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Thin and crispy in some spots, chewy or undercooked in others 鈥� that鈥檚 no way to eat a cr锚pe. It鈥檚 easy to make a poor version of these light breakfast treats, but thanks to a mathematical analysis of how to make the perfect cr锚pe we no longer have to risk culinary disappointment.

鈥淚 was making cr锚pes and getting frustrated by their imperfect appearance. My wife said to me, 鈥楤eing a fluid dynamicist, you should be able to fix this problem,鈥欌�� says Mathieu Sellier at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

He and Edouard Boujo at the Ecole Polytechnique in France, did an analysis of the fluid dynamics of cr锚pe batter flowing around a heated pan to find out how to make the perfect cr锚pe. To them, optimal means uniformly thin, free of holes, and perfectly circular.聽That鈥檚 easier to do with a traditional wooden cr锚pe spreader, but the team assessed how to achieve this with just the movement of a pan to counteract the聽batter cooking before it can spread evenly.

They modelled the variables involved 鈥� the effects of gravity and temperature on the batter as it spreads, the tilt of the pan, rotation of the pan to move the batter, and time. They found that uniformity of cr锚pe thickness depends on pan motion and the steady increase in viscosity as it cooks.

They say that the best method starts with placing the batter in the centre of the pan, and then inclining the pan steeply so it flows to the rim. The steep angle counteracts the fluid slowing as it heats up and solidifies.

Next, rotate the pan in a circle to coat the full circumference. While completing this circular motion, decrease the tilt of the pan until it is horizontal, and let the batter cook. This leads to 83 per cent more uniformity than just plopping the batter in the pan and letting it spread on its own.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 say that we were particularly surprised because nature, common sense, and intuition have a way of naturally coming up with optimal solutions. The fact that our optimization algorithm recovered a natural motion was therefore rather comforting,鈥� says Sellier. 鈥淲e did many trials at home with the family but that was only for fun and our taste buds!鈥�

He says this work has applications beyond the kitchen, such as the production of micro-electronics or solar cells where a thin layer of photoresist needs to be deposited to produce electronic circuits.