Welding tools as batterie de cuisine?

A good friend who is a metal sculptor has planned a party with other artists working in metal. I've been asked to research whether one can use an acetylene welding torch in cooking. Is this what is used for creme brulee? What other arrangements could work? Could you, for instance, make a sort of panino with a torch? What about bacon in a cast-iron pan, heated from above, rather than below? I remember kids getting in trouble for using the chem lab as a kitchen in high school. Since then, I've seen recipes for salmon steamed in the dishwasher or foil-encased chicken made on the motor of an auto engine AS YOU DRVE. Myself, I'm not particularly drawn to fossil-fuel flavors, but who knows? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Extra points for safety tips!

paging homaro ... homaro to the white courtesy phone ...

An acetylene torch would be a bit much for creme brulee, I'd guess. Could be fun, but you're gonna have liquid brulee in about 2 seconds if you're not careful and it'd cut right through that cast iron pan as well. It is, after all, used to cut metal.

this:



vs this:

Blackened Steak, Chicken, or Fish could be done fairly easy.

The oxy-acetylene torch produces a flame that is a LOT hotter than natural gas or propane torches including the versions that use straight oxygen mixed with natural gas or propane. Creme brulee uses a naturally aspirated propane torch or gas broiler (salamander) from a commercial range. An oxy-acetylene torch compares to these as a commercial range compares to a small can of Sterno.

I think producing blackened food per Bruce's suggestion might be difficult as stopping with blackening as opposed to total incineration would be tricky.

The flame temperature of an oxy-acetelene torch exceeds 6000° F. You've got heat fluxes of gazillions of btu's, not to mention joules, calories, phlogistons and YIKES!

Closed course, professional drivers. Kids, do NOT try this at home!

Geo

Many moons ago, we were doing a catering function for several hundred and they placed Baked Alaska on the menu despite a lack of sufficient broiler capacity. They ended up borrowing several PROPANE blowtorches to finish up the job.

The joys of catering ... and poor planning ....

tem wrote:

"paging homaro ... homaro to the white courtesy phone ... :wink:"

How fitting that Chef Cantu should figure in your answer, as it now dawns on me that it was this sculptor friend with whom I shared a blow-out dinner at Moto this summer. I wonder if this question was sparked (can't resist, sorry) by that evening's creative masterpieces?

ekreider wrote:The oxy-acetylene torch produces a flame that is a LOT hotter than natural gas or propane torches including the versions that use straight oxygen mixed with natural gas or propane. Creme brulee uses a naturally aspirated propane torch or gas broiler (salamander) from a commercial range. An oxy-acetylene torch compares to these as a commercial range compares to a small can of Sterno.

I think producing blackened food per Bruce's suggestion might be difficult as stopping with blackening as opposed to total incineration would be tricky.

To pick a nit, the method of using any torch to toast the creme brulee is not naturally aspirated - the air mixture is being fed under pressure. Naturally aspirated would be using available oxygen-air mixture from the existing enviornment. It's a gear-head term, but it's applicable to the kitchen as well.

Kman--

Hmmmm. Maybe. Kinda depends on whose nit's being gored.

IF (note emphasis) I understand the physics of the standard, workshop/kitchen propane torch, the high-velocity passage of the fuel through the nozzle sucks in the oxidant via (I suppose) forces described by Bernoulli's principles. Which pretty well satisifies the *physical* notion of "aspirating". The issue then comes down to precisely *what* is being aspirated. Clearly the fuel isn't being aspirated--it's powered by pressure. But, on the other hand, there doesn't seem to me to be any other way of looking at the situation than to say that the oxydizer is being aspirated.

Ah, man, wha'd you start here??!!

Geo

Good luck flying that logic past the NHRA! Fuel - when it comes to fire, includes the oxygen that's being burned. No air, no fire.

go here, check this stuff out. I just thought of it because you folks were chatting about oxyacetylene stuff. Its one of the ways I want food to levitate.

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/aerogel.html

Kman--
Heh-heh, with THAT logic, them hot-rodders fail BOTH my logic AND my physics classes!

Enough.

homaro cantu--ya think that stardust would be a good addition to my rib dry rub??!

Geo

Standard propane torches and gas broilers use atmospheric oxygen drawn in by fuel pressure in the process noted above. This is natural aspiration. Other torches and lab burners exist that use compressed air or pure oxygen to reach higher temperatures than can be done with natural aspiration. In college I used a burner using natural gas and compressed air to make lab apparatus using Pyrex glass while a naturally aspirated burner could produce temperatures only high enough to work ordinary glass.