Searing (or pan searing) is a technique used in

grilling Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat a ...

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred " ...

, braising,

roasting Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization ...

, sautéing, etc., in which the surface of the

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

(usually

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

such as beef, poultry, pork,

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

) is

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

ed at high temperature until a browned crust forms. Similar techniques, browning and blackening, are typically used to sear all sides of a particular piece of meat, fish, poultry, etc. before finishing it in the oven. To obtain the desired brown or black crust, the meat surface must exceed , so searing requires the meat surface be free of water, which boils at around . Although often said to "lock in the moisture" or "seal in the juices", in fact, searing results in a greater loss of moisture than cooking to the same internal temperature without searing. Page 161, "The Searing Question". Nonetheless, it remains an essential technique in cooking meat for several reasons: *The browning creates desirable flavors through the Maillard reaction. *The appearance of the food is usually improved with a well-browned crust. *The contrast in taste and texture between the crust and the interior makes the food more interesting. Searing does not cause caramelization, which affects only sugars, or simple carbohydrates: the Maillard reaction involves reactions between amino acids and some sugars. Typically in

, the food will be seared over very high heat and then moved to a lower-temperature area of the grill to finish cooking. In braising, the seared surface flavors and colors the cooking liquid.

Reverse searing

In reverse searing, the order of cooking is inverted. First the item to be cooked, typically a steak, is cooked at low heat until the center reaches desired temperature; then the outside is cooked with high temperature to achieve the Maillard reaction. This technique is typically recommended for thicker pieces of meat, or thicker, allowing for consistent internal cooking temperature with only the outer portion becoming seared.

Sealing in the juices

The belief that searing meat "seals in the juices" is widespread and still often repeated. This theory was first put forth by Liebig around 1850. The notion was embraced by contemporary cooks and authors, including Escoffier. It is typically mentioned for larger cuts, especially steaks and chops, of non-poultry meats such as beef, pork, lamb and tuna. Experiments to test the theory were carried out as early as the 1930s and found that the seared roasts lost the same amount of moisture or more. Generally more liquid is lost, since searing exposes the meat to higher temperatures that destroy more cells, in turn releasing more liquid.McGee, Harold (1990), ''The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore,'' page 13, "The Searing Truth" Moisture in liquid and vapor form continues to escape from a seared piece of meat. For this reason, searing is sometimes done at the end of the cooking process to gain the flavor benefits of the Maillard reaction, as well as the benefits of cooking for a greater duration with more moistness.

References

{{Cooking Techniques Cooking techniques Culinary terminology