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The flambè pan is a metal utensil which is usually round and shallow, with sloping sides and a long wooden handle.
The lamp is a tall, cylindrically-shaped utensil, composed of an alcohol reservoir, a wick burner and a grid on which to place the pan (or another vessel) for side-table cooking. The general principle underlying cooking with the lamp, which combines the cooking utensil, the flame and the support placed between one and the other, is clearly thousands of years old. But the lamp and the flambé pan are among the most recent cooking utensils to be developed. They are believed to have evolved directly from the "Rechaud" or spirit warmer, a device in fashion in the eighteenth century and throughout the neo-classical period. They were used to carry the heat source (charcoal, candle or spirit) directly to the table in order to place 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 guest’s table by flambéing, the spectacular effect that was so fashionable during the Belle Epoque and so typical of that period. The special features of these utensils make them particularly suitable for Sautéing (especially fruit sweets, sweet and savoury crepes, médaillons or miniature escalopes, fish fillets), although, strictly speaking, the lamp could be used as a heat source for many other cooking techniques. Although its image is so closely associated with fin de siècle, and above all with the traditional, international Grand-Hotel cuisine, it must be pointed out that the lamp and its pan can be used to prepare very interesting and novel dishes, Angelo Paracucchi’s cuisine being a fine example of this.
The most noteworthy feature of our lamp (a spirit or alcohol burner, as in the traditional model) is its having 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, easily controlled range of flame, from very high to very low, depending on requirements. The reservoir’s capacity of 1.9 litres ensures a lasting supply of fuel. The upper grid of heavy concentric discs can be used for 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 given to the design of the cross-section of the wooden part, so that it has a comfortable grip, and is safe and easy to handle.
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