Sweet Flames

An overall meal experience is incomplete without a delicious dessert. Generally the main dish is heaviest, heartiest, and most complex dish on a menu. Every individual likes some kind of dessert after the main course, to complete a meal. Mostly people preferred ice creams, pastries, soufflés, custard, etc. And people who have very good knowledge of food, like to have complex but really tasty dessert such flambé dishes. Making flambé dishes is not a very difficult task. Flambéing is very simple as it does not require elaborate ingredients and cooking. 

We can easily make flambé at our home. Basically flambé means setting alight the liquor added to the dish either during or at the end of the preparation.  The liquor added mostly is brandy or liqueurs. This is mainly done to impart the flavours of the liquor to the food. The most important point we should keep in mind while making flambé dishes is that we should keep our liquor warm so that it ignites fast. While making flambé we have to take few precautions because we are dealing with fire and alcohol and we very well know that alcohol catches fire immediately. While making these dishes at home, add liquor at the end so while presenting the plates our guests will be able to enjoy our skill and flames. Making flambé dishes is all about showmanship. 

Pineapple Flambé

Ingredients:-                                               

Pineapple slices: -              2nos

Pineapple Syrup: -             50ml

Caster Sugar: -                  15gm

Kirsch or Dark rum: -        15ml

Equipment Required: - Pan, Dessert plate, sauce boat or bowl, service gears and all purpose fork & Spoon.

Method: -

·         Light the gas burner and place pan on it.

·         Add ¾ pineapple syrup in the pan and heat it.

·         Add slices of pineapple and cook

·         Baste the slices occasionally and frequently sprinkle with caster sugar, allowing the syrup to reduce until it is almost caramelized do.

·         Add Kirsch or Dark Rum and allow heating up.

·         Tilt the pan gently to ignite. Steady the pan then place the slices on the plate and pour the sauce slowly and steadily with the flame on pineapple slices.

·         Or we can pour the liquor at the end after placing pineapple slices and sauce on the plate that allows us to keep the flame on for a while and attracts guest attention.

·         Flambé dishes are best served under dim or low light effects so as to enhance the visual appeal of the flames on the dish.

To serve a hot and tasty flambé dish for your guest, follow the simple recipe as above and incase of any assistance or queries, feel free to contact me on vinay@aih.edu.in