Hello and welcome back to week four of my first-ever series on this blog: Confessions of a Culinary School Graduate! I hope you are enjoying this series so far!
Today, I am talking about something that we are all taught not to play with, but some of us do it anyway: fire. I am going to tell you about the one and only time I set my food on fire, what happened, and why I refuse to do it at home.
I hope you enjoy week four of this series!
What Does It Mean To Flambé?
Flambéing basically means lighting your food on fire. But to give you a more technical explanation, it is when alcohol is added to food in a pan and ignited, creating a burst of flames. Exciting, I know.
Chefs can use this technique to burn off some of the alcohol while adding flavor to the dish. It can also create a pretty dramatic presentation, especially when it is done right in front of a customer.
Is it something I need to do in my own kitchen to make delicious food? Absolutely not.
When I Lit My Food on Fire…Once
When I was in culinary school, there was one day when my chef wanted to teach us how to flambé. He first talked us through it, then demonstrated it himself, and finally told us that it was our turn.
I was not particularly excited about it because I have always had a love/hate relationship with fire. I love it when it is in a firepit, but I don’t like it when I am the one controlling it.
I got my pan, prepared it the way we were told, and when it was time, I was very hesitant. I didn’t know what was going to happen or if it was even going to work. But I knew that if I was going to learn anything, I had to push forward and just do it.
So, I did.
I lit that pan on fire!
When the pan caught fire, I panicked—but just a little. I put the pan on the stovetop, took a step back, and my first thought was, “Now what?!”
Thankfully, I didn’t have to do anything. Not long after that thought, the flames died down and disappeared completely.
Let’s just say I wasn’t angry to see them go.
“Don’t Try This At Home”
We all know the phrase “Don’t try this at home.” That phrase is used for many things, and for me, flambéing is one of them.
When I lit that pan on fire in school, I knew I didn’t want to do it at home. But I do understand why they taught us to flambé. Culinary school was preparing us to work in professional kitchens. We needed to learn different techniques, know what to expect, and understand how to do things safely—even if we wouldn’t use every technique in our own kitchens.
For right now, though, intentionally setting my food on fire will not be happening in mine.
I don’t flambé at home because I am genuinely afraid of accidentally catching something on fire. What if the flame gets too high? What if I do something wrong and drop the flaming pan? There are plenty of reasons why I don’t light my food on fire, but the biggest one is simple:
I can still make delicious food without setting it on fire.
I do it all the time, and not once have I thought, “You know, this would be better if I lit it on fire.”
Until Next Week…
I know this confession was on the shorter side, but sometimes there isn’t much more to the story. I learned how to flambé, I successfully did it, and I decided that it wasn’t something I needed to bring into my home kitchen.
That doesn’t mean I will never flambé something again. Maybe one day I will. But today is definitely not that day!
Thank you for tuning in to week four of Confessions of a Culinary School Graduate! Leave a comment and let me know if you have ever flambéed food before and what you thought about it. I love hearing from you!
Don’t forget to tune in to next week’s post because we’re talking about a lesson that I think every cook learning the basics needs to hear.
Until Next Week…
Stay Saucy
Hailey 🍝
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