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Today’s Foodie Friday post is about one of the big cooking myths that I hear repeated by cooks all the time. In fact, you might even catch the odd TV chef repeating it. That myth is the one about why you brown off a piece of meat – roasts in particular – before you lower the heat (or move it to a cooler part of the grill). I’ll bet you’re mentally answering that question now and it may be with “because that’s how you seal in the juices so the meat doesn’t dry out.” There’s the myth and also today’s business thought.
Many food scientists have tested this theory and it has no bearing in fact. We brown the meat to begin the Maillard reactions. In a nutshell, these reactions happen when the amino acids in meat react with the sugars and they decompose big molecules into smaller ones that humans can more easily taste and smell. Testing shows that whether meat has been browned or not, it loses about the same amount of liquid during cooking. Fail to brown it, however, and it lacks flavor.
The corollary to the browning myth is the one about juices running to the middle and we “rest” cooked meat to let them redistribute back to the exterior. This is partially true – the juices do redistribute – but it’s not because they ran to the center of the meat during cooking – the juices more on the outer portions cooked off so we’re redistributing what’s left.
So how do these myths get into the popular cooking vernacular and what does it have to do with business? It’s because misinformed people – even some who have TV shows – perpetuate them and there’s no real reason for anyone (except me!) to correct them. That’s the business point. There are often myths about your product, your business, or maybe even you that are floating around out there. They have a kind of perpetual motion which, if left unchecked, can be disastrous. Despite the massive amount of easily-accessible information being available, I think many folks are lazy and will just repeat things they hear, especially if they come from someone who is supposed to be knowledgable in a field.
The difference between the cooking myths and some about you is that cooks will sear meat and let it rest even if they don’t know why and do it for the wrong reasons. When it comes to your business, however, those cooks – now consumers – might just move on.
What are you browning off this weekend?
Consult Keith 