ottawa foodies

I attempted to make creme brulee. And now a creme brulee without the hard sugar topping is just no creme brulee. Let's be frank, that's just plain ol custard :p

Anyone know where I can get myself a torch to use. I want something I can use in the kitchen, that's relatively inexpensive and easy to use. I'm afraid of the propane ones.

I can't think of a place off the top of my head, but I did want to add: my father always used a barbeque starter...

I bought mine at Home Depot a couple of years ago. It's hand-sized, it's butane-powered, and it works great.

I don't think they stock the one that I got, but you may want to try this one out:

www.homedepot.ca

I saw one at Grace in the Kitchen last week. I'm not sure if it is a propane one though.

You could also try some of the other kitchen stores like C.A. Paradis and Glebe Emporium. It might even be worth a shot calling some of the hardware stores.

I got mine from Domus - it rocks! I use it all the time.

Princess Auto often have small torches for considerably less $$ than the kitchen stores.

You could try ordering from kitchenstuffplus.com. A canadian company so shipping is reasonable. The last time I ordered from them, I got my stuff the next day, with no shipping upgrade! They usually have very good prices.

Most of the torches I've seen that are designated for Creme Brulee, and sold at kitchen stores are $40, $50, $60 and up, which is not what I'd call a good bargain. You can buy for $20 or less small torches at Home Depot/Home Hardware etc that are meant for lightweight plumbing. Mine isn't small, but it was pretty cheap, 'push button start', and doubles as my plumbing torch, for when I'm in the mood to solder! There are smaller ones of course, that should seem less intimidating.

I think most restaurants use a standard BenzOmatic torch, whatever model you can afford or find at any Canadian Tire/Home Depot/Home hardware/Rona.....

I also keep a small butane powered torch (also from one of the above). cheap, small, but slower (not as much heat).

Kitchen stores will just sell you an overpriced, fancied-up version of the butane one.

I once saw what appeared to be a white gas (Coleman type) torch in Nice, France. it needed pumping up and once lit, took a while to produce the right kind of flame. The idiot that used it also actually set fire to the crème brulée, and then blew on it to put it out. Talk about "brulée"! Personally, I would have sent that one back.

I guess you could always use the more traditional method of using the broiler. From what I hear, that is the most difficult way of doing it.