You can learn a recipe and cook only that recipe and a few variations of that recipes. You can learn a cooking technique and create thousands of your own recipes. Searing is one of my favorite ways to cook a steak. It locks in all of the juices and I can finish up my steak in the oven.
You have probably seared meat before. Every time you "brown" a meat before cooking in another method, you are actually searing. Searing not only gives your meat a pretty color. But it takes more than simply throwing a slab of meat into a pan.
1. Your meat must come down to room temperature. This lets the meat's natural juices reabsorb into the muscle.
2. Season your meat with salt and pepper. You can also add other spices. The spices will create a really nice crust on your meat. If you are using a marinade, shake off the excess moisture. We do not want to saute or pan roast the meat.
3. Open a window and turn on your exhaust fan if you have one. Because it's going to get hot and smokey!
4. Make sure to use a pan that heats evenly and most importantly, make sure it is extremely hot. Medium-high or high heat! If your pan is too cool, you won't sear your meat it will be sauteing or boiling if you used a marinade. Make sure that pan is HOT!
5. Add a little fat to the pan to keep the meat from sticking. If you're cooking something that is fatty, you can skip the this step. Definitely add some fat to the pan if you're using lean meats. Do not use anything that has a low melting smoking point, like butter, extra virgin olive oil and so forth. Your butter will burn and the EVOO will really smoke.
6. Add your meat to the pan and watch it. It should brown pretty quickly and once it's brown it's a minute or two away from being burnt. If you're cooking something like a pork roast, or a round cut of meat, lean it up against the side of the pan, so it doesn't roll around.
7. Once your side is brown, flip it and brown the other side. Keep doing this until you've browned all sides of the meat. Even if you're cooking a steak, you want to sear those sides! Be careful searing the ends, you don't want the meat to fall back into the pan and splatter the hot juice all over you.
8. Now you have a piece of meat that is beautifully browned, but most likely is raw on the inside. This is where you would use another technique. You could roast the meat, boil it, saute it, put it in the slow cooker, braise it, there's a variety of cooking techniques you could use to finish off that meat.
9. Don't throw away those juices! The juices and the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom can actually be used to make a gravy! More on making gravy coming soon!
You have probably seared meat before. Every time you "brown" a meat before cooking in another method, you are actually searing. Searing not only gives your meat a pretty color. But it takes more than simply throwing a slab of meat into a pan.
1. Your meat must come down to room temperature. This lets the meat's natural juices reabsorb into the muscle.
2. Season your meat with salt and pepper. You can also add other spices. The spices will create a really nice crust on your meat. If you are using a marinade, shake off the excess moisture. We do not want to saute or pan roast the meat.
3. Open a window and turn on your exhaust fan if you have one. Because it's going to get hot and smokey!
4. Make sure to use a pan that heats evenly and most importantly, make sure it is extremely hot. Medium-high or high heat! If your pan is too cool, you won't sear your meat it will be sauteing or boiling if you used a marinade. Make sure that pan is HOT!
5. Add a little fat to the pan to keep the meat from sticking. If you're cooking something that is fatty, you can skip the this step. Definitely add some fat to the pan if you're using lean meats. Do not use anything that has a low melting smoking point, like butter, extra virgin olive oil and so forth. Your butter will burn and the EVOO will really smoke.
6. Add your meat to the pan and watch it. It should brown pretty quickly and once it's brown it's a minute or two away from being burnt. If you're cooking something like a pork roast, or a round cut of meat, lean it up against the side of the pan, so it doesn't roll around.
7. Once your side is brown, flip it and brown the other side. Keep doing this until you've browned all sides of the meat. Even if you're cooking a steak, you want to sear those sides! Be careful searing the ends, you don't want the meat to fall back into the pan and splatter the hot juice all over you.
8. Now you have a piece of meat that is beautifully browned, but most likely is raw on the inside. This is where you would use another technique. You could roast the meat, boil it, saute it, put it in the slow cooker, braise it, there's a variety of cooking techniques you could use to finish off that meat.
9. Don't throw away those juices! The juices and the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom can actually be used to make a gravy! More on making gravy coming soon!
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