I have come across a few recipes where you have to flambe. Some of these recipes looks so good but I am terrified. How many of you have tried it? Is it really intimidating? Should I do is on the bbq as I have a flat top range (should I ever try it)? Thanks.
If you light it while the pan is on the heat and the liquid is at full boil, expect a big whoosh of flame - think letting gas build up in the BBQ for a while before lighting. To avoid this I remove it from the heat before lighting, and then control flame height by sliding the pan to and from the heat. Do everything at arm's length and you don't have to worry about your eyelashes. It's really not a big deal.
For your first flambe, simply take these precautions: - Make sure there are no flammables around the range (curtains, long hair, lots of hairspray, etc). - Turn all burners off. - Have the lid for the pan close at hand. - Have the liquor in a cup (don't pour directly from bottle). - Have only 1/2 oz liquor in the cup, even if the recipe calls for more. - Dump in the liquor all at once, and light immediately w/ a long-necked BBQ lighter. - A flame will jump up, as wide as your pan and could be 2 feet tall. But it will die down quickly. - If the flame is too high for your comfort, simply put the lid on the pan, that will snuff out the flame immediately.
What is happening: once the liquor hits the hot pan, the alcohol starts boiling off. You light it immediately, and the alcohol burns off above and in the pan. If you don't light it immediately, the alcohol disperses more and the flame may extend beyond the pan. So if you can't get the lighter lit immediately (like you fumble and drop it), then do not light it - skip the flambe, wait a few mintues for the alcohol to disperse before you turn the burner on. The burner is off because you want the alcohol to light when you are ready, not when your hand is over the pan. You don't pour from the bottle because you want only 1/2 oz to light, rather than dropping the bottle and seeing the whole thing go up.
If you are really nervous, take an empty pan, heat it, and try flambe-ing a very tiny amount of liquor, like 1/8 oz, you will get a small and non-scar flame. Then keep working up, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, etc, so you get a sense of what to expect.
It not a big deal, but I admit I did once dumped in way too much and didn't light it quickly enough, resulting in a fireball that enveloped my OTR microwave. The microwave stopped working after that - cost me $500 to replace. Yes, ha ha funny. SWMBO doesn't know that - as far as she knows, the microwave mysteriously stopped working - they ''wear out'', you know. That will not happen to you unless you are cooking drunk as I was - drink the booze after you do the flambe.
Yes, we did it in culinary school. It was a fun & exciting experience doing it tableside. And most impressive for the guests. I made Bananas Foster and others did Cherries Jubilee. I almost caught the chandelier on fire!
Because the alcohol, such as brandy, contains hundreds of coupounds that undergo profound changes at the roughly 400 degree temperatures of a flambe. The reason for this change is isomerization, a process in which heat changes the structure of sugar molecules.
Ok, I plagiarized. Thanks Cooks Illustrated. If I'm being honest, I just do it because it's fun to play with fire and hear my wife scream. Never done a side-by-side taste test. They did do a side-by-side while experimenting with Shrimp Fra Diavolo and found it to make for a slightly fuller, sweeter flavor in the sauce.
Sure....all sorts of stuff from steak nichole to some sort of apple cake that needed a boost so I poured on some rum and lit it. With a gas stove you often don't even need a lighter...just tip the pan so some of the alcohol vapor ignites and whoosh!! And you can light sugar too....
Yes, I used to have to flambe Bananas Foster and Cherries Jubille tableside when I worked at a Twin Cities Country Club. It was the only fun part of that job! LOL
Never tried it at home.....HMMMM...maybe I should....
Personally, I don't think there's anything quite as exciting as setting something on fire in the kitchen on purpose LOL. I do take the pan off the heat and use a long handled lighter, and the suggestion to have a lid ready is a good one.
Having one of those long lighters makes it easy. Another trick, if you don't have one of those lighters, is to put a small amount of spirit (usually brandy) in a long handle spoon such as an iced tea spoon. Heat it separately and ignite it, then bring the spoon over the pan to be flambeed. It'll ignite the stuff in the pan.
In high-school I went to a week-long program at a nearby college. One night they were putting on a fancy dinner for us, catered by the University Catering staff. The meal itself was not memorable, but dessert was to have been cherries jubilee. The cook poured in a large amount of alcohol, and set it alight with a woosh. He then noticed that some alcohol had spilled on the table and was also burning. So he grabbed a napkin to blot up the spill, at which point he noticed that the napkin was now also aflame from the alcohol it had soaked up. The cook screamed like a little girl and flung the flaming napkin away. It landed at the back edge of the table right against the curtains, still flaming. Another catering staff member then came running over with a fire extinguisher, and hosed down the curtain, the napkin, the table, and the still flaming pan with foam, completely ruining the dessert.
After a brief discussion about what they could do for dessert now, one of the catering staff left and returned 5 minutes later with 30 small plastic, individual serving cups of ice cream that come with the small, flat wooden spoon.
It was probably a more memorable meal than if it had gone off as planned.
foodonastump
John Liu
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