It used to be that when you burned food while cooking, you essentially ruined dinner. But today, some foodies want their dishes burned on purpose and charred food is becoming a trend that is likely to be in demand in 2016.
More restaurants are offering "burnt, charred and blistered" food to its patrons and even home-cooked meals are smoking up and going with the trend, according to Wall Street Journal (WSJ). As such, kitchen companies have been offering small blow torches as a useful tool for cooking. Prices range from $20 to $50 on Amazon.
The blow torch, essential for crème brulee preparation, is also used to char vegetables and even cocktails deliberately. "I felt there was more edge to the vegetables. It made them more interesting," said homemaker Renee Catacalos in a separate WSJ report.
People apparently want some charring on their dishes to lend authenticity and freshness. It also brings a "smoky, complex and assertively bitter note" to some traditional food and balances the sugar in drinks, according to Boston Magazine. The result? The dishes have more depth and layers of flavor.
However, experts have long advised that burnt foods might cause cancer as featured in a Dutch study in 2007, per BBC. The research requires further confirmation though, as there is no concrete evidence to its cancer links.
"No one has ever investigated whether people who eat a lot of burnt toast have higher cancer rates. And lab rats have never been fed burnt toast to see whether it causes tumors," said New Zealand food scientist Paul Brent via ABC Australia.
