That’s certainly what Amelie thought! Amélie (2001) - IMDb
Baked Alaska
It’s possible. The Michelin-starred restaurant I worked at briefly (only as a kitchen porter, mind you), just used castor sugar (aka “superfine” here in the US), and it came out fine. I use regular sugar and it works out just fine.
Tell you what—to prevent further hijack, I’ll be on call in the Pit if any other “Cat Fancy” subscribers want to chime in on the naughtiness of hurting defenseless widdle animals. (Which—though it boggles my mind to think this disclaimer is actually necessary—I was not actually advocating.)
In related news, tellers of knock-knock jokes may not really be endorsing the widespread application of human knuckles to real-world doors.
Yes. Mock Nilla Wafers. Some friends brought me out to a fancy restaurant. Top of a bank building in Atlanta, waiters in red vests, I had to wear socks. Fancy. There were, um, 18 courses. The second or third to the last looked like Nilla Wafers. They tasted like angel food cake. Turn 'em over and they looked like angel food cake.
Not being well-versed in the culinary arts, I told the friend who knows his way around that room with the big hot thing in it that they probably smashed angel food cake then blow-torched it to make it that color. Before leaving for supper, I saw someone using a blow torch to brown merangue points on TV. That blew my mind!
The waiter interrupts our discussion with a bottle wrapped in a black napkin. Presenting it to me, the only non-drinker. Before I could ask why, he unwrapped a blow torch!
So I guess you can make mock Nilla Wafers with a blow torch.
PS: If you’ve already heard this story, I apologize. It’s the only cooking story that I don’t end up bleeding or contused by the conclusion, so I trot it out whenver I can.
Bananas Brulee.
[ul][li]Slice a banana lengthwise, then peel. [/li][li]Place cut side down onto a plate of table sugar; press it down for a second or two. [/li][li]Remove and place sugared-side up on a cooling rack over a baking sheet. [/li][li]Caramelize the sugar with your torch. [/li][li]Serve with ice cream.[/li][li]Accept adorations if done for other people.[/ul][/li]
Enjoy. 
Oh thank you for that histerical visual…a blowtorch roasting a turkey too funny!!
The creme brule topping doesn’t have to go on creme brule. Try it on warm pudding, ice cream, whatever.
I raise this zombie–Hey, it’s Easter today! Not implying that JC is a zombie…-- because it was the first Google cite on “cooking with a blowtorch” and I’m a Doper, searched now that I am a proud new owner of a Bernzomatic 8000. And this little dialogue caught my eye. In a fancy overcharging tapas joint, the chef sprinkled brown sugar on a portion of an egg (dontcha know) because, she told me, you can get a quick localized melt with the large granules.
Hell, there is such a thing as cake sugar, which have huge flakes. Could give that a whirl. For the man with a hammer everything is a nail.
For the Brit who asked for a translation of broiler (if he’s still among us), what is really the issue here, as someone pointed out about a salamander, is the usefulness of an “upper broiler,” not a grill, for quick and hard surface application (excluding peppers, say, or steaks at a steak restaurant, when you have some ungodly amount of BTUs to work with for a char without overlooking the food.
My top-broiler is in old-type stove whee I have to get on my knees and pull out a drawer from the bottom, put in the food, and glaze the too sight unseen hoping for the best. It’s a non-starter, and I was always annoyed that the “now pop it under the broiler” for a nice glaze or browning."
BTW, an aioli smeared on top of a dish after the major cooking also benefits from a quick blast. <Didn’t know where to put this sentence. :)>
Also, for the blowtorch-less, for a roast bird that needs some color, you can place it in the upper rack to make use of the higher reflected heat. But again, that’s for relatively long cooking.
If you prepare a steak sous vide, you’ll want to put a crust on it with a blow torch. The alternative is to use a broiler, and why generate all that excess heat when you can get far more reliable results with the torch.
One tip: Always start the torch pointing away from the food. Otherwise you run the risk of droplets of unburned fuel falling on the food.