Searing

Searing is the technique of cooking meat over extremely high heat — 500°F or above at the cooking surface — to rapidly brown the exterior and develop a flavorful crust. It's not a cooking method on its own (searing alone won't cook a thick steak through) but rather a critical step in most steak and roast preparations.

What Searing Actually Does: Let me kill the biggest myth in cooking right now: searing does not "seal in juices." That idea has been disproven repeatedly by food scientists. A seared steak actually loses slightly more moisture than one cooked gently. What searing does is create flavor — hundreds of complex compounds generated by the Maillard reaction that you simply cannot get any other way.

The Technique: 1. Dry the surface completely. Pat your steak with paper towels until there's no moisture visible. This is the most important step. Water boils at 212°F — well below browning temperature. A wet steak steams instead of searing. 2. Preheat aggressively. Cast iron, carbon steel, or a grill grate — get it screaming hot. Hold your hand 6 inches above the surface: if you can't keep it there for more than 1 second, you're ready. 3. Use the right fat. Avocado oil (smoke point ~520°F) or refined grapeseed. Butter and olive oil burn too quickly for the initial sear — add butter at the end for basting. 4. Don't touch it. Lay the steak down and leave it. Movement prevents crust formation. Flip once — two to three minutes per side for a 1-inch steak. 5. Listen. You should hear an aggressive, sustained sizzle. If it's quiet, your pan isn't hot enough.

When to Sear: - Before roasting (traditional sear-then-oven) - After sous vide (the most critical searing application) - After reverse sear (low oven first, then hard sear) - For thin steaks that cook entirely during the sear

Equipment Matters: Cast iron and carbon steel hold heat and recover temperature better than stainless. A thin pan drops in temperature when cold meat hits it, killing your sear. Heavy pans maintain heat. End of discussion.