Stew for Beef Should It Be Browned

Many recipes, peculiarly recipes for stews, start by browning the meat in oil earlier adding the aromatics and the liquids. Why brown the meat? Surely, information technology will cook even if the browning process is skipped? Sure, information technology will. But yous'll miss out on flavors.

It isn't always about "searing juices"

I used to believe all that crap virtually sealing in the juices if the meat is browned before information technology is braised or stewed — until I realized that in that location is a difference in the application of the browning and searing process vis a vis the memory of juices when cooking with large or small pieces of meat.

For example. Endeavour putting a piece of roast or a whole chicken in an oven that has not been preheated and see how information technology cooks. Then, compare that with meat or craven that was place in an oven that has been preheated to the correct temperature.

Then, when cooking large pieces of food, like a roast or a whole bird, there is some truth to the searing upshot and how internal juices are retained in the meat during cooking. The intense heat volition immediately sear the outside of the meat or bird and prevent the meat juices from leaking.

Maillard reaction and caramelization

Merely when cooking smaller pieces of meat as when making a stew, and specially when cooking the pieces of meatin liquid, the juice memory argument becomes illogical. The meat will simmer for a long time in the liquid, it volition expel juices into the liquid while, at the same fourth dimension, blot the liquid in which information technology cooks.

Information technology'due south a never ending give and take procedure. And nosotros know that because, by the time the dish is done, the meat tastes of the ingredients in the sauce while the sauce has acquired a distinct meaty flavor.

Then, why brown meat at all? Tin we just skip that office altogether? I wouldn't skip it because browning meat adds texture and better color and flavor to it while adding flavor as well to the sauce in which it cooks.

Let'south illustrate. How do we brown meat?

Nosotros oestrus oil (I mostly prefer a mixture of olive oil and butter) and add the meat. It helps to flour the meat pieces a little to prevent them from sticking to the pan. We brown the meat pieces in small-scale batches to make sure that the temperature of the oil does not drop as high and abiding heat is essential to the browning procedure.

So how does that add texture, color and flavor?

Think in terms of sweetened condensed milk and dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is caramelized sweetened condensed milk just the color, texture and flavor are different from the uncaramelized milk.

Meat is just the same. The browning procedure caramelizes the natural sugars in the meat creating a richly-colored chaff. That crust will help the meat retain its shape during the long simmering hours.

And but how does that lead to a more flavorful sauce? Now, nosotros come to deglazing. The fatty in which the meat has browned is so rich in flavor. Cooks sauté the aromatics and vegetables in that fatty so add a little liquid to scrape whatsoever browned bits and pieces are stuck at the lesser of that pan. The fat and the browned bits create a wonderful base for a sauce.

But raw meat has very little flavor — where did all the flavors come up from? In chemical terms, it is a result of the Maillard reaction — a reaction between the amino acids and sugars in the meat that breaks down large molecules and produces smaller molecules which our senses perceive as flavors and ambition-pleasing aromas.

So, even when using a boring cooker, I however prefer to chocolate-brown the meat first. Information technology may be an additional step and more work but, in terms of results, the added pace of browning meat makes the difference between mediocre and delicious.

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Source: https://umamidays.com/kitchen/do-we-really-need-to-brown-meat-before-braising-or-stewing/

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