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Ice Cream on Fire, not on fire.

douglas_bd

I attempted to create an ice cream that when presented could be 'bruleed' at the table (influenced by Fat Duck's Flaming Sorbet). I created a fluid gel out of my ice cream base with some Gellan F, and then churned in in the ice cream freezer so that it would remain heat stable. I also created a caramelized apple base and a granola-crumble. I wanted to plate with the apple compote on the bottom, surrounded by a sprinkle of the granola around it. Then place a scoop of ice cream on top. At the table, I planned to pour a bourbon and sugar syrup over the top of the ice cream, and light on fire. My hope was that the syrup would brulee as it drizzled down the scoop of ice cream, engulfing the scoop in fire and leaving a caramelized crust in it's wake.

Unfortunately, I could not get the fire to light. Possibly the bourbon just wasn't high enough proof? I tried it in a syrup with sugar and with just straight bourbon, and neither would work. I could light the syrup or straight bourbon on it's own, but not on the ice cream. Is it possible to light something cold on fire? I believe in Chef Blumenthal's presentation (I've only seen pictures) the fire is around the sorbet, not actually on it...maybe that's why? Any ideas on how I could get a flame that could be sustained for some period of time on a scoop of ice cream? I ended up serving without the fire, but wondering if anyone has any ideas how I might be able to pull this off.

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Chris_Young_80640

The basic problem is vapor pressure. For the booze to ignite, enough ethanol molecules must be evaporating from the liquid phase and into the vapor phase. The higher the alcoholic proof, the more ethanol will be evaporating at any given temperature. The colder it gets, the more difficult it is to ignite because the vapor pressure is lower. This is why you need to boil wine before you can "flame off" the alcohol. At room temperature, the vapor pressure of the ethanol isn't high enough to ignite.

So what to do? Any of the following will help:

(1) Increase the ethanol content of your sauce.

(2) Heat your sauce, perhaps even bring it to a simmer before attempting to pour it over the sorbet and ignite it.

(3) Have the bowl the sorbet is in be very hot to help evaporate the ethanol and make it easier to ignite.

prince_of_porcelain

Thanks Chris...The sauce was room temperature, so heating it would be the best option and something I didn't try. I could also go with a higher proof spirit, though that would also change the flavor profile. I could try some 151 as proof (pun intended) of concept and go from there. To get the effect I'd hoped for, the syrup wouldn't be touching the bowl at all, but only on the surface of the ice cream, so I don't think heating the bowl would help in that scenario.

Lachlan_Hunt_17368

I've done this before. Gently heating the alcohol in a saucepan works well, and I lit it in the saucepan before pouring it over the ice cream. But don't get it too hot or all the alcohol will evaporate before you ignite it. I think somewhere around 55 to 60°C is about right. I can't remember which alcohol I used though, but it would have been something around 40%. It might have been cognac.