Help! My shredded beef is on fire!

Last week, I made an old Silver Palate recipe for "Comforting Shredded Beef". Don't you love the 80s name?

Anyway, it was a great recipe, which involved basically pot roasting (on the hob) a large blade roast in wine and beef stock for three hours, until it fell apart. However. The first step was to brown the beef until well coloured, then to add a half a cup of cognac (I used brandy) and then flame the dish. The pot went up in a huge tower of flame, straight into the exhaust fan which sits a good 10" above my head. Pete put the lid on the cast iron pot, but the flames kept burning, so that when he took the lid off to check, the wall of flame burst through again. It was quite scary - I was sure we'd set fire to the roof.

My question is: what did we do wrong, and how should we have done this? There's disagreement between us - I think the rangehood should have been off, but Pete thinks it would have melted if it wasn't on (and the heat wasn't being diffused). As it was the filters are pitch black and burnt and the plastic melted anyway. Should we have taken it off the heat first? Was it just too hot? Or was it dumb of the recipe to specify so much alcohol? Did using brandy instead of cognac make a difference?

Thanks for any advice - I'd like to make this again, the beef was fantastic, but I'm too scared to flame it again. Perhaps the brandy is unnecessary?

A half cup of cognac, Ce? That sounds like the source of the problem right there. Most dishes that I've seen that call for flaming cognac use 1-2 Tbsp as a rule. You just have too much alcohol to burn off. Perhaps the size of the pan also is a factor. Were you doing this in a Dutch oven or something like that?

I recently had a similar, if less frightening, experience with a wine reduction sauce when the alcohol vapors caught on fire during the reduction process (I had the small pan on a burner a bit too large, so the gas flames came over the edge of the pan). In my case, it was quite pretty and non-threatening, but the flames were only 3-4" tall, too.

Mark Lipton

Markus, thank you, I checked the recipe again, and it really did say half a cup. I imagine you're right and that was just an insane amount of alcohol! We were cooking it in a big dutch oven, so it wasn't like it was a little saucepan or anything - is that relevant?

3 - 4" is scary enough for me, 3 - 4' is downright terrifying. I would never have made a good Asian wok chef.

Chef on Fire, do you have any suggestions? Thanks...

The half cup of brandy (don't forget Cognac is nothing more than a form of brandy)c ould ge quite reasonable but before flaming one should definitely remove the pot from the heat of the stove as that will keep the flames more moderate.

Years ago I did that flaming process for a casserole in the oven. Poor oven! Poor me cleaning that poor oven.

Best
Rogov

*C*,

Thank goodness you are ok and no one got hurt. A half of a cup of something that is 80 proof sounds like too much to me. Brandy and Cognac would have produced the same fire.

Celia,
Rogov's point is a crucial one: when you flame the alcohol the pan should be off the heat source. I've seen that recipe and it does indeed call for 1/2 cup, as unusual as that sounds to me. You should heat the pan before adding the hooch, remove from the flame, add the hooch and then light it. That way the alcohol that has evaporated from the liquid will ignite, but it will be limited by the evaporation rate of alcohol. If you continue to heat, especially if you boil the liquid, you vastly increase the amount of alcohol in the air and get a much bigger flame.

Mark Lipton

Thank you all...

Mark, I guess I should have known that, but you'd think they would have at least mentioned it in the instructions! It's quite an important thing.

Mark, I guess I should have known that, but you'd think they would have at least mentioned it in the instructions! It's quite an important thing.

Heh. I had the same experience with their Lobster Bisque recipe the first time I made it. It is rather scary, but look on the bright side: Now you can recommend this recipe to everyone you know, not mention the flames, and get that warm "I know something you don't know" feeling.

I've never had the guts to flambé anything and I have always wondered if the overhead fan should be on or off. Now I am really scared to do it. What I need is a knowing person to be standing by my side, guiding me through it. With my luck I would burn my kitchen down....Gene would never forgive me!

Markus, thank you, I checked the recipe again, and it really did say half a cup. I imagine you're right and that was just an insane amount of alcohol! We were cooking it in a big dutch oven, so it wasn't like it was a little saucepan or anything - is that relevant?

3 - 4" is scary enough for me, 3 - 4' is downright terrifying. I would never have made a good Asian wok chef.

Chef on Fire, do you have any suggestions? Thanks...

Yes, always deglaze with spirits OFF HEAT.

Did it look like this?

jwcflamesa2.jpg

Did it look like this?

Nah, Celia doesn't have a beard.

Mark Lipton

Actually, no. I'm not exaggerating, the flames went over my head. It was just stupid. Haven't made it since.

Celia

I know I've made this (although it's been years), but I am also confident I didn't have 4 foot flames...impressive flames, but not like that...

One thing I will say is that flaming is ....always surprising...

b