Flambé is also a type of ceramic glaze.Flambé (, French: [flɑ̃be]; also spelled flambe)
is a cooking procedure in which alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames.
The word means 'flamed' in French.Flambéing is often associated with tableside presentation
of certain liqueur-drenched dishes set aflame, such as Bananas Foster or Cherries Jubilee,
when the alcohol is ignited and results in a flare of blue-tinged flame.
However, flambéing is also a step in making coq au vin, and other dishes and sauces, using
spirits, before they are brought to the table.
By partially burning off the volatile alcohol, flambéing reduces the alcoholic content of
the dish while keeping the flavors of the liquor.
== History == Modern flambéing became popular in the 19th
century.
The English Christmas pudding was served flaming in a Dickens novel of 1843: "the pudding...
blazing in half of half-a-quarter of ignited brandy".
The most common flambé dish appears to have been sweet omelette with rum or kirsch.
For example, Alexis Soyer's 1846 cookbook gives a recipe for "Omelette au Rhum": "...the
moment of going to table pour three glasses of rum round and set it on fire".
An 1880 book mentions both rum and kirsch; another recipe appears in an English cookbook
of 1882: "Make a sweet omelet, and heat a tablespoonful of kirsch, by holding a light
under the spoon.
As soon as the spirit catches fire pour it round the omelet, and serve flaming."
Perhaps the most famous flambé dish, Crêpe Suzette, was supposedly invented in 1895 as
an accident.
== Procedure ==
Rum, cognac, or other flavorful liquors that are about 40% alcohol (80 USA proof) are considered
ideal for flambé.
Cinnamon is sometimes added not only for flavor but for show as the powder ignites when added.
Wines and beers have too little alcohol and will not flambé.
High-alcohol liquors such as Everclear or 151 are highly flammable and are considered
too dangerous by professional cooks.
The alcoholic beverage must be heated before lighting it on fire.
This is because at room temperature, the liquid is still below the flash point, and there
are not enough alcoholic vapors to ignite.
By heating it, the vapor pressure increases, releasing enough vapors to catch fire from
the match.
== Effects on taste == Flambéing reduces the alcohol content of
the food modestly.
In one experimental model, about 25% of the alcohol was boiled off.
The effects of the flames are also modest: although the temperature within the flame
may be quite high (over 500 °C), the temperature at the surface of the pan is lower than that
required for a Maillard browning reaction or for caramelization.
Whether there is a change in flavor as result of flambéing is unclear.
Some claim that because the flame is above the food and since hot gases rise, it cannot
significantly affect the flavor.
Indeed, experimental work shows that most people cannot tell the difference.
That said, in an informal taste test conducted by the Los Angeles Times of two batches of
caramelized apples (one flambéed and one simmered), one tester declared the "flambéed
dish was for adults, the other for kids".
Others, however, dispute this and quote celebrated French chefs who claim that flambéing is
strictly a show-biz aspect of restaurant business and ruins food and is done to create an impressive
visual presentation at a dramatic point in the preparation of a meal.
== Safety == For safety, it is recommended that alcohol
not be added to a pan on a burner, and that the cook use a long fireplace match to ignite
the pan.
== Flambé dishes ==
Examples of popular flambé dishes include:
Bananas Foster Bombe Alaska
Cherries Jubilee Crêpes Suzette
Steak Diane Gundel Palacsinta
Christmas pudding
== See also ==
List of cooking techniques Flaming beverage