Coffee Diablo

[zilla369]

Okay - c'mon you guys. I know you won't let me down.

In the restaurant at culinary school, they used to serve a coffee course at the end of the meal, which involved flaming liquor poured down a long spiral of citrus peels into cups of coffee. I've seen it done, but never done it myself. I'd like to reproduce it for the chef's table at the restaurant i'm at now, but i'm a little skittish to try it without some direction.

Can anybody post a technique? Thanks!

[sand]

Here's an abbreviated version of the recipe for cafe brulot from Leon Galatoire's cookbook.

1 orange

12 cloves

6 cups dark roast coffee

1 oz brandy

1 oz orange liqueur

Twists from 1 lemon

3 cinnamon sticks

Stud the orange peel with the cloves. Combine brandy and orange liquer in a glass, and heat glass in hot water for two minutes. Add orange peel, cinnamon sticks, and lemon twist to liquor blend. Pour the contents into a bowl, and ignite the liquor. Slowly pour in the coffee while stirring. When the flame is extinguished the "balance" is correct.

[Mark Sommelier]

When I did tableside service, MANY years ago, we made Cafe Diablo. Done tableside with a guerridon and a rechaud. Have the busboy bring you 2 double espressos. In a pan on the rechaud, put the coffee and the whole orange and whole lemon peel. Heat for 30 seconds. With fork, take the end of the orange peel and lift it over the pan. Pour the Cognac down the peel, tipping the pan to ignite it. Do the same with the lemon peel, but pour Grand Marnier down it, also trying to ignite it. Provid lots of sugar. Once when I was doing this, the woman at the next table said : "Ooh look, honey, he's cooking rattlesnake!!".

[zilla369]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I did finally find the technique online, i didn't realize it was also known as "Cafe Brulot".

I did a tableside preparation of it tonight for the chef's table of 8 people. We turned out the lights and i didn't set myself on fire, or anything. Folks actually applauded! And diners other than those at the chef's table were very curious about it, so i ended up making more and serving it around the dining room, compliments of the house. A big hit, and it actually tasted good, too. Also, i picked up a tip online to toss ground cinnamon into the blue flames, which makes cool orange sparks. Extreme coffee!

And Mark - it really does look like burning rattlesnake skins in the witchy light, doesn't it?

Next time i'll try and get someone to take pictures.