Fancy to Sabre a Champagne?

If you feel bored popping the cork everytime you wanna have a Champagne, have you try popping it with a sword instead? Ooh, it's very interesting and I'll show you why!

The legend has it that in the olden days, when the officers of Napoleon’s army returned home after a victory, cheering townspeople would hand bottles of Champagne as tokens of their appreciation for their victory and gallantry. It's quite a task to remove both the foil, wire basket (muselet) around the cork and the cork (bouchon) at the same time when on a horse and so the soldiers simply took out their sabers and struck it against the lip of the bottle with an upward blow and saber-ed off the cork.

It was quite an enjoyable cum eye-opening experience at Max@iHaus because Max Chin gave us a demonstration on how he saber-ed off the champagne cork. He told us that he is also one of the member of the Confrérie du Sabre d'Or which is a home to sabrage, devoted to promoting the act of Sabrage and the enjoyment of Champagne.

After he saber-ed the first bottle, he handed the second bottle to me. Honestly, I thought it was easy but it's actually not. I do not have the skills of a steady hand and a strong heart. It took me three attempts to do it and that is also done with the help of Max!

I shall saber you!!!

The tip is to chill the Champagne well, especially at the neck of the champagne. To do this, the neck must be icy cold! "Don't do it warm unless you want to have an orgasmic spray". The colder the better. Remove the foil wrapper and the wire basket. Grasp the bottle firmly by the base and point away from onlookers. "locate one of the two vertical seams running up the side of the bottle" to the lip. That intersection is where you'll aim your saber".

Run your saber or knife (blunt edge toward the bottle's lip) back along the neck toward your body, then quickly and firmly thrust it back toward the bottle's tip, striking the lip sharply. I recommend that you do it a solid-through!

After the ring and cork went flying, you can commence pouring and call for a toast!

Don't worry, it's completely safe to drink as the pressure inside the bottle of Champagne (100psi) ensures that no glass falls back into the bottle making it safe to drink the spoils.

This is the ring of the bottle still attached to the cork!

And now I leave you to enjoy the video on how to sabre the champagne the right way!

That's a cherry popped for Champagne Sabre-ing!!!

For your info. The chef Max chin is no longer attached to iHaus from Sept. His new and upcoming restaurant will be revealed soon in October 2010! So stay tuned!