# Searing with a 1500 Watt hot air gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [January 29, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221 "2022-01-29T22:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Douglas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/douglas/32/7533_2.png) [@Douglas](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/Douglas)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/1 "2022-01-29T22:14:49Z")
Cooking gurus that I am reading criticize the flavor of propane and butane fueled torches, likely for the mercaptan oderant added. Are there recommendations of power of an electric torch / hot air gun? 1500 Watts is 5,000 BTU/hour. Edited to add: Just now in conversation with my Son in Law professional chef (ex-Sous Chef for Peter Merriman at Maui). He says Searzall sucks and has offered his Searzall to me. Meanwhile I can find no recommendation pro or con of an 1500 Watt electric torch / hot air gun. ---
**Author:** ![chatnoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@chatnoir](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/chatnoir)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/2 "2022-01-30T13:54:12Z")
Hi Douglas, for this cook’s 2-cents worth heated air wafting over the meat wouldn’t be comparable to a broad flame or a hot surface contact. You might get some browning with a hot air gun, and a tired arm too. Did SiL give you reasons for his results with Searzall? Many pros use butane torches. ---
**Author:** ![Douglas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/douglas/32/7533_2.png) [@Douglas](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/Douglas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/3 "2022-01-30T15:09:11Z")
He did not give a reason. He did say (I think it was) black iron pan as hot as it will get. If one has ever smelled Thiol sulfur-hydrogen called mercaptan and smelling of pure rotten eggs or garlic, then aversion to that taint in food might be obvious. The only reason a flame looks like a flame is for glowing incandescent carbon particles not present in air. On the topic of the ‘flame’ appearance of hot gases, a training demonstration of the effects of a power plant steam leak has a 2 inch diameter valve opened in a 600 PSI steam header pipe. It looks like a six feet long pale blue flame of superheated steam, that does not condense to saturated steam until it collects in the overhead of the building. ---
**Author:** ![john.jcb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/john.jcb/32/7269_2.png) [@john.jcb](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/john.jcb)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/4 "2022-01-30T18:33:01Z")
One advantage restaurants and a few homes have is an exhaust fan to discharge the smoke generated when searing in a cast iron pan. I use a single burner propane stove outside for my sear with a cast iron pan. I also have a tiny Green Egg clone that does a great job. It is a bother for just searing so I use it when I have other things in addition to the meat to grill. ---
**Author:** ![Douglas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/douglas/32/7533_2.png) [@Douglas](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/Douglas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/5 "2022-01-30T20:01:27Z")
![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/anova/original/2X/0/069691fbe0aa2ba91d8e2b996e2f084905445939.jpeg) I have often thought of a custom range hood, but shudder at the expense. My home is very non-standard, being homemade by an old seaman and his sons. Sorry about the rotation, the seas are not that rough. When we were moving in I found his AB Seaman Card dated when he was seventeen years old. ---
**Author:** ![Douglas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/douglas/32/7533_2.png) [@Douglas](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/Douglas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/6 "2022-01-30T22:15:44Z")
Reviewing the literature I see Maillard Reaction proceeds rapidly from around 140 to 165 °C (280 to 330 °F). So now the question is of the function of the excess heat energy beyond that necessary to get the surface to 300ºF. I am pretty sure that it is to dry the surface to prevent the cooling effect of steaming away the moisture. Temperatures cannot exceed 212ºF in the presence of liquid water. I found Herve This’ book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor at ScribD. In it, among many other things, he explains that water judiciously added to a meringue increases the volume many fold, to liters of egg white foam. Check it out: [Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This - Ebook | Scribd](https://www.scribd.com/book/470810685) ---
**Author:** ![Douglas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.anovaculinary.com/douglas/32/7533_2.png) [@Douglas](https://community.anovaculinary.com/u/Douglas)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/searing-with-a-1500-watt-hot-air-gun/30221/7 "2022-02-06T20:08:38Z")
I found a YT video of a TV-chef demonstrating searing with an electric hot air gun of similar specifications 1500 Watts to mine. His critical comment was that it was slow. Previously he demonstrated SU-V Gun searing torch, and commented that it was too fast. He also commented that off flavors were avoided by not using the close cool-blue part of the flame, made of uncombusted chemicals, presumably the Thiol - mercaptan oderant.