Technique: Browning

Happy birthday, dad!

People often ask me what the biggest difference is between home cooked food and restaurant food. In my opinion, when it comes to meat, the biggest difference is browning. Browning, or, more technically, the Maillard reaction, occurs as heat caramelizes the natural sugars in the meat.

Browning brings out the amazing flavor of meat. It adds depth to slow cooked dishes, and highlights taste in quick cooked ones. To achieve best results, browning requires three elements: heat, salt, and courage.

Heat

Constant heat needs to be applied. There is a picture in people's minds of a chef madly moving a sauté pan back and forth, tossing a piece of beef around. Clear your minds. What you want to do is apply constant, hot heat. The less you move what you're cooking, the better.

Salt

Salt helps to create a crust on the surface of the meat. Additionally, as it is salt, it adds flavor. Using a coarse grained sea or kosher salt will work better than traditional table salt.

Courage

You're going to be doing less, while leaving the heat on more. This might test your patience. The temptation will be to check check check every few seconds. Bad idea, buddy. Just let the Maillard reaction do it's magic. Also, there is going to be smoke. People will shout at you. They will tell you you're burning dinner. Just smile and open a window. Later, when they are praising your skills, smile again and close the window.

You'll know success when both sides are a rich golden brown color.