What is the correct term for adding alcohol to your pan?

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stupidfab

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jul 8, 2008
Messages
20
Location
Gardiner, Ny
k, so i have been cooking professionally for about 2.5 years now, and i love using a technique that i learned, but when i create a dish, and im trying to explain it, i dont know what to say for when i do this thing. lets pretend im sautéing some onions and mushroom in a pan, when they are almost done i add spiced rum. it does that whole flame thing as the alcohol burns off, and it leaves it with a really good taste that i just love, but what is it called when i add the rum. is their a specific name for that step?
 
k, so i have been cooking professionally for about 2.5 years now, and i love using a technique that i learned, but when i create a dish, and im trying to explain it, i dont know what to say for when i do this thing. lets pretend im sautéing some onions and mushroom in a pan, when they are almost done i add spiced rum. it does that whole flame thing as the alcohol burns off, and it leaves it with a really good taste that i just love, but what is it called when i add the rum. is their a specific name for that step?

maybe it is deglaze. someone will know, if i am not correct.

babe:mellow:
 
yeah, its not deglazing. thats when u remove the fat from the pan. alot of the time you use wine, but thats not what im doing in this. im actually using the alcohol to give it flavor.
 
Flambe is what you call igniting the alcohol. I don't know if there is a specific name for just adding alcohol to a pan.
 
k thanks alot, so like how would i use that wile describing it, would i b like its onions and mushrooms with a rum flambe, or a flambe of onions mushrooms and rum?
 
I''m thinking flambé is a cooking procedure that envolves both the adding of an alcohol (Spiced Rum in this exapmple) and igniting it. So maybe you could say... Use Spiced Rum to flambé...Or flambe with spiced rum in your explanation of your recipe

Have Fun!
 
k thanks alot, so like how would i use that wile describing it, would i b like its onions and mushrooms with a rum flambe, or a flambe of onions mushrooms and rum?

M&O flambed with spiced rum. or... A spiced rum flambe of M&O
 
k thanks alot, and well u can make this at table side. one of my favorite/simplistic recipes is you start by cooking a steak, i like cooking it in a sautée pan. you cook it until its just under the temperature that u want it, then u start sautéeing onions and mushrooms (however much you want, and add salt and pepper to taste), when their almost done you put in some rum, like about 4 tablespoons, or w/e amount you think u want. then you put the steak back in and throw in some BBQ sauce, i recomend a sweet BBQ sauce.
 
Well, Joshua - if you are using the alcohol (or any other liquids) to melt the brown bits in the bottom of the pan (called fond in French) to make a pan sauce ... the term is deglazing - even if it does flame up. Ironically - the moisture from the onions and mushrooms you add to the pan (according to your recipe) will also help deglaze the pan.

Adding alcohol at the last minute with the primary intent to make it flame up - that's a flambé ... but this is more of a tableside pyrotechnics show.

Where in NY do you cook?
 
i live in upstate new york, i live in a town called gardiner, im about 2 hours from the city, and yeah, i dont just use it 2 deglaze. the flavor of the spiced rum itself gives the onions and mushrooms a flavor, just like in another recipe i made, i use coconut rum, and this gives it a good coconut flavor wile deglazing the pan, and u get a little other zing from the rest of the flavor of the rum.
 
you start off by cooking some sautéing some pineapple and cashews, then when its almost done you throw in come coconut rum, then you put that off 2 the side, next you cook up the chicken (you can use the same pan or a different 1, i like to use the same pan so i can get the flavor) then when the chicken is done, you just put a drop of the rum in their to deglaze it a little and 2 give it a little flavor. then when you plate it up you put the cashews on top of the chicken, and you put the pineapple on the side. (this will b some of the best pineapple you will ever have.) then you drizzle a little pina colada mix over the chicken and cashews. i acutely just made this recipe about 2 weeks ago, and its by far one of my best.
 
k, so i have been cooking professionally for about 2.5 years now, and i love using a technique that i learned, but when i create a dish, and im trying to explain it, i dont know what to say for when i do this thing. lets pretend im sautéing some onions and mushroom in a pan, when they are almost done i add spiced rum. it does that whole flame thing as the alcohol burns off, and it leaves it with a really good taste that i just love, but what is it called when i add the rum. is their a specific name for that step?

Hi Stupidfab,

The term you are looking for is deglazing.

When it it done by a member of the "front of house" staff it is known as flambé-ing and is, in essence, exactly the same thing.

A chef does it as a matter of course, as an every day event; the "front of house" staff do it rarely and it is a performance, IMHO, > show-off, for example, when making Crepes Suzette.

Hope this helps,
Archiduc
 
When you saute' and add alcohol to the pan, you'll almost always have some sort of flavorful residue on the pan from whatever it is you were cooking. The technique is deglazing. Flaming it is just what happens when you add sufficient alcohol to the pan for it to ignite.

Flambe' applies to flaming alcohol tableside, meant to be for presentation and the residual alcohol often provide a little additional moisture for the pan sauce.
 
The term you are looking for is deglazing.

When it it done by a member of the "front of house" staff it is known as flambé-ing and is, in essence, exactly the same thing.
I do not agree with this. Deglazing does not need to have alcohol involved. Deglazing is adding liquid (any liquid) to a pan for the purpose of disolving the fond in the bottom of the pan for flavor.

Flambeing in only done with alcohol and one of the purposes can be for show. Flambeing is always done with alcohol though. You can not flambe chicken stock, but you can deglaze with it. They really are not exactly the same thing.
 
I do not agree with this. Deglazing does not need to have alcohol involved. Deglazing is adding liquid (any liquid) to a pan for the purpose of disolving the fond in the bottom of the pan for flavor.

Flambeing in only done with alcohol and one of the purposes can be for show. Flambeing is always done with alcohol though. You can not flambe chicken stock, but you can deglaze with it. They really are not exactly the same thing.

and also when i do it, like with another recipe, i use it 2 finish off the onions and mushrooms, its almost like putting them in a broiler 4 a little bit, it adds a little crisp to them.
 
and also when i do it, like with another recipe, i use it 2 finish off the onions and mushrooms, its almost like putting them in a broiler 4 a little bit, it adds a little crisp to them.

Can you see the question mark on my forehead? Adding liquid to your mixture wouldn't crisp them. A pan with a small amount of oil over a higher heat would make them crisp - but adding liquid to a pan and cooking them longer wouldn't crisp them. Unless, of course, you are putting so little in there that they are not sitting in the liquid.

So...do you text a lot? :LOL: j/k! ;)
 
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