flamed garnishes

[alacarte]

I have a question for all you bartenders, mixologists, and pyromaniacs:

I have a recipe for a drink that ends with "garnish with a flamed orange peel."

Is there a trick for setting an orange peel aflame without setting fire to my kitchen or myself? This is for a vodka-based drink, if it makes any difference.

The questions I'm grappling with are basic and possibly even stupid:

--does the shape or size of the orange peel matter?

--do I use a match or a lighter?

--will this make a difference in the taste of the drink?

--do I flame the top or the underside of the peel?

--do I blow out the flame and then drop it in my drink, or drop it while it's still burning into the drink? do I need to blow it out after that?

--edited to add one more question: am I supposed to soak the peel in alcohol first?

THANKS!

Edited November 21, 2006 by alacarte (log)

[slkinsey]

First of all, you don't need to worry about the drink bursting into flame. No cocktail worth drinking is alcoholic enough to catch on fire.

To answer your questions:

- An approximately silver dollar-sized piece of orange peel seems to work the best. It's possible, albeit more difficult, to flame an approximately quarter-sized lemon twist as well.

- You could use either a match or a lighter. Most of the bartenders I know use wooden matches.

- Flaming the twist definitely makes a difference in the impact of the drink. There is a distinctive "burnt orange" aroma that comes from flaming an orange twist.

- You flame the outside part of the twist.

- You don't actually light the twist on fire, so there is no need to blow it out (more on this later).

- You don't soak the peel in alcohol.

Whenever a cocktail calls for a "twist" or "peel" garnish, you're not supposed to simply drop a piece of citrus peel in the drink. You're supposed to "twist" the peel by flexing it over the glass, causing the citrus oils to spray out of the peel and onto the surface of the drink (sometimes you may also choose to run the peel around the rim of the glass to rub off the residual citrus oils). When a recipe calls for a "flamed orange peel," what they are asking you to do is flame the orange oils as they are sprayed out of the peel when you twist it over the cocktail, not the actual peel itself. The best way goes something like this:

1. Have the finished cocktail poured in front of you, and have the orange peel from a fresh orange pre-cut and ready.

2. Hold the orange peel in your right hand between your thumb and forefinger in a more-or-less vertical position with the orange part of the peel facing away from the palm of your hand.

3. Light a match or lighter in your left hand and briefly warm the surface of the orange peel by bringing the peel close to the flame at a slight angle. This helps to bring the oils to the surface of the peel.

4. Hold the flame near the rim of the glass, maybe a few inches above. Coming from the side, flex the orange peel causing the orange oils to spray out of the orange peel onto the surface of the drink. The idea is that the orange oils should pass through the flame on their way from the peel to the surface of the drink. The flame will ignite the oils, and there will be a brief flash as they burn in the air.

5. Enjoy the burnt orange goodness.

If you want to see this technique in action, visit either Flatiron Lounge or Pegu Club and ask for a drink with a flamed twist garnish (you will notice that both establishments have a glass of wooden matches on the bar for just this purpose).

[birder53]

We tried this once and decided not to play with fire in the house again. There was more flame than we bargained for. It was a bit unsettling in a small space. It definitely takes some practise. Our "Cocktails in the Country" class didn't do very well with this assignment.

[alacarte]

Sam, thanks so much for that helpful --and comprehensive!-- reply!

I'm still not sure if I can pull this off. But I"m going to try, and will have a fire extinguisher at the ready....

[eje]

hint:

If using match, let the head burn out before warming/flaming peel. Can have an unpleasant flavor.

[thirtyoneknots]

Excellent advice all around, I have but one thing to add. Before getting involvedin online cocktail forums, I had horribly misinterpreted instructions (much more vague than those above) on how to do twist garnishes, and I could never quite tell what the fuss was about. I belive my very first question online was how to correctly use a twist garnish. A good way someone suggested to see if it was being done correctly was to have a lit candle nearby and to 'twist' the peel into the flame of the candle as if over a drink. If done correctly, you will definitely know it (very cool looking). Well, this is essentially how 'flaming' is done, except that you use a match, so it may be useful to practice over a candle to perfect your technique for expressing the oils from the peel, then move on to holding the match, which requires somewhat greater coordination.

Hope this helps.

Andy

[phlip]

Picking the orange is very important. I try to find one with a firm hard skin, some oranges are just hopeless. Also I don't recommend using a lighter it gives off a chemical smell. And no worrys, you're not going to burn your house down.

[eje]

[...]Also I don't recommend using a lighter it gives off a chemical smell.

Oh, good, someone else noticed that too!

I once used one of those multi-purpose (butane?) lighters, and did not like the smell at all.

I've seen bartenders on tv use a lighter for this sort of thing and thought I might have been being over picky.

Quickly switched back to matches.

[jmfangio]

Also I don't recommend using a lighter it gives off a chemical smell.

←

Besides, it looks really cool once you've mastered the art of lighting a wooden match with your thumbnail, then squeezing the orange with the other hand.

By the way, what's the recipe that you're doing this for? I'm partial to the 'Flame of Love' martini.

[gethin]

hint:

If using match, let the head burn out before warming/flaming peel.  Can have an unpleasant flavor.

←

I'm not sure if its my imagination, but I think this is less of a problem with the matches that you get free with your cigars from a decent cigar merchant - if nothing else the extra length means that you have more time for spraying the oil between the time the head has burnt offand yr fingers starting to singe.

gethin

[Chris Amirault]

Another good flame source is a bamboo skewer, which will burn steady and long and can be lit on any gas burner. Good for the dorks who can't get it right the first time, and have to line up a few twists while they fumble through the process.

Not that, you know, that's how I learned this trick. Ahem.