Bought a torch after reading a hundred posts on here saying it's the answer to the grey band. Two sirloins from a 131°F bath, dried, laid on a rack, torch on, waved it about for a couple of minutes a side until they looked good. And they DID look good. Then we cut into them and both of us pulled the same face. There was a definite chemical, fuelly flavour on the crust, like the smell of a petrol forecourt but as a taste. My daughter said it tasted "like a lighter".
So is this a known thing? The torch is a small hardware shop one with a bare nozzle and a little butane can, I did not spend a lot. Did I hold it too close? Is it the gas? Am I meant to be using propane instead? I've now got a torch, a slightly annoyed household, and a pan that was working fine before I started messing about, so I'd like to know whether this is fixable or whether it goes in the drawer with the avocado slicer.
Real thing. It's unburnt fuel landing on the meat, not the fuel itself being bad. Happens when the flame isn't fully lit and roaring before it touches food, or when you hold the tip of the flame so close that the cold meat puts the outer flame out partially and you're spraying gas at it. Let it burn for ten seconds first, back off so it's the tip of the blue cone doing the work, keep it moving. Mine went away completely once I stopped treating it like a paintbrush.
I had this exact taste for about a month and blamed butane, switched to propane, still had it, and then realised it was me. The torch was going out and relighting every time I tipped it, and each relight was a puff of raw gas straight onto the steak. New torch head with a proper trigger and a steady flame, no taste at all since. So it's less about which gas and more about whether the thing is burning cleanly the whole time.
#4September 6, 2026, 10:24 am Torch taste is real, it's fixable, and it's almost never the gas as such. Both butane and propane burn to water and carbon dioxide when they're burning cleanly; the off flavour is unburnt or partly burnt fuel reaching the surface, and that comes from three things: a flame that hasn't fully established, a tip held so close that the cold meat smothers the flame, and small torches that flicker or go out when they're tipped, which is what Sammy found. A cheap bare nozzle is the worst for all three, so your torch isn't rubbish exactly, it's just fussy.
The fix in order. Light it and let it roar for a good ten seconds until the flame is steady and mostly blue. Hold it so the tip of the inner blue cone is what touches the meat, usually about 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) off the surface, not the big yellow outer flame and not jammed right onto it. Keep it moving in slow passes rather than parking it, and get the surface bone dry first, because a wet surface steams under the flame for ages and tempts you to hold it closer. Two minutes a side, by the way, is a lot; for a steak already cooked I'm usually around 45 to 90 seconds a side total with a torch, and if it needs more than that the surface probably wasn't dry.
The way most of us actually use it is as a second tool rather than the only one: a short, hard pan sear for an even base, then the torch to chase the fat edge and the spots the pan missed, which halves the time heat is travelling into the steak. That's the combination the searing guide describes, torch nice, not necessary. I'd give it one more go with the flame properly established before it joins the avocado slicer.
Dana Cole said:
torch nice, not necessary
Agreed, and if after all that you still get a taste, some people have luck with a mesh searing head that sits over the flame and spreads it, so the meat sees radiant heat instead of the flame itself. Not needed for most people but it takes the "am I too close" question out of it entirely.
Update for anyone finding this later. Same torch, same gas. Let it burn for a count of ten, backed off so only the tip of the blue bit was touching, kept it moving, pan sear first then torch for the edges. About 40 seconds a side with the torch. Zero taste. My daughter, who is the household's designated critic, said "fine" which is the highest rating available. It was me, not the torch. Slightly annoying but there it is.
