation
Fine mesh sieve and a square of damp muslin for straining
Ladle for skimming and a second, clean ladle for service
8 inch (20 cm) nonstick or well seasoned crepe pan, kept for this job
Small ladle or measuring scoop that holds exactly 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Microplane or fine rasp for the pecorino, never a coarse grater
Prepared ahead
Broth simmered, strained and refrigerated overnight, fat lifted off in the morning
Pecorino grated finely up to 4 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature
Batter mixed and rested, up to 2 hours ahead, whisked briefly before use
Scrippelle cooked and stacked, up to 3 hours ahead, covered with a clean cloth
Rolls filled and rolled up to 1 hour ahead and laid on a tray in a single layer
Service setup
Broth held at 200°F (93°C), covered, tasted for salt one last time
Six shallow bowls standing full of hot water, ready to be dried
Tray of filled rolls within arm's reach of the stove
Small bowl of grated pecorino and a pepper mill beside the bowls
Everyone at the table seated before the first ladle goes in
Chef Tips
Use a stewing hen if your butcher has one. An old laying bird carries far more collagen than a young roasting chicken, and three hours of gentle simmering turns that collagen into the body that makes the broth coat the spoon. If you can only find the young bird, add a second beef shank rather than more chicken.
Sacrifice the first crepe without regret. It tells you two things: whether the pan is at the right heat and whether the batter is thin enough. If it browns in under 30 seconds the pan is too hot. If it tears when you lift the edge the batter is too thin, which is a good fault and needs only a spoonful of flour.
Taste the pecorino before committing to the quantity. Abruzzese pecorino varies enormously with age, and a very mature one at 1 1/2 cups (150 g) can push the whole dish into saltiness. If yours is sharp and dry, replace a third with Parmigiano Reggiano and cut the salt in the broth accordingly.
To work ahead, freeze the broth rather than the crepes. Broth freezes perfectly for three months and loses nothing. Crepes come back slightly leathery and lose the porosity that makes them absorb, which defeats the whole dish.
Common Mistakes
Boiling the broth. A rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and shatters coagulated protein into a fine suspension, producing a cloudy greasy broth that no straining will rescue. Hold the pot at a bare tremble for the full three hours and skim early rather than often.
Making the batter too thick. A batter that clings to the whisk gives a crepe too dense to absorb broth, and it tears when rolled because it has no flexibility. It should run off in a thin ribbon, closer to heavy cream than to pancake batter, and it should look alarmingly thin in the bowl.
Browning the scrippelle. Colour means the surface has dried and set hard, so a browned crepe cracks along the roll and stays chewy in the broth. Keep them blond on both sides; they are not meant to look finished until the broth arrives.
Adding salt to the broth at the start. Three hours of evaporation concentrates everything, so a broth salted early finishes aggressive. Season in the last 20 minutes, and remember the pecorino adds more salt in the bowl.
Assembling the bowls early. The rolls begin absorbing the moment the broth touches them and are past their best in two minutes. Filling six bowls and then calling people to the table guarantees a flabby first course. Seat everyone first, then ladle.
Submerging the rolls completely. Drowned rolls lose the contrast between the soaked base and the dry cheese crusted top, and go uniformly soft. Pour to about two thirds of their height and let the tops stand clear.
Wine Pairing
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo DOC: The local answer and the most complete one. A dry rosato from Montepulciano with real colour and weight, it has more presence than a light white but no tannin to clash with the egg. Its sour cherry fruit and saline close cut the fat of the pecorino, and served cool at 54°F (12°C) it resets the palate between spoonfuls of hot broth.
Offida Pecorino DOCG: From the Marche, immediately north of Teramo. A dry white with unusually firm acidity for central Italy, a faint aniseed note and a broad textured middle that stands up to a rich poultry broth. The acidity is what earns it a place: it keeps the sheep cheese from settling heavily on the tongue.
Verdicchio di Matelica DOC: The inland Verdicchio, grown in a cool valley running away from the sea, which gives it tighter acidity and more mineral grip than the better known Castelli di Jesi. Dry, lean and finishing on bitter almond, it reads as a savoury wine rather than a fruity one, and that savouriness runs alongside the broth instead of competing with it.
Collio Friulano DOC: A dry white from the far northeast, worth the detour because Friulano has a texture very few Italian whites achieve. Pear and wild herb, a faintly waxy weight and a bitter almond close give it enough body to meet the egg and enough freshness to handle the salt. Serve it around 54°F (12°C) so the texture shows.
Storage & Reheating
An assembled bowl cannot be stored at all. Once the broth is poured the crepes keep absorbing, and within an hour in the refrigerator they become a solid mass. Anything left in a bowl should be eaten or discarded. The components, though, store very well, which is why the dish is worth building in parts.
The broth keeps refrigerated in a sealed container for 4 days and freezes for 3 months. Freeze it in 2 cup (475 ml) portions and leave the fat cap on, which acts as a seal. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently to 200°F (93°C) without boiling. Cooked crepes keep stacked and tightly wrapped for 2 days, filled rolls for 1 day in a single layer on a covered tray.
Let refrigerated rolls stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before service, since a cold roll chills the broth and never softens evenly. Do not microwave or steam them, both of which make the crepe gluey. The hot broth is the only reheating this dish needs.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 6 portions of two rolls each with 1 cup (240 ml) of broth:
Calories: 385 kcal
Total Fat: 21 g
Saturated Fat: 9 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
Cholesterol: 230 mg
Sodium: 810 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 18 g
Fiber: 1 g
Total Sugars: 1 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 27 g
Lactose: 0.6 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, phosphorus, selenium, vitamin B12, riboflavin, zinc
These figures are estimates. The largest variables are how thoroughly the broth is degreased and the age and saltiness of the pecorino, which drives most of the sodium.
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