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A few more notes on blowtorches	Paul 2008-12-11 23:15:00 UTC
The episode more or less says it all, but I thought I’d just clarify a few things for you, my adoring public. Our adoring public. Something like that, anyway. The Kitchencraft™ “cook’s blowtorch”, advertised as lasting for sixty minutes, actually lasted more like sixty seconds. This was a pretty pathetic showing. That said, it had been quite a while since it was bought, and it’s possible that it was a leaky model, or something. People in the comments have reported no such problems with their own torches, so maybe we were just unlucky. Also it’s worth observing that it gave a reasonably nice, even, caramelized brown top to the crème brulée, and you’ll notice that Alex was able to talk with a measured tone of voice while operating it—as distinct from Hugh, who was yelping like an abused puppy. As we found with blenders, sometimes MOAR POWERRR isn’t necssarily a good thing. Hugh’s crème brulée was completed in a third of the time, which is something important to consider if you’re having a dinner party and you’ve got twelve of the things to do sharpish. And “sharpish” is an appropriate word to use, because the caramelized sugar on top of Hugh’s brulee was like shards of glass with a hint of propane. We found the same thing when we used the Bernz-o-Matic™ plumber’s monstrosity to finish off the Perfect Steak": the result tasted slightly of blowtorch fuel. This might be okay in a MAN’S KITCHEN, when you’re roasting whole cattle in leftover engine grease and you use an oily rag to lift the hot dishes out of the ironmonger’s furnace you’re using as an oven before you sit down to play poker with cards made out of chainsaws. On the other hand, it might not be quite the effect you’re looking for at your dinner party. The choice is yours. With the Perfect Steak, as I’ve mentioned previously, we found that we got slightly better results from searing the finished product in a pan, the old-fashioned way. This had the added benefit of imparting to the steak any flavours you might get out of whatever oil you use—my personal preference is for peanut oil. With the crème brulée, no-one can deny that the MAN’S BLOWTORCH worked, but it lacked a certain degree of the finesse and elegance you should expect from a crème brulée. You couldn’t use the tiny blowtorch to sear a steak. You wouldn’t use the big blowtorch to light a cigarette, not if you were remotely sane. Maybe the true answer lies somewhere in the middle: in the meantime, neither of them are particularly expensive, and it might be worth investing in both. The hairdryer, by comparison, is utterly useless. Don’t even bother. (Having said that, I know that hairdryers are recommended all over the place for caramelizing sugar—if anyone has ever had a good experience with one, or even an amusingly bad experience, please let us know in the comments.) I’d also like to observe that the pink hairdryer isn’t mine, and that I am perfectly secure in my masculinity, thank you very much. I dry my hair with a towel, the way that REAL MEN do.
cha0tic \| 2008-12-12 02:58:08 UTC I’m wondering what warp factor you had the Plumbers torch on. I’d imagine that the valve could be opened part way for caramelising duties and full throttle for Steak browning.
cha0tic \| 2008-12-12 03:06:43 UTC Oh yeah and why the fuck do I want a blow torch in my kitchen? I can burn my food quite happily in the toaster, on the stove top, under the grill and in the oven thank you very much. I rarely eat pudding, let alone Creme Brulee* If I want an egg custard I’ll get one from Gregg’s. *After ‘League of Gentlemen’ Creme Brulee is no longer associated with food in my mind.
Hugh \| 2008-12-12 12:22:16 UTC It’s not as controllable as all that, unfortunately, although I did ratchet it down a bit, and could probably do so more. Blowtorches are great – I’d have trouble cooking (well, cooking well) without one now. They’re controllable, they sear evenly, and they’re great for promoting the Maillard reactions on meat.
evangeline \| 2008-12-13 05:04:50 UTC notes on caramelizing creme brule with a real blow torch from a physicist. first, a ‘benz-o-matic’ is no more manly than the chefs torch. try something that runs on acetylene. for one its an excuse to break out a welding mask (manly). for another it doesnt generally contain thiols or other marker gases (tasty). on top of custard there are three (by which I mean six) things you need ot do to get the perfect crust: 1) coat the surface evenly. it seems totally elementary but if you skip it you will fail. 2) melt the sugar 3) caramelize the sugar optional steps [(3n)+(q)); n=any integer, q=1,2,3] repeat 1-3 in order (n) times untill desired crust thickness is obtained. Alex did these in order. Hugh had not finished 2 before starting 3. the reason for this I suspect is that the larger torch added heat so much faster that the upper parts of the crust started caramelizing before the bottom had time to melt. the smaller torch on the other hand gave all the sugar time to melt before it reached caramelization temperature. here is my procedure: 1) add a teaspoon or so of sugar to the top surface of the custard 2) shake the container side to side. Ie. accelerate the container (custard and sugar included) randomly in directions normal to the force of gravity. make shure to do so with enough force to coat the entire surface with sugar 3) dump any sugar not held by surface tension to the surface of the custard off the top. to do this rotate the dish such that the sugared surface plane has at least one axis concurrent with the force of gravity. 4) place the dish with the custard on a flame resistant surface. I have a preference toward an overturned cookie sheet. the system used in the video will work but bears a risk of burning the underlying counter top. 5) repeat steps 1 through 4 on a second dish of custard. 6) light torch. 7) adgust gas to desired flame length. you will notice that there are two distinct flame cones inside your torch flame, an inner bright one, and an outer dim one. fir this procedure you should only use the outer flame as it provides more process control. from here one this is what I am referring to by ‘the flame’ how large you need this is a matter of taste though it generally should not exceed the size of your penis. 8) apply the tip of the flame to the sugar coated surface. move the flame tip about the surface in a systematic matter so as to evenly heat all parts. Ie. the partial derivative of the thermal energy as measured in watt seconds per unit area should be zero along all axes. (del(f)= 0 if you are a mathematician) the important part of step 8) during this step you need to add enough heat for the sugar to begin to melt and form ball on the surface. stop as soon as they begin to change colour. 9) repeat step 8 on thew second dish. the reason you need to do two at the same time it to give the thermal energy you added in step 8 time to conduct through to the bottom of the sugar. this allows for an even melt aiding in an even caramelization in all honesty you don’t need to make two creme brule’s if you dont have someone to share it with. but that would be sad. in which case you will probably want to eat a second one. then cry yourself to sleep. 10) [optional] if the sugar has not completely melted by the time you finish 9, return to line 8. 11) return the flame to the fist dish in order to caramelize it. if you find that the sugar is caramelizing too fast in some places (this usually happens in the center of the dish) remove the flame tip from the dish entirely and hold it above it. you dont need to have the flame visibly in contact with the sugar for this to work. I have found the best results occur with an acetylene torch held with the tip of the flame held 1-2cm above the surface of the sugar. optional steps, {¹¹m}(p,)} (p runs sequentially from 1-11; ,m is any integer): repeat steps 1-11 n times. —————————————————— if you are still reading the difference between the two torches is obvious. the ‘chefs’ torch has a much smaller flame. hence, the thermal gradient per unit distance between the torch and the sugar is larger. this results in the appearance of better control. this allows novices to learn to produce a better product in a much shorter period of time. Evangeline
Hugh \| 2008-12-13 16:36:21 UTC Wow. Thanks, Evangeline – that’s really, really interesting. Mind if we publish your comment as a guest blog entry some time? I didn’t know the details about the two flame cones on my blowtorch, in particular. That’s extremely useful to know.
evangeline_whittaker \| 2008-12-13 19:21:07 UTC you can publish it so long as you run it through a spell checker. you may also want to try it once or twice to see is anything is unclear. also, cook your won damn custard. 5 egg yolks, 750ml whipping cream, 1/2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. warm to disolve the sugar, decant into ramekins, then steam (or bake in a pan of water) untill set. the flame cones are less of a natural kind than a convenient division in nature. they are much more distinct on a properly tuned oxy-acetylene torch.
evangeline \| 2008-12-13 21:44:24 UTC 250f for 2hours ish in the oven.
David A Smith \| 2008-12-21 01:54:12 UTC You might want to try a heat gun on you creme brulee next time. It looks like a hairdryer, but is used to melt paint and varnish on furniture and floors. This may be what people are thinking about when they say use a hair dryer. These things are magic – no flame, but kick-ass hot. Love the show – keep it up.
Hugh \| 2008-12-21 11:42:27 UTC Hmm – yeah, I might give a heat gun a go! Although I think they’re more expensive than blowtorches, aren’t they?
affox \| 2011-10-30 15:36:17 UTC check purse deals inexpensive bags and get big save at my estore
smAkrosetta \| 2012-01-19 20:11:32 UTC purchase aabags.com and check coupon code available aabags.com with confident

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A few more notes on blowtorches	Paul 2008-12-11 23:15:00 UTC
The episode more or less says it all, but I thought I’d just clarify a few things for you, my adoring public. Our adoring public. Something like that, anyway. The Kitchencraft™ “cook’s blowtorch”, advertised as lasting for sixty minutes, actually lasted more like sixty seconds. This was a pretty pathetic showing. That said, it had been quite a while since it was bought, and it’s possible that it was a leaky model, or something. People in the comments have reported no such problems with their own torches, so maybe we were just unlucky. Also it’s worth observing that it gave a reasonably nice, even, caramelized brown top to the crème brulée, and you’ll notice that Alex was able to talk with a measured tone of voice while operating it—as distinct from Hugh, who was yelping like an abused puppy. As we found with blenders, sometimes MOAR POWERRR isn’t necssarily a good thing. Hugh’s crème brulée was completed in a third of the time, which is something important to consider if you’re having a dinner party and you’ve got twelve of the things to do sharpish. And “sharpish” is an appropriate word to use, because the caramelized sugar on top of Hugh’s brulee was like shards of glass with a hint of propane. We found the same thing when we used the Bernz-o-Matic™ plumber’s monstrosity to finish off the Perfect Steak": the result tasted slightly of blowtorch fuel. This might be okay in a MAN’S KITCHEN, when you’re roasting whole cattle in leftover engine grease and you use an oily rag to lift the hot dishes out of the ironmonger’s furnace you’re using as an oven before you sit down to play poker with cards made out of chainsaws. On the other hand, it might not be quite the effect you’re looking for at your dinner party. The choice is yours. With the Perfect Steak, as I’ve mentioned previously, we found that we got slightly better results from searing the finished product in a pan, the old-fashioned way. This had the added benefit of imparting to the steak any flavours you might get out of whatever oil you use—my personal preference is for peanut oil. With the crème brulée, no-one can deny that the MAN’S BLOWTORCH worked, but it lacked a certain degree of the finesse and elegance you should expect from a crème brulée. You couldn’t use the tiny blowtorch to sear a steak. You wouldn’t use the big blowtorch to light a cigarette, not if you were remotely sane. Maybe the true answer lies somewhere in the middle: in the meantime, neither of them are particularly expensive, and it might be worth investing in both. The hairdryer, by comparison, is utterly useless. Don’t even bother. (Having said that, I know that hairdryers are recommended all over the place for caramelizing sugar—if anyone has ever had a good experience with one, or even an amusingly bad experience, please let us know in the comments.) I’d also like to observe that the pink hairdryer isn’t mine, and that I am perfectly secure in my masculinity, thank you very much. I dry my hair with a towel, the way that REAL MEN do.
cha0tic \| 2008-12-12 02:58:08 UTC I’m wondering what warp factor you had the Plumbers torch on. I’d imagine that the valve could be opened part way for caramelising duties and full throttle for Steak browning.
cha0tic \| 2008-12-12 03:06:43 UTC Oh yeah and why the fuck do I want a blow torch in my kitchen? I can burn my food quite happily in the toaster, on the stove top, under the grill and in the oven thank you very much. I rarely eat pudding, let alone Creme Brulee* If I want an egg custard I’ll get one from Gregg’s. *After ‘League of Gentlemen’ Creme Brulee is no longer associated with food in my mind.
Hugh \| 2008-12-12 12:22:16 UTC It’s not as controllable as all that, unfortunately, although I did ratchet it down a bit, and could probably do so more. Blowtorches are great – I’d have trouble cooking (well, cooking well) without one now. They’re controllable, they sear evenly, and they’re great for promoting the Maillard reactions on meat.
evangeline \| 2008-12-13 05:04:50 UTC notes on caramelizing creme brule with a real blow torch from a physicist. first, a ‘benz-o-matic’ is no more manly than the chefs torch. try something that runs on acetylene. for one its an excuse to break out a welding mask (manly). for another it doesnt generally contain thiols or other marker gases (tasty). on top of custard there are three (by which I mean six) things you need ot do to get the perfect crust: 1) coat the surface evenly. it seems totally elementary but if you skip it you will fail. 2) melt the sugar 3) caramelize the sugar optional steps [(3n)+(q)); n=any integer, q=1,2,3] repeat 1-3 in order (n) times untill desired crust thickness is obtained. Alex did these in order. Hugh had not finished 2 before starting 3. the reason for this I suspect is that the larger torch added heat so much faster that the upper parts of the crust started caramelizing before the bottom had time to melt. the smaller torch on the other hand gave all the sugar time to melt before it reached caramelization temperature. here is my procedure: 1) add a teaspoon or so of sugar to the top surface of the custard 2) shake the container side to side. Ie. accelerate the container (custard and sugar included) randomly in directions normal to the force of gravity. make shure to do so with enough force to coat the entire surface with sugar 3) dump any sugar not held by surface tension to the surface of the custard off the top. to do this rotate the dish such that the sugared surface plane has at least one axis concurrent with the force of gravity. 4) place the dish with the custard on a flame resistant surface. I have a preference toward an overturned cookie sheet. the system used in the video will work but bears a risk of burning the underlying counter top. 5) repeat steps 1 through 4 on a second dish of custard. 6) light torch. 7) adgust gas to desired flame length. you will notice that there are two distinct flame cones inside your torch flame, an inner bright one, and an outer dim one. fir this procedure you should only use the outer flame as it provides more process control. from here one this is what I am referring to by ‘the flame’ how large you need this is a matter of taste though it generally should not exceed the size of your penis. 8) apply the tip of the flame to the sugar coated surface. move the flame tip about the surface in a systematic matter so as to evenly heat all parts. Ie. the partial derivative of the thermal energy as measured in watt seconds per unit area should be zero along all axes. (del(f)= 0 if you are a mathematician) the important part of step 8) during this step you need to add enough heat for the sugar to begin to melt and form ball on the surface. stop as soon as they begin to change colour. 9) repeat step 8 on thew second dish. the reason you need to do two at the same time it to give the thermal energy you added in step 8 time to conduct through to the bottom of the sugar. this allows for an even melt aiding in an even caramelization in all honesty you don’t need to make two creme brule’s if you dont have someone to share it with. but that would be sad. in which case you will probably want to eat a second one. then cry yourself to sleep. 10) [optional] if the sugar has not completely melted by the time you finish 9, return to line 8. 11) return the flame to the fist dish in order to caramelize it. if you find that the sugar is caramelizing too fast in some places (this usually happens in the center of the dish) remove the flame tip from the dish entirely and hold it above it. you dont need to have the flame visibly in contact with the sugar for this to work. I have found the best results occur with an acetylene torch held with the tip of the flame held 1-2cm above the surface of the sugar. optional steps, {¹¹m}(p,)} (p runs sequentially from 1-11; ,m is any integer): repeat steps 1-11 n times. —————————————————— if you are still reading the difference between the two torches is obvious. the ‘chefs’ torch has a much smaller flame. hence, the thermal gradient per unit distance between the torch and the sugar is larger. this results in the appearance of better control. this allows novices to learn to produce a better product in a much shorter period of time. Evangeline
Hugh \| 2008-12-13 16:36:21 UTC Wow. Thanks, Evangeline – that’s really, really interesting. Mind if we publish your comment as a guest blog entry some time? I didn’t know the details about the two flame cones on my blowtorch, in particular. That’s extremely useful to know.
evangeline_whittaker \| 2008-12-13 19:21:07 UTC you can publish it so long as you run it through a spell checker. you may also want to try it once or twice to see is anything is unclear. also, cook your won damn custard. 5 egg yolks, 750ml whipping cream, 1/2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. warm to disolve the sugar, decant into ramekins, then steam (or bake in a pan of water) untill set. the flame cones are less of a natural kind than a convenient division in nature. they are much more distinct on a properly tuned oxy-acetylene torch.
evangeline \| 2008-12-13 21:44:24 UTC 250f for 2hours ish in the oven.
David A Smith \| 2008-12-21 01:54:12 UTC You might want to try a heat gun on you creme brulee next time. It looks like a hairdryer, but is used to melt paint and varnish on furniture and floors. This may be what people are thinking about when they say use a hair dryer. These things are magic – no flame, but kick-ass hot. Love the show – keep it up.
Hugh \| 2008-12-21 11:42:27 UTC Hmm – yeah, I might give a heat gun a go! Although I think they’re more expensive than blowtorches, aren’t they?
affox \| 2011-10-30 15:36:17 UTC check purse deals inexpensive bags and get big save at my estore
smAkrosetta \| 2012-01-19 20:11:32 UTC purchase aabags.com and check coupon code available aabags.com with confident