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Flambé (also spelled flambe; ) is a cooking
Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat, selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food....
 procedure in which alcohol
Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl Functional group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group....
 (ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
) is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The word means flamed in French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 (thus, in French, flambé is a past participle; the verb is flamber).

It is typically done to create an impressive visual presentation at a dramatic point in the preparation of a meal. The flames result from the combustion
Combustion

Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat or both heat and light in the form of either a glow or flames, appearance of light flickering....
 of the flammable alcohol, which is quickly consumed, subsequently extinguishing the flames.

Although the practice of igniting food for show can be traced to the Moors
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 in the 14th century, modern flambéing was discovered in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is one of Monaco's various administrative areas, sometimes erroneously believed to be a town or the country's capital. The official capital is Monaco-Ville and covers all quarters of the territory....
 in 1895, when Henri Carpentier, a waiter, accidentally set fire to a pan of crêpe
Crêpe

A cr?pe is a type of very thin, cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of France origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled." While cr?pes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is nowadays widespread in France and it is considered...
s he was preparing for the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
.






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Flambé (also spelled flambe; ) is a cooking
Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat, selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food....
 procedure in which alcohol
Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl Functional group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group....
 (ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
) is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The word means flamed in French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 (thus, in French, flambé is a past participle; the verb is flamber).

It is typically done to create an impressive visual presentation at a dramatic point in the preparation of a meal. The flames result from the combustion
Combustion

Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat or both heat and light in the form of either a glow or flames, appearance of light flickering....
 of the flammable alcohol, which is quickly consumed, subsequently extinguishing the flames.

Although the practice of igniting food for show can be traced to the Moors
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 in the 14th century, modern flambéing was discovered in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is one of Monaco's various administrative areas, sometimes erroneously believed to be a town or the country's capital. The official capital is Monaco-Ville and covers all quarters of the territory....
 in 1895, when Henri Carpentier, a waiter, accidentally set fire to a pan of crêpe
Crêpe

A cr?pe is a type of very thin, cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of France origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled." While cr?pes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is nowadays widespread in France and it is considered...
s he was preparing for the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
. He discovered that burning the sauce affected its flavor in a way that he could not have anticipated.

Simply lighting food on fire is not flambéing in and of itself. Igniting a sauce with alcohol in the pan changes the chemistry of the food. Because alcohol boils at 78 °C (172 °F), water boils at 100 °C (212 °F) and sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
 caramelizes
Caramelization

Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, wikt:volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor....
 at 160 °C (320 °F), ignition of all these ingredients combined results in a complex chemical reaction, especially as the surface of the burning alcohol exceeds 240 °C (500 °F ). However, because taste is a very subjective sense, not everyone can discern a change in flavor as a result of flambéing. Some claim that because the flame is above the food and since hot gases rise, it cannot significantly affect the flavor, although in an informal taste test
Taste Test

Taste Test may refer to:*"Taste Test", a song by Sleater-Kinney from their 1996 album Call the Doctor*Blind wine tasting, a wine taste test involving no knowledge of the wine's identity on the part of the tasters...
 conducted by the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States....
 of two batches of caramelized apples (one flambéed and one simmered
Simmering

Simmering is a cooking technique in which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept at or just barely below the boiling point of water , 100Celsius ....
), one tester declared the "flambéed dish was for adults, the other for kids."

Because of their high alcohol content, in the United States, many low end restaurants flambé with liquors such as Everclear
Everclear (alcohol)

Everclear is a brand of Neutral grain spirit that is available at concentrations of 75.5% alcohol and 95% alcohol , in contrast to hard liquors such as rum and vodka, which typically contain 40%?60% alcohol ....
 or 151
Bacardi 151

Bacardi 151 is an over-Proof rum. The 151-proof Distilled beverage has an alcohol content of 75.5%.Due to its high proof, it is typically used as a component in cocktails ....
. However, these spirits are highly flammable and are considered much too dangerous by other restaurants. Wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
s and beer
Beer

Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and Fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal?the most common of which is malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely used....
s have too little alcohol and will not flambé. Rum
Rûm

R?m, also Roum or Rhum , is a very indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of R?m in Asia Minor, and for Greeks inhabiting Ottoman Empire or modern Turkey territory as well as for Greek Cypriots....
, cognac
Cognac (drink)

Cognac , named after the town of Cognac in France, is the most famous variety of brandy, produced in the wine-growing region surrounding the town from which it takes its name, in the French Departements of France of Charente and Charente-Maritime....
, or other flavorful liqueur
Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, Nut , spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry....
s that are about 80 USA proof (40% alcohol) are considered ideal. Cinnamon
Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10?15 metres tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is native to Sri Lanka.The leaf are ovate-oblong in shape, 7?18 cm long....
, which is ground from tree bark
BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
, is sometimes added not only for flavor, but for show as the powder ignites when added.

Safety

For safety reasons, it is recommended that alcohol never be added to a pan on a burner, and that the cook use a long fireplace match.

An example of the process was seen on the first episode of the second season of Bravo
Bravo (television network)

Bravo is a cable television network owned by NBC Universal. It is currently seen in more than 80 million homes and was the first service dedicated to film, drama, and the performing arts when it launched by Cablevision as an advertisement-free network in December 1980....
's cooking-challenge reality series Top Chef
Top Chef

Top Chef is an United States reality television competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo , in which chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges....
, when the chefs were challenged to create a flambe dish.

Another example was seen on the first episode of the fourth season of FOX
Fox

A fox is an animal belonging to any one of about 27 species of small to medium-sized Canidae, characterized by possessing a long, narrow snout, and a bushy tail, or brush....
's reality series Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen (U.S.)

Hell's Kitchen is an United States reality television cooking competition, based on a Hell's Kitchen , broadcast in the United Kingdom.The program's first season debuted in May 2005 with subsequent seasons debuting in June 2006, June 2007, April 2008 and January 2009....
, where some chefs served flambes tableside.

Popular dishes

Examples of popular flambé dishes include:
  • Bananas Foster
    Bananas Foster

    Bananas Foster is a dessert made from bananas and vanilla ice cream, with the sauce made from butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum, and banana liqueur....
  • Bombe Alaska
    Baked Alaska

    Baked Alaska is a dessert made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding and topped with meringue....
  • Crepes Suzette


External links