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All of the KKCook team have been blogging about food for a while on our private blogs, so we’ll be putting some “archive” material up here from time to time. I’m starting, with a piece from my very first experiments with a kitchen blowtoch and food…

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So, facing a quiet evening in, I did what any man would do, and blowtorched some pig.

I’ve been meaning to try out blowtorch browning of meat (and peppers, and sugar) for a while – it’s what all the chefs seem to use these days, and I’ve been very unhappy with the results of browning sous-vide cooked (low-temperature, vacuum-sealed, in a water bath) meat in a pan or a grill, which seems to raise the temperature of the entire cut far too much.

So, I wandered out to B&Q and bought myself a blowtorch, having heard from Real Chefs that Real Chefs don’t use “kitchen blowtorches” (I own one, but whilst it’s great for many things, browning meat ain’t one of them).

First lesson. When buying a blowtorch, it is very, very important to realise that you don’t need to screw the blowtorch top (the actual torch bit) onto the gas can too firmly. Fortunately, B&Q picked up the bill for my cluelessness, as two blowtorches in succession went back with a “it’s leaking, I can smell gas around it” comment, before someone thought to enquire exactly how hard I was ramming the top onto the poor innocent gas can.

So, Blowtorch #3, and I’d gone for a self-igniting, slightly more expensive model. In retrospect, a bloody good call, as the cheap ones would have been hell to light whilst you’re already juggling a steak in the other hand.

I also aquired some sacrificial pork leg steaks from Sainsburies, and dragged out the tongs. Light up blowtorch, adjust flame to the point where it looks like it’d be useful to a CIA truthfinding expedition, pick up steaks – which is a bugger when you’re one-handing them with tongs – and start burning.

First lesson – blowtorch-browning isn’t as quick as you’d expect. If you play the torch over the meat surface, it loses the red colour very quickly (hardly surprising – it only needs to get to 60 Centigrade), but takes forever to brown (140 Centigrade) If you concentrate on an area, meanwhile, it browns, sure, but tends to overshoot and go black. The trick appears to be small circles on the meat until it’s looking brownish, then move onward.

Second Lesson – wear googles. In my case, I didn’t, but I do have rather large computer glasses. Good thing – the amount of fat that renders out of the meat almost immediately is extraordinary. And why, yes, that does also mean that you’re going to have flaming fat flaring up where you’re blowtorching.

As Real Men’s Cooking Techniques go, this one’s a doozy.

Overall, though, it turns out to be far simpler and less scary to blowtorch-brown my meat than I was expecting. A couple of minutes of wafting and pretty lightshows from the meat, and all of the cuts are looking just gorgeous.

Now to try it on the 24-hour sous-vide mutton steak that’s currently in the water bath…

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Since then, as you’ll see next week, I’ve blowtorched all sorts of things to positive effect. Most recently, a roast grouse benefitted from a Touch of Flame, which really deepened the already rich tastes on its surface (and made me more confident I wasn’t going to catch anything).

Anyone else out there used a blowtorch in cooking recently? Any tips?