There’s a fine line between playing and experimenting with food…make that ten different foods, to see which one was most on fire.

Japanese convenience store Family Mart has a new cooking tool on the market called Aburishi for 550 yen (US$3.82). It’s a small, handheld torch that makes it easy to give your food–including standard fare from the convenience store–a little roast to draw out its hidden aroma and texture. The tool also comes in a variety of colors and is disposable once the oil inside is all used up.

We couldn’t resist the draw of something that could save time and increase flavor for such a reasonable price, so we brought one home with us to start experimenting. It comes with a safety lock that you must first release and then press down on a switch, like when using a lighter. The flame is even adjustable for different strengths.

We decided to test the Aburishi out on ten different foods–all typical convenience store finds–to determine which ones it suited best. Which one do you think was the winner?

First up was Spam Musubi, which is one of the specific foods recommended for Aburishi use.

We carefully removed it from its plastic packaging and onto a flame-resistant plate before firing the tool up. The oil on the piece of Spam immediately began to bubble up and we were hit by the scent of grilled pork.

It was super good. Not only had the musubi warmed up, but the subtle smell of smoked meat was an added plus. It definitely elevated the level of a regular convenience store rice ball to something even more delectable.

Next, we decided to get creative with a side dish of chicken and tartar sauce. Although the packaging said that it could be eaten chilled, we wanted to boldly go where no handheld torch has gone before.

We seared the dish just enough so that bits of the sauce began to turn brown. That definitely seemed to enhance its flavor, though there was a bit of a mismatch in temperature between the warm topping and the chilled chicken underneath. The overall result was not as successful as the previous one.

We were optimistic that the next idea would result in success, though. After all, crispy soy sauce-flavored senbei rice crackers plus some grilling just sounds good.

We had to be very careful not to overdo this one so we only turned the Aburishi on for a brief moment. The taste was definitely different than that of a senbei straight out of the bag. If anything, it reminded us of the freshly grilled senbei that you can sometimes find at tourist sites for a quick snack while you walk around. This combination gets an A+ for both taste and nostalgia purposes.

Emboldened with our win, we then set our sights on a western-style treat in the form of a chocolate-coated mille-feuille.

As expected, the outer chocolate became melty in an instant while the inner layers stayed flaky. The whole thing gave the impression of a high-end dessert like a reverse molten chocolate cake. It was sweet success indeed.

The next item, these chocolate-filled marshmallows, seemed destined from the start to find their way to a flame.

The seared marshmallow came out just like a s’more filling, with the grilled outer surface crispy and the inside gooey. We now know the perfect hack for making these at home without needing a campfire.

This next test subject was going to be a bit of an adventure: Jagarico potato sticks seasoned with tarako (cod roe) powder. We hypothesized that since potato, butter, and tarako are all delicious when grilled on their own, they should also be delicious together…right?

Welp, the combination sadly turned out to be underwhelming. We honestly couldn’t sense any improvement in taste or fragrance from the original snack.

However, that’s when we had a flash of inspiration. What if we layered some of the potato sticks as a base…

…topped them with a slice of cheese…

…and then used the Aburishi over everything?!

Now that’s what we’re talking about!!

It was perfect, it was divine, it was transcendent. This could be a whole new cuisine on its own.

As difficult as it was to tear ourselves away from our latest and greatest culinary creation, we still had experimenting to do. For instance, how would a convenience store-purchased souffle with cheese sauce fare?

We had high hopes based on its visual appearance and our previous fortune with cheese. However, the slight scorching only drew out a bitter flavor and a slight burning smell. We figured there must be some kind of scientific reason why the end result was so different between this one and the last one.

That was a bit of a bummer, but carry on we must. This Japanese-style pudding with caramel sauce seemed promising, since it’s somewhat similar to creme brulée with a hardened, caramelized sugar topping. At some stylish cafes, you might even watch as the server sears the top of the dessert at your table.

First things first, though–we had to remove the pudding from its plastic container for safety reasons. We flipped it upside down for it to slide out…

…but were met with tragedy. It fell apart!

Furthermore, when we tried to torch it, the top formed clumps similar to curdled milk. It would have been easy to sprinkle more sugar on the top to help with caramelization…but since this convenience store pudding already had enough sugar in it to begin with, we decided to simply move on.

OK, we were down to two final products. We predicted that this chicken salad stick would be a winner.

It was fine, but we realized that the appeal of chicken salad is to eat it chilled, so warming it up actually felt a bit weird.

Finally, we had almost reached the finish line with this atarime dried squid, a common side dish when drinking in Japan.

The grilled product became a bit stiffer, but how would it taste…?

It was fantastic!! On another level!! By far, it was the best thing we had tried, even surpassing the cheese-coated Jagarico. Something about searing seafood really brought out its umami flavor.

With that in mind, we’ll definitely be making plenty of runs to Family Mart to bring home more dried squid for torching. While we’re at it, we might as well pick up some of the chain’s seasonal choco mint treats for a refreshing dessert to go along with it.

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