Flambe

Have you ever been to a restaurant where the chef or wait staff prepared or served your food while it is still on flame?

The method of putting food with liquor on flame is called flambé. It is a French word which means “flaming” or “flamed.” This is usually done for grand events or in high end restaurants for a dramatic food presentation.

More than drama, flambéeing food is done so that with just little alcohol, the dish will develop a rich alcohol flavor. It is also done to caramelize sugar.

While taking culinary classes at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies – Davao, one of the practical skills exercises we had to do was flambe foie gras. Foie gras is fatty duck liver, a specialty meat. Chef Lawrence Zafra taught us how to do it. We had to put butter on a thick bottom pan, put in the foie gras, lift the pan, pour some liquor on it, and put the pan near the fire again so it would flame. The flame would then caramelize the butter and the liquor developing a deep flavor and forming a slight crust on the foie gras.

The result was yummy melt in your mouth foie gras with a sweet crust. we served it with a warm salad composed of greens, grilled apples, caramelized walnuts, and drizzled with cranberry vinaigrette. Definitely a decadent appetizer.

I also had the pleasure of being served yummy Prawns Thermidor by Marco Polo Hotel Davao’s sous chef Alex Bomanlag. Chef Bomanlag prepared the prawns by flambeeing the sauce before adidng the prawns. I’m not sure why he flambed but the Prawns Thermidor was AWESOME!

It’s not just appetizers and savory dishes that you can flambe. Popular desserts such as Crepes Suzette, Bananas Foster, and Bombe Alaska (a flambed Baked Alaska) are popular dessert dishes that are usually flambed.

And you can do it at home too. But be very, very, very cautious. What’s Cooking America offers some very helpful tips for flambeing.

Happy cooking!