My favorite multi-tool in the kitchen isn’t a knife or utensil – it’s the humble handheld kitchen blowtorch that adds incredible flavor and doesn’t require any skill
The truth is, your home-cooked food doesn’t taste like anything in a commercial restaurant kitchen at all—the biggest reason isn’t talent or ingredients, but fire.
This is a common and even popular technique in Asia, and you’ll see torches used for all kinds of street food and restaurant meals; I love the vendors at Tsukiji Fish Market who cook fresh scallops in their shells, grill the tops using a charcoal grill and blowtorch coke.Today, Koreans are also keen on blowtorches, using it on Korean BBQ dishes and skewers.
Meanwhile, in the West, the first and only thing people really think about is… crème brûlée.It’s an objectively incredible dessert, but the association is bad for the torch itself.Oddly enough, once you start breathing fire, you don’t want to stop — and actively seek excuses to put out the blue flame.
Got some uneven, undercooked patches on the crust of your steak or roast?The flashlight gives you the precise power and control to “fix” your food after it’s been removed from the stove or oven.Need to crisp up the fish or chicken skin a bit?Ditto: nothing beats the dry, high heat of a torch to make it crackle again.
Melting cheese (on anything) is a 10-second task done with a torch, like charring the skins of vegetables like peppers and tomatoes.Using a torch on low heat is the perfect way to roast peppers for Mexican salsa roja, or you can use it to make herbs or wood smoke for an infusion (or just for a dramatic presentation).You can use it for cocktail party tricks, igniting cinnamon, bitters, and citrus oils as the perfect finish to your drink.We’ve talked about crème brûlée, but don’t forget that basically you can make any crème brûlée you want; my favorite is to put jaggery on grapefruit, strawberries, and stone fruit and burn it quickly saccharification.
Be aware that using poor quality fuel or a clumsy torch will make your food taste bad; a yellow or orange flame indicates incomplete combustion, which means your plate is covered in cancer-causing soot.If the burnt dish smells like lighter fluid, then it’s a problem with the type of flame you’re using.
Otherwise, cooking with a flashlight is an easy, affordable and really fun way to get new ideas for the kitchen.You’ll amaze your family and guests alike because humans really dig the flames.What’s more, it might make cooking less of a chore – turning another weekday meal into something terrific.
Post time: Jun-14-2022