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Confessions of a Tableside Flambéur
- _nalply 3y agoTypo: omit the accent aigu, this means: flambeur instead of flambéur!
- csande17 3y agoAlternatively, flambéer or flambé-er, since by the time you're using "flambé" as a present-tense verb you're already in mangled culinary-loanword territory.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dmichulke 3y agonot a grave mistake
- fguerraz 3y agoSacrebleu!
- _nalply 3y agoTypo: sacré bleu!
- ale42 3y agoIn French, it is a big one ;-) It changes the pronunciation of the word from \flɑ̃.bœʁ\ to something like \flɑ̃.be.yʁ\
- portmanteaufu 3y agoThey were joking--"aigu" (é) is "not grave" (è).
- hotnfresh 3y agoHey, this is no place to circon-flexe that you know fancy names for little extra bits on letters.
- smarks 3y agoThis series of puns is macron me ill.
- jfim 3y agoIt's also a fun party trick that can be done at home to impress guests, and it's not particularly hard to do. All you need is a hot pan, some liquor with high alcohol content, and a long bbq lighter. Pour a small amount of alcohol into the pan and light it up from the side, obviously being mindful of your surroundings and keeping the pan horizontal as not to spill the burning alcohol.
- misja111 3y agoAnd by all means don't do it under the extractor fan, it will suck in the flames and catch fire.
- twic 3y agoAlso, don't do it with your head bent over the pan, it will singe your eyebrows off and give you what looks like mild sunburn.
- gumby 3y agoI misread the title thinking it would be some sort of indoor flâneur, but instead it was the opposite — less surprising, perhaps, but a delightful little essay. Plum pudding on fire was a Christmas staple growing up, and I kept up the tradition when I moved out. I will say the traditional Christmas dinner makes more sense in the northern hemisphere winter!
- draven 3y agoMy mom used to do this at home for example when cooking rognons de veau flambés au Cognac (works with Armagac too.) She managed to briefly set fire to the kitchen wallpaper once.
- tuyiown 3y agoMy kids feared I lit the house on fire when I showed them how I did my flambées bananas. The flamme was indeed impressive.
- fsckboy 3y ago>“Oh my God, I hate bananas,” she says, turning toward her tablemates, “but we should totally order it anyway!” They haven’t even finished their appetizers. there is nothing wrong with talking about an exciting dessert before you've finished your appetizers, what is wrong with this person? ---- now, I don't get many chances to tell my flambé story, it's not like the subject comes up very often. I was at a ridiculously overpriced resort up around Santa Barbara, and we dined in the house restaurant. Mostly we order things compatible with red wine, and one of our selections on this occasion was the Filet Mignon; not my preferred cut at all but it was what they had. So, it arrived tableside on a little cart, and the waiter proceeded to flambe it to within an inch of its life (by which I mean an inch past that boundary) and the whole performance, specialty of the really old waiter, seemed so old fashioned it jogged my memory I got to thinking "isn't this Steak Diane?" which I somehow remember from my childhood, along with rumaki. It was late, kitchen was closing, too much other food, and we didn't want to make a fuss, so we let them serve us the piece of shoe leather. But I did ask to see the menu again just to refresh my memory and figure out what happened. And, there was the Filet Mignon, and there was the Steak Diane, and then it struck me! I know what happened. When I ordered the Filet Mignon, they must have heard "I'd like the flaming one"...
- otteromkram 3y agoNever heard of Steak Diane before, but it seems like it would be tasty. But, using filet for the dish does seem like a waste, kind of like making a whisky and cola with Buffalo Trace or a cosmo with Grey Goose.
- kunwon1 3y agoIt's my understanding that the filet is preferred for dishes like this because it's not the 'top shelf' product that it is often made out to be Steak au poivre, for instance, is traditionally prepared with the filet Now using a ribeye, I would consider that a waste
- hnav 3y agoit's because filet has very little flavor of its own
- BaudouinVH 3y agonative french speaker here : it should read "Flambeur". "Flambé" does exist. "Flambeur" does exist but not Flambéur.
- dieulot 3y ago“Flambéur” isn’t right but “flambeur” means something else entirely (gambler). “Flambéer” would be more legitimate but would be hard to decipher. The title tag plays it safe and uses “flambé restaurant server”.
- Lalabadie 3y agoFlambeur with this meaning is a metaphor (it can mean gambler, or just overspender). Its literal meaning as "quelqu'un qui flambe" remains correct too.
- tomjakubowski 3y agolike somebody who "burns through money"
- gregschlom 3y ago"flambeur" means someone who sets things on fire. Either literally, as in this case, or metaphorically, as in money.
- pcrh 3y agoI read it as flâneur.
- RickHull 3y agoIn Louisiana, might it be flambeaux?
- gryn 3y agothat means torch (the traditional kind, not electric)
- edu 3y agoI was expecting some fire story. Earlier in the year, in Madrid[1], a flambéed dessert created a fire in a restaurant that resulted in 2 people dead and 10 injured. 1. https://www.telemadrid.es/noticias/madrid/Un-postre-flameado-causo-el-incendio-mortal-en-el-restaurante-de-Manuel-Becerra-0-2553344648--20230422122149.html https://www.telemadrid.es/noticias/madrid/Un-postre-flameado...
- Karellen 3y agoYes, I also read the article. But, as an English speaker, I found their link to the BBC coverage of the same incident more useful.
- feintruled 3y agoMy mother does this every Christmas, a veritable highlight of the year when we were young. She would dose the Christmas pudding in Brandy and set it alight. No-one even really liked Christmas pudding, it was just the spectacle. It wasn't even that wild - it just kind of burned with a gentle blue light and we all just gathered around this mysterious glowing orb like cultists.
- twic 3y agoMy dad also did this when we had christmas at his. The brandy does burn with a pale flame, but if you have the traditional sprig of holly on top of the pudding, and that spring is dry rather than fresh, that will go up like a rocket, with a bright yellow smoky flame.
- tantalor 3y agoIsn't holly toxic? I wouldn't want that anywhere near my food, or to be breathing in the combustion products.
- sprobertson 3y agoEating a bunch of the berries can make you nauseous but the poisonousness is widely overstated.
- rwmj 3y agoIf you don't like Christmas pudding you must be eating the wrong sort of Christmas pudding!
- dtgriscom 3y agoSome might say anyone eating Christmas pudding is eating the wrong sort...
- maxwell 3y agoLooks like they're running cherries jubilee instead of bananas foster this month: https://thegrillnewyork.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/THE-GRILL-DESSERT-MENU-3.pdf https://thegrillnewyork.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/THE-G...
- gertrunde 3y agoThere's a roast chicken recipe we do occasionally, where you flambé the chicken in brandy (towards the end of roasting) and then add a load of cream. It is really quite epicly good.
- axxl 3y agoI suppose we all deserve a chance to gripe about our jobs in the relevant website or reading material of our profession. That is, to the extent of my capacity to tell, entirely what this article is. With some facts about Flambé sprinkled in. There aren't even really any "confession" anecdotes except "I wasn't trained and I messed up sometimes" and "this woman didn't like bananas but ordered it anyway".
- neuralRiot 3y agoI think i get where the rant of the author comes from, it’s the superficiality of it all, people didn’t order the dessert because they wanted to eat it but only because of the fire show which might make him feel like a circus act rather than a cook but that’s what everything seems to be today all show, no substance. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the food as long as it looks good in the pics, only the 5 seconds of fame matter.
- singron 3y agoIt probably seems dumb if you do 6 flambes each night, but the patrons probably eat mostly for sustenance and taste 99% of the time and want a little show this once. It's not like every restaurant has tableside preparations.
- twic 3y agoThe only flambéed dishes that spring to mind are "volcano chicken", a staple at a Thai restaurant near me (not where this film was shot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSjJFOgBFNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSjJFOgBFNY And the "cobra coffee" at the former Bombay Brasserie, where there is some complex manoeuvre involving lighting some spirits on fire, trickling them down an orange peel, then using them to burn sugar into caramel or something: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXg1VZD5lZ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXg1VZD5lZ0 Apparently also available in Washington, D. C.: https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2014/12/19/the-cobra-coffee-bombay-club-comes-sweet-with-little-bite/6Y5nxcOXigLwLwlOZLiLGL/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2014/12/19...
- QuercusMax 3y agoThere are quite often flaming beverages at Tiki-themed bars; they seem to involve burning high-proof alcohol along with sugar and dehydrated citrus slices.
- ubermonkey 3y agoMy only real experiences with tableside fire are in New Orleans. At Brennan's, we always get the Bananas Foster. It's SO GOOD, even if you don't like bananas (and I don't). The presentation can get dramatic, for sure: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chetman/8225606480/in/album-72157632114991887/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/chetman/8225606480/in/album-72... At Galatoire's, do yourself a favor and enjoy Cafe Brulot for dessert, or with dessert. It's a flaming coffee cocktail prepared tableside and, as per the thread, set aflame (sometimes on the tablecloth!).
- motohagiography 3y agoIn some Portuguese restaurants, chourico is another variation. It's fun. The true art of great service is to make diners think it's the chef who is responsible for their enjoyment.
- zabzonk 3y agoflaming drinks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_drink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_drink
- tiahura 3y agoNo matter how technologically advanced our society becomes, humans will always be captivated by fire. Yep. Thankful to have a Greek restaurant that serves saganaki down the street. If only we had a restaurant that served real raclette.
- joezydeco 3y agoFunny enough, Saganaki is an American creation. Invented in Chicago in 1968. https://www.oakpark.com/2021/09/09/flaming-cheese-its-how-a-greek-dinner-in-chicago-begins/ https://www.oakpark.com/2021/09/09/flaming-cheese-its-how-a-... And I do love raclette.
- vjulian 3y agoGrowing up, when going to restaurants when in the US, I loved the ones serving so-called ‘Continental’ food. The Haute Cuisine pretensions, puddings on fire, coq au vin, old-fashioned service and the rest—all wonderful! I LOATHE these newer restaurants with casual service yet high prices, garlic aioli, Sriracha sauce, and ubiquitous and awful comfort food. I also loathe the new breed of garish, high end restaurants.
- conductr 3y ago> I also loathe the new breed of garish, high end restaurants. We have a trend of high end restaurants being what I view as night clubs. If your steak restaurant has a DJ, you're doing it wrong (IMO). It all feels Vegas-y to me, and I'm not a fan of Vegas.
- dorfsmay 3y ago> garlic aioli Is there any other type of aioli? My understanding is the only controversial part, source if the "real aioli" great schism, is egg yolk.
- rjsw 3y agoPresumably serving dishes with with sauce.