Over the holiday break on the Outer Banks my son Arlo lit a bottle cap of Fair Game Apple Brandy on fire. It was a gentle blue flame that fascinated me.
Cooking. Flambe. Brandy finish. I’m new to the food and beverage industry, but as the new corner office guy at Fair Game my job is to sell lots of brandy. And I am handy in the kitchen.
When I returned to Pittsboro I started lighting things on fire. I watched some You Tube videos on flambe. Off I went. I lit up some steak. (Steak Diane). I flambeed some brie. Then bananas (Bananas Foster). I did a frying pan full of green beans. When Arlo found out I had been alighting foods he referred to either me, or the dish as “Green Beans Estill.”
There is a trick to a good flambe. Since you are lighting fumes, you want to hit the flame in a hot frying pan so that the alcohol has volatilized. That provides a big burn, and a big burn is what caramelizes the sugars into terrific new flavors.
I’m thinking that one of these dark nights I’m going to pack up my flambe gear and head to the Tasting Room to offer free flambe samples to our guests. If you are a flambe aficionado, or a flambe freak, or a pyromaniac, or if you are just bored on a winter night, let me know.
I’ll meet you at the tasting room. And we can flambe.
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