[HN Gopher] Confessions of a Tableside Flambeur
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Confessions of a Tableside Flambeur
Author : jseliger
Score : 58 points
Date : 2023-10-31 04:04 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.eater.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.eater.com)
| _nalply wrote:
| Typo: omit the accent aigu, this means: flambeur instead of
| flambeur!
| csande17 wrote:
| Alternatively, flambeer or flambe-er, since by the time you're
| using "flambe" as a present-tense verb you're already in
| mangled culinary-loanword territory.
| dmichulke wrote:
| not a grave mistake
| fguerraz wrote:
| Sacrebleu!
| _nalply wrote:
| Typo: sacre bleu!
| ale42 wrote:
| In French, it is a big one ;-) It changes the pronunciation
| of the word from \fla.boeR\ to something like \fla.be.yR\
| portmanteaufu wrote:
| They were joking--"aigu" (e) is "not grave" (e).
| hotnfresh wrote:
| Hey, this is no place to _circon-flexe_ that you know fancy
| names for little extra bits on letters.
| smarks wrote:
| This series of puns is macron me ill.
| jfim wrote:
| It'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 wrote:
| And by all means don't do it under the extractor fan, it will
| suck in the flames and catch fire.
| twic wrote:
| Also, 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.
| misja111 wrote:
| the guests will be thrilled though
| Uehreka wrote:
| Also don't do it on top of a frisbee in the middle of an
| Ultimate match. The frisbee's downward-sloping geometry
| will cause the alcohol to fall off and the Observer will
| generally not take your side.
| patapong wrote:
| To add to this: I would strongly recommend against doing
| this at a fuel station. The flame may jump from the
| alcohol to petrol gases in the surrounding area, causing
| more than just the pan to flambe.
| nvy wrote:
| Do it in scoober position, silly.
| ramraj07 wrote:
| I've used chef Jon's bananas foster recipe to impress a few
| people in my times: https://youtu.be/yLLw-B-OR8U?si=GmC-
| neQ9eRDi__MK
| butlike wrote:
| If you try, keep some baking soda around just in case you have
| to put out the fire.
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| Not to be confused with potassium chlorate, which doesn't
| work as well.
| gumby wrote:
| I misread the title thinking it would be some sort of indoor
| flaneur, 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 wrote:
| My mom used to do this at home for example when cooking _rognons
| de veau flambes au Cognac_ (works with Armagac too.) She managed
| to briefly set fire to the kitchen wallpaper once.
| tuyiown wrote:
| My kids feared I lit the house on fire when I showed them how I
| did my _flambees_ bananas. The flamme was indeed impressive.
| fsckboy wrote:
| > _"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 flambe 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 wrote:
| Never 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 wrote:
| It'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 wrote:
| it's because filet has very little flavor of its own
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| Try some A5 wagyu and report back on that.
| QuercusMax wrote:
| That's totally different, comparing A5 wagyu filet to
| normal prime filet is ridiculous.
| LeafItAlone wrote:
| Insult me however you'd like, but I'd almost always
| prefer a filet over ribeye (or any other cut).
| omginternets wrote:
| >what is wrong with this person?
|
| Two common kinds of foolishness are:
|
| 1. There is no right way to do a thing
|
| 2. You must never deviate from the right way of doing the thing
|
| Many foodies derive a misplaced pride from preaching #2.
| joezydeco wrote:
| Some desserts _need_ to be ordered ahead of the meal. The
| best chocolate souffle in Chicago was served at La Sardine
| (now closed), but needed 45 minutes to prepare.
| butlike wrote:
| To the #2 point, if the goal is to do a "fresh take on
| something," by all means, experiment. But if the diner
| expects exactly what's on the menu, say, traditional chicken
| pot pie, then I'd say yes; there's only one right way to do
| it.
|
| Again, the whole issue can be avoided if the menu item reads:
| "Chef's take on traditional Chicken Pot Pie" Then you can add
| cumin or whatever.
| mhink wrote:
| I'm not so sure I agree with that. Even with chicken pot
| pie, there are absolutely a few different variations that
| (in my opinion) are equally valid- most notably, there's
| the question of whether it needs to have a crust underneath
| the filling or not. How thick should the filling be? I've
| had chicken pot pies where the filling is almost a soup,
| and ones where it's almost firm enough to pick up and eat a
| slice. Do you use traditional pie crust or a layer of puff
| pastry on top- or maybe nestle biscuits on top? Should I
| use potatoes or not, because that'll affect how hearty and
| filling it is? How about peas? I'll grant that if I use
| turkey I should call it "turkey pot pie", but what about
| Cornish game hen? What if I use parsnips instead of
| carrots?
|
| Then there are different forms- what if I didn't make it in
| a pie tin, but folded the dough into a half-circle like a
| hand pie? Or perhaps a rectangle? It might be more accurate
| to call this a "chicken hand pie" but then you have the
| ironic problem that a diner might be more willing to order
| it if they understand that it's really a chicken pot pie in
| a different shape.
|
| ---
|
| I know I'm being a bit pedantic here, but here's the thing-
| you're not wrong _in spirit_. But I think it 's overly
| reductive to say "yes; there's only one right way to do
| it".
|
| IMO, it's sort of more like the difference between a cover
| of a song vs. a remix of a song. In the same way, there's a
| sliding scale here- a cover of a song might be an attempt
| to perfectly duplicate the original, or it might be similar
| but a different artist's take, or it might be a completely
| different genre (but preserving the song's structure). A
| remix is a different song entirely that borrows elements of
| the original.
| Smoosh wrote:
| > a half-circle like a hand pie
|
| Interesting term "hand pie". Is that like a pastie[1]?
|
| Here in Australia, a single-person pie is typically
| considered a hand pie because they are frequently eaten
| that way (holding the pie and taking bites out of it) for
| casual dining. [2]
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastie
|
| [2] https://westsidetoday-enki-v2.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-
| content/up...
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| this isn't a "foodie" making some judgment of when you should
| order dessert, it's a restaurant worker dreading having to do
| the performance of the flambe for the nth time this week (or
| evening)
| BaudouinVH wrote:
| native french speaker here : it should read "Flambeur". "Flambe"
| does exist. "Flambeur" does exist but not Flambeur.
| dieulot wrote:
| "Flambeur" isn't right but "flambeur" means something else
| entirely (gambler). "Flambeer" would be more legitimate but
| would be hard to decipher. The title tag plays it safe and uses
| "flambe restaurant server".
| Lalabadie wrote:
| Flambeur 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 wrote:
| like somebody who "burns through money"
| gregschlom wrote:
| "flambeur" means someone who sets things on fire. Either
| literally, as in this case, or metaphorically, as in money.
| pcrh wrote:
| I read it as flaneur.
| RickHull wrote:
| In Louisiana, might it be _flambeaux_?
| gryn wrote:
| that means torch (the traditional kind, not electric)
| gregschlom wrote:
| And more specifically, torches (plural). A single torch
| would be "flambeau"
| tantalor wrote:
| This article isn't in French, it's in English.
| hughdbrown wrote:
| Tout le monde connait Bob le Flambeur.
|
| https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047892/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_le_flambeur
|
| Sort of a French Ocean's Eleven in the 1950s.
| edu wrote:
| I was expecting some fire story. Earlier in the year, in
| Madrid[1], a flambeed 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...
| Karellen wrote:
| Yes, 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 wrote:
| My 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 wrote:
| My 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 wrote:
| Isn't holly toxic? I wouldn't want that anywhere near my
| food, or to be breathing in the combustion products.
| sprobertson wrote:
| Eating a bunch of the berries can make you nauseous but the
| poisonousness is widely overstated.
| rwmj wrote:
| If you don't like Christmas pudding you must be eating the
| wrong sort of Christmas pudding!
| dtgriscom wrote:
| Some might say anyone eating Christmas pudding is eating the
| wrong sort...
| maxwell wrote:
| Looks like they're running cherries jubilee instead of bananas
| foster this month:
|
| https://thegrillnewyork.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/THE-G...
| gertrunde wrote:
| There's a roast chicken recipe we do occasionally, where you
| flambe the chicken in brandy (towards the end of roasting) and
| then add a load of cream.
|
| It is really quite epicly good.
| axxl wrote:
| I 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 Flambe 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 wrote:
| I 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.
| twic wrote:
| The only flambeed 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
|
| 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
|
| Apparently also available in Washington, D. C.:
|
| https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2014/12/19...
| ubermonkey wrote:
| My 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-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 wrote:
| In 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 wrote:
| flaming drinks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_drink
| tiahura wrote:
| _No 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 wrote:
| Funny enough, Saganaki is an American creation. Invented in
| Chicago in 1968.
|
| https://www.oakpark.com/2021/09/09/flaming-cheese-its-how-a-...
|
| And I do love raclette.
| vjulian wrote:
| Growing 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 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| Presumably serving dishes with with sauce.
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(page generated 2023-10-31 23:01 UTC)