How to Flamb? Safely and Impress Your Guests at the Same Time

Adding a little alcohol to your dishes can boost their flavor, and even though much of the alcohol will eventually cook out, not all of it does. If you have guests over while you're cooking, or you're just feeling flashy, you might be tempted to flamb? your dish and set your dish alight after you've added a flavorful wine or spirit. Here's how to do it safely.

First of all, don't think you have to flamb? your dish for any culinary reason. It's largely for show, although it can (slightly) speed up the process of burning away excess alcohol. If your dish calls for it as part of the preparation though, or you're just feeling flashy, go for it. This video from the folks at America's Test Kitchen shows you how. It uses a Bananas Foster recipe as a demonstration, but the same rules apply for any dish: roll up your sleeves, pull your hair back, and turn off the other burners and the overhead fan or hood over your stove. You don't want to burn yourself or set fire to your clothing, and the hood can draw a flame up, while other lit burners can flare up.

Then, turn off the heat, pour in your alcohol, and give it a little time to soak into the dish. (Do not use the TV chef method of tipping the pan over a gas flame to ignite it.) Then use a long lighter to light up the dish. Shake your now-flaming pan over the stove to evenly distribute the alcohol (and the flames) and wait about 15-30 seconds for the flames to die out naturally. It looks impressive, and is a fun kitchen trick if you can do it safely.

How to Set Bananas on Fire Safely | America's Test Kitchen

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/npOQaMzWKaw/how-to-flambe-safely-and-impress-your-guests-at-the-same-time

dixville notch Remember Remember The 5th Of November African painted dogs What Time Do Polls Open Krysten Ritter v for vendetta Time