A Flame Thrower? It’s Just What I’ve Always Wanted!

Love, love, love, trying new things in my kitchen.  New ingredients, new tools, new recipes, new gadgets. Recently I mentioned I thought I would like a kitchen food torch, or as some call it, a Creme Brulee tool. Either way I wanted to try one and voila I recently came home to find one waiting on my island. My husband visited our local kitchen store – lucky me! Kitchen torches have lots of uses. They can be used for carmellizng sugar on custards, for lightly browning meringues, or quickly toasting crumbs topping a casserole. And yes, if craving a ‘some-more’ in the middle of an Iowan winter, they toast marshmallows really well and extra quick much to our grandchildren’s delight. The torch works with a push of a button and is fueled by safe cannisters of fuel especially made for small kitchen, gas applicances – much like a cigarette lighter, only a bit larger. The torch is very safe as it only works if a safety button is pushed each time the flame is needed.  My first attempt at using the torch did not turn out so well. Who knew brown sugar is highly flammable? Now I do! A kitchen torch is also great for getting a nice, even toasting on nuts and seeds. Rather than heating up the kitchen by turning on my oven’s broiler the torch is handy and a bit more efficient.  It will take some practice to perfect the art of using my food torch. Practice makes perfect, and practice I will!