Wet Bar Wednesday – Calvados Aflame!

Tonight we dined in a little spot in the heart of old Strasbourg.  It is a tourist restaurant, but hey, we’re tourists, right?  It was a particularly warm day (the first of several, again) and one of the benefits of this place is that it’s underground, and therefore very cool.  We were ecstatic!

We don’t typically order dessert when we dine out, but we were seated with some very exuberant fellow-classmates who were buying desserts to share (along with plenty of wine).  The traditional dessert is the tarte flambe.  Think of  a thin, pizza-esque crust (much thinner than thin-crust in the US), slathered with a thin layer of cream, topped with a layer of thinly sliced apples.  This is then baked briefly.  When brought to the table, the waiter deftly poured a shot of calvados (apple brandy) over the top and lit it.  Voila!  Dessert by fire-light!

So, things I’ve learned this week about liquor:

• Pinot noir (wine) is generally considered a red wine.  However there is a variety of it here in the Alsace that is really a very, very, very dark white wine (technically a rose).
• Calvados is flammable, much like 151.  I have a new use for that bottle of calvados at home!

Enjoy (carefully)!