"--" > wrote in message
...
> Ok, I have seen the experiments and read and fully understand the esoteric
> theory about supposedly how searing
> 1) doesn't make any difference
> 2) colder pan and temp seals in more for a variety of esoteric reasons.
>
> and then I saw an annoying reference to the "no-diff" myth once again,
> immediately after once again having proof of searing effects in my pan -
>
> Sorry, the contrarians' "no-diff" and "lower-heat" myth consistently fails
> the engineering test here on the range.
>
> One of many examples seen here, refuting the no-diff myth and waiting to
> trigger my ire when I saw the myth repeated today, occurred on Tuesday
> eve:
>
> - I cooked a thick boneless chop in the normal way - iron pan, hot oil,
> med
> hi, 4-5 min on the first side and then turn, then lower the heat and do
> 4-5
> min, and then cook it at the lower heat about 6 min a side back and forth
> until I think it is done.
> Then, because it is thick and pork, I cut it (ok, heresy - but less
> disturbing than finding a cold red slab of pork inside due to poor
> defrosting -especially frozen- with-bone chops).
>
> a) Once again, like clockwork, the juice flooded heavily out the cut and
> into the (up til then) residue free pan,
> a1) leaving pan residue.
>
> The non-seared meats cooked only at the lower heat (like my kid cooks)
> do
> not let out juice when cut.
> b) My kid's meats (same stove, same pan, same lower temp, same amount of
> pink) do not drain when cut.
> b1) The pan, however, has the tell-tale residue of heated drained juice in
> the pan deposited throughout the process.
>
> Not juicy, like mine. Like mine with juice sealed in. The kid's are the
> same light pink but dry.
>
> Anecdotal, repeated sufficiently to approach statistically valid.
>
> So to whomever did the original experiments: try it again with a valid
> protocol and germaine criterion. Not weight loss, but rather available
> juice. Not molecular rearrangement theory, but rather available juice.
>
> Ok - got that annoyance off my chest... feeling better - thank you all for
> the therapy....
>
> ----------------
> One of Einstein's great contribution to scientific understanding was in
> his
> phrase - "a million experiments can prove me right - but it only takes one
> to prove me wrong."
>
> It's all in the protocol, baby.
>
> FWIW.
>
If juice leaks out there will be a weight loss equal to the weight of the
lost juice. Perhaps the difference is only one of perception. When cooked
at high heat, the water is evaporated from the juice at the pan/meat
interface and the residue is deposited on the pan and the meat. When cooked
at lower heat, the liquid escapes from the interface. In either case, mass
is lost from the meat.

Likewise, when cooked with high heat there is a much larger thermal
gradient, causing the juice to be forced to the center where it gushes out
when cut, but a lower heat allows it to remain in equilibrium and not gush
out. If the high heat case is allowed to rest for 10 or 15 minutes, the
temperature gradient is reduced and the juice no longer gushes out.

Thanks for playing. If there is no weight difference there is no difference
in juice lost. Even Alton Brown did a show on it.

del
>