Spirited Cooking

 

In one scene a contestent decides to use bourbon. He pours it directly into a heating pan. Naturally, it ignites. He keeps pouring, right into the flames. Was damned lucky not to have a line of fire from the pan to the bottle.

 

Meanwhile, the hosts (Bobby Flay and Ann Burrell) are saying how it could ignite the bourbon in the bottle and cause it to explode. One of the stupidest comments I've ever heard.

 

Anyway, I thought it might be useful to discuss how one cooks with spirits.

 

First off, let's understand what's going on. In order to ignite,  alcohol has to vaporize and mix with air. What's burning is that oxygenated vapor. The liquid, per se, is not on fire. Thus, if, in the above scene, the flames had climbed the bourbon the danger would have been a potential serious burn. No way it actually could enter the bottle and cause it to explode. Molotov Cocktails use wicks for that very reason.

 

So, the correct way: When you are ready to add the wine or booze, remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the quantity of alcohol to a cup or what-have-you, and pour it into the pan. Do not pour directly from the bottle. Set a match to it. If the alcohol has warmed enough (which it should have) it will ignite. Return pan to burner and finish cooking the dish.

 

Frankly, this is not how professionals do it. But their kitchens are prepared to cope with fires and exhaust problems, while yours is not. So do it the safe way.

I used to enjoy it when I had a class of rookie firefighters in the classroom and told them to raise their hands if they think wood burns.   They would unanimously raise their hands until we got into the actual science of it and started explaining it.

There are many misconceptions about fire....that bottle of booze would never "explode" in his hands. It is a physical impossibility as Brook mentioned. Just like the old exploding gasoline tank on a car.."get back boys, it's going to blow!" Horseshit. It's not going to blow...a gasoline tank on fire is nothing to worry about..let it burn out. An empty gasoline tank full of vapors is what to worry about...that's the one that can send you sky-high.

Personally, when I flambe' on my gas cooktop, I measure it first into a cup, add it to my pan, and just tip the pan a bit until the burner ignites it, then let it go until it burns out.

Necessarily having a hand on the handle of the pan while tipping it does contribute to the biggest danger of flambeing: jerking or otherwise violently moving the pan and spilling its flaming contents.  The other big and dangerous mistake can happen even without tipping: leaning over the pan to watch carefully as you ignite the alcohol.  And one more big one, of course, is having combustibles within about three feet over your cooktop -- and that includes a dirty, greasy range hood.  Witness a fire in a range hood or fan duct once and you won't soon forget it!

 

Even with vented hoods, however, there are problems. First off, they rarely are powerful enough to do the job. One of the commonest complaints I hear from home cooks: Ya know, I had the exhaust set on high, and my smoke alarms still kept going off. This problem has gotten even worse with the widespread introduction of grills as part of home cooktops.

 

Secondly, the very last thing most home cooks think to clean is the inside of the range hood. They really believe that all the grease, and particulates from smoke, etc. are being vented to the outside.