Flaming, or flambéing, is a technique of quickly enveloping a dish in flames by igniting a small amount of heated liquor poured over it. The food to be flamed needs to be warm, and the brandy or liqueur used to flambé it also needs to be warm—but well under the boiling point. For meat, do not attempt this process with less than 1 ounce of liquor per serving. For nonsweet food served from a chafing dish, pour the warmed liquor over the surface of the food and ignite by touching the edge of the pan with the flame of a match or taper. For hot desserts, sprinkle the top surface with granulated sugar, add the warm liquor or liqueur, and ignite.
