Flamber: flaming with spirits

Flambé is a technique of the classical French kitchen, in which a spirit is warmed, set alight and burned off over a preparation, in the pan or at the table. It is taught as a method in Jacques Pépin's Complete Techniques, where it sits among the operations that finish a sauté or a pan sauce. It belongs to the cooking of the professional brigade and the dining room, where the work is finished before the guest.

To flamber is to add a spirit to a hot pan, most often cognac, armagnac, calvados or rum, and to ignite its vapour so that the alcohol burns away and the aroma remains. The spirit is measured in small quantity, a few tablespoons for a pan of sautéed poultry, kidneys or prawns, or for a sweet preparation of fruit. The pan is taken from the flame or tilted to the flame, the spirit catches, and the fire dies of its own accord when the alcohol is spent. The pan is then deglazed with stock or cream to make the sauce, so that the technique serves as the first step of the sauce and not a display set apart from it.

Flambéed preparations are served with the sauce built in the same pan, and with a wine that matches the spirit's register: a dry white or a light red for a sauté of poultry or veal kidney, a sweet wine or none for fruit. The reason is structural. Burning the spirit removes the harsh alcohol and leaves a rounded, slightly caramelised aroma that lifts the fat and the reduced juices, so that the sauce needs acidity or freshness beside it rather than weight.