Igniting interest in Tunisian dishes

In 1978, when I was working for the then Trust House Forte (THF) at the Hannibal Palace in Tunisia, I was asked by the Tunisian Tourist Board to organise a gala dinner at another THF hotel - the George V, Paris.

The dinner was for more than 400 people - anyone who had anything to do with Tunisia was invited, as well as representatives from the travel trade and well-known personalities.

Working with a team of half-a-dozen people, I arrived at the George V with a few cases of boukha (a local fig eau de vie) and a few sacks of rosemary to accompany our main course of roasted lamb.

For a coup de théâtre we planned that a succession of waiters would enter the banqueting room carrying trays of lamb decorated with rosemary; the lights were to be dimmed and the lamb, sprinkled with boukha, lit at the last minute for maximum effect.

Unfortunately, the chef discovered that he liked the boukha and took it upon himself to coat the lamb liberally with it - as well as the back of his throat. The measures of boukha that he poured over the lamb grew in proportion with the amount he drank.

The scene when the waiters walked into the banqueting room with their silver-plated trays of lamb was magnificent. Flames shot upwards spectacularly towards the ceiling - but instead of dying back after 20-25 seconds as planned, they continued to burn brightly.

The waiters, standing by their tables, soon found that the trays had become too hot to hold. Most disappeared back to the kitchen. But two put their trays down on their tables. The rosemary by this time had started to smoke, setting off the smoke alarms - and within two minutes firemen in full fire-fighting gear appeared.

Friends today still remind me of the famous "agneau flambé à l'Hannibal!"