Adding alcohol to your food while cooking can boost the flavour of your dishes, but how do you create those fabulous flames the way a professional chef does? Here’s how to flambé your dish safely.
There is no significant culinary advantage to flambéing your dish; it can slightly speed up the process of burning away excess alcohol, but it’s largely for show. This video from the folks at America’s Test Kitchen demonstrate how you should roll up your sleeves, pull your hair back, turn off the other burners and the rangehood fan. This eliminates the risk of flames drawing up into the fan and unexpected flare-ups.
Next, turn off the heat, pour in your alcohol, and give it a little time to soak into the dish. Do not use tip the pan over a gas flame to ignite it. Use a long lighter to ignite the dish, shake your pan over the stove to evenly distribute the alcohol and flames, and the flames should die out on its own within 15-30 seconds. It’s a fun and impressive kitchen trick, just make sure you follow the instructions and do it safely.
How to Set Bananas on Fire Safely [America’s Test Kitchen]
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.