Good Times with Fire

About five years ago I received a blow torch for a birthday present. Now this isn't just any torch, the kind they sell at kitchen gadget stores, with a minute flame, and hardly enough heat to burn an ant. No, this is the Bernz-o-Matic propane torch, a pint-sized tool that when lit, holds enough power to conflagrate entire kitchens, breakfast nooks included. It's from Home Depot, need I say more?

I loved the gift. I've moved three times since I received the gift of fire from Neil, and with each move the torch is packed away only to find a new home with my Cuisanart, mandoline, and hand mixer. But with all of the love and power-wielding attention brought on by my little flamethrower, I had never actually used it. Neil, knowing my penchant for cooking thought I would love the gift, and he was right; I just didn't use it. I do love to cook, but baking is a whole other story, and baked goods are precisely the scrumptious objects that would most require a little attention from the Bernz-o-Matic. I do bake, I will bake, sometimes the only thing you feel like making and eating is a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. Slightly warm from the oven, chocolate chips still melty, there is just something so satisfying about gazing at a plate of baked goods, and knowing that you are the reason that they are there, tempting all who pass them by. But on the whole, I'm not much of a baker; it's just too fussy, and I get too easily frustrated with the process.

And so the Bernz-o-Matic, (Bernie, for the sake of the story) sat by his lonesome. That is until this weekend. We had friends over for dinner, and I decided to make chocolate creme brulee. Enjoying the springtime harvest can be a tricky thing. You want to take advantage of the bounty of the season, but at the same time you don't want the meal appear dietetic in nature, and leave your guests feeling as though they partook of a few nuts and berries when they dined with you. So what better way of of saying, "Let's enjoy spring, eat a bit of asparagus, then bathe in the decadence of custard, chocolate, and burnt sugar," than chocolate creme brulee? And what a perfect time to dust off Bernie for his inaugural torching!

The chocolate creme brulee, from Happy Days with the Naked Chef, was good, not terrific but a good, solid creme brulee, with a little treat of a bashed up bitter or semi-sweet chocolate bar hidden at the bottom of the custard. But Bernie performed stupendously! After dinner, plates stacked neatly in the sink, I brought the naked custards out, cautiously quivering in their ivory ramekins. A sprinkling of sugar (actually more than a sprinkling was administered to get an adequately thick layer of caramel), and then the torching began. The perfect participatory event to have at the culmination of a meal. Each guest was handed the torch in order to sizzle to oblivion his or her own custard. How egalitarian of us. A little custard, a little sugar, and a whole lot of fire. A lovely evening was had by all.