Sept. 29 is National Coffee Day! Stop by to enjoy a classic Café Brulot, a flaming, booze-soaked coffee makes a most dramatic end to any meal at Galatoire’s.
Café Brulot
Ingredients
1 Orange
1 Lemon
12 whole cloves
3 Cinnamon sticks
2 Ounces brandy
2 ounces orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
2 tablespoons sugar
6 cups brewed French-roast coffee, kept hot
Directions
Carefully carve the peel from the orange in a continuous coil fashion. Cut the lemon peel into ¼-inch curls and set aside. (see note). Stud the orange peel with the cloves, and spear one end of the coil with the fork. Set aside. Reserve the flesh of the orange and lemon for another use.
In a small saucepan, combine lemon peel, cinnamon sticks, liqueurs and sugar over low heat until very warm to allow the ingredients to marry. The warmth is also required to ignite the brulot; cold liqueur will not flame. Once the ingredients are heated, pour them into a brulot bowl or a stainless steel bowl that has a flat bottom. Ignite the liqueur by holding a match to a ladle full of the liqueur. Once the ladle is lit, slowly lower it to the liqueur in the bowl. Hold the fork with the dangling clove-studded orange coil over the ignited bowl. Take extreme care not to burn yourself. Stir the flaming the liqueur with the ladle and ladle the liqueur over the orange coil you are holding over the bowl. The flame will spiral down the coil of orange peel and cloves, back into the bowl. Once you have poured the flaming liqueur down the coil several times to incorporate those flavors, remove the coil from the fork and put it in the bowl. Slowly pour in the coffee while stirring to extinguish the flame. Ladle small amounts of the aeromantic coffee mixture into demitasse cups.
Serves 6
**Note: While it will not make as striking a presentation, an option for the home cook is to simply cut the peel from the citrus fruits and remove the pith instead of cutting the peels into elaborate coils. The pieces of orange peel can then be studded with the cloves.
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