project

The flambé pan is a metal utensil, usually round, shallow, with sloping sides and a long wooden handle. The lamp is a utensil of cylindrical form, high, composed of an alcohol reservoir, a wick burner and a grid, where to place the pan (or another vessel) for a side-table cooking. The general principle underlying cooking with the lamp, that is the cooking utensil, the flame and the support placed between one and the other, is clearly thousand of years old. But the lamp and the flambé pan are among the most recent cooking utensils to be developed in order of time. They are believed to evolve directly from the Réchaud or Spirit Warmer, a device in fashion in the XVIIIth century and throughout the neo-classical period. They were used to carry the heat source (Charcoal, candle or spirit) direct to the table for placing a vessel with food over it to keep it warm, or even to make coffee. A short but significant step taken towards the end of the last century was to improve these devices formally and functionally, thereby sanctioning their use for cooking certain foods at the guests table, with the spectacular effect so typical and fashionable of the belle epoque period, flambéing. The special feature of these utensils make them particularly indicated for Sautéing (especially fruit sweets, sweet and savoury crêpes, médaillons or miniature escaloppes, fish fillets), although the lamp, as a heat source, strictly speaking could be used for many other cooking techniques.Although its image is so bound up with fin de siécle, above all with the traditional, international cuisine of Grand Hotels, it must be underlined that the lamp and its pan can be used in preparing dishes of great interest and novelty, as shown by the cuisine of Angelo Paracucchi. The most noteworthy feature of our lamp (a spirit or alcohol burner, as in the traditional model) is that it has been designed as a highly professional tool. In the first place, as flambéing is a very fast way of cooking, it is possible to obtain a wide range of flame, from very strong to very reduced heat, depending on requirements, and easily controlled. With the capacity of 1,900 litres, the reservoir is autonomous for a long time. The upper grid of heavy concentric discs can be used for the other vessels besides the traditional pan. It is made entirely of stainless steel, giving it optimal resistance, a very important consideration given its use. The flambé pan, on the other hand is made of heavy gauge copper with a thin layer of stainless steel inside. The handle is wooden, joined by a stainless steel investment casting. Special attention has been paid in designing the cross-section of the wooden part, contrived to have a pleasant grip safe and easy to handle.