Brandy

Used in 2 recipes on RecipeWiki.

Brandy is a spirit distilled from wine, usually grape, and aged in wood, which gives it a warm character of dried fruit and vanilla. In the kitchen it is mostly used to deglaze a pan or to flame: the alcohol burns off quickly and leaves a rounded, slightly sweet depth behind. Steak Diane builds its pan sauce on it, and it lends richness to the sauce in Lobster Thermidor. An inexpensive bottle is fine for cooking, since the subtleties of an old one are lost in a hot pan. Take the pan off the heat before pouring, measure into a cup rather than straight from the bottle, and keep your face back if you light it.