Pre-searing meats

Chris_Young_80640

A good question on today's blog post.

This one place I worked in SF, we would “tap-sear” meats before we would sous vide them. Why, exactly, would you do this? (Meaning a super quick seat in a hot hot pan)

My answer:

This is a good question. Searing creates many of the delicious meaty flavors we like through the so-called Maillard reaction. Once you get the reaction started, those flavors will continue to develop during the sous vide cooking process. In some cases this can give you a richer flavor to the meat than if you simply seared it after sous vide cooking where there is less time for the flavor to develop.

Also, with lamb, I don't recommend this. The flavor development can end up giving it a mutton-flavor, which is only great if you like mutton.

Chris

Chris_Young_80640

It is better to vacuum pack cool things, but maybe not for the reasons you think. When you vacuum pack something hot, the warm moisture in the food will come to a boil and leave the vacuum chamber. This moisture can cause problems for the oil in a vacuum pump over time. But many chefs have noticed that can't get a firm seal. That's because the food inside the bag is still evaporating some moisture inside the sealed bag, which inflates the bag slightly. 

But try this, put that puffy bag into the fridge. If you look a little later it will have tightened up around the food. That's because the warm water vapor inside the bag condenses back into a liquid. With no more vapor, the bag deflates and tightens around the food.

Chris