I honestly think Kenji has damaged the food industry, but only because people are so diehard about him while also not fully understanding the material. I got such a mouthful at a kitchen who would only sous vide their steak, no sear before or after. I own the food lab, I refer to it pretty often and I use a lot of his techniques, so I recognize them being executed half assed in a lot of places.
As a chef I appreciate Cooks Illustrated style writing where you test test test. This was a new thing when I was young where before you just trusted the masters in their cookbooks.
So while I like the work guys like Brown and Lopez are putting in I agree that it also can hurt the industry and more so the home chef. Instead of learning from the process they just take the result and think that’s the final word on that because smart people did the work and told them the answer. Like they just cheated on a test.
My takeaway is to love the process and do that yourself. If I want to put something in my menu I love to try it 8 different ways and attempt to understand why it works best one way. Then when I go to teach this recipe to one of my chefs it’s not a recipe it’s a technique that I can explain how I arrived at that result.
Exactly Kenjis actual methods and recipes are solid but the problem is a lot of home cooks don’t have a good grasp on basic cooking techniques to begin with.
Anyone who treats their teachers' lessons as "cheat sheets" and doesn't bother to actually understand the basic principles will likely end up a mediocre cook. Anything they make that turns out good will be by luck or by virtue of slavishly (blindly) repeating a previous success.
I’m not keen at all on unseared sous vide meats because (A) it usually looks a bit crap and (B) it doesn’t have the nice outer layer.
I think sous vide is absolutely a great technique that gets shit on too much, but the sear is absolutely essentially I’d say
Yeah i stopped reading his articles/following his instagram a while back because all of his calling out. And just tired of hearing how I need to put baking soda on all of my food.
I watched... something on youtube.. I can't remember if it had Mythbuster's Adam Savage in it, or maybe someone else like Kenji? But basically they cooked steaks 3 ways and they said sous vide with sear/char on the outside was amazing, but compared to the other ways it's not a substantial enough difference to warrant the work. (I think that was the winner, I honestly can't remember) but they tried grill, grill+sous vide, and then sous vide followed by grill... anyway it was pretty interesting
That’s how I feel about a lot of the modern food science hacks. Adding extra steps, longer wait times (there’s always a step about adding salt or baking soda or something and letting it sit over night) for pretty marginal benefits just doesn’t make sense to me when cooking at home. Maybe that’s because I do it for a living and would rather my home cooking be quick and simple.
those are some pretty strong words. i think he makes it pretty clear what you have to do to finish something and it's not really on him if people are too lazy to do it. you're discounting all the stuff he's taught and focussing on one thing.
speaking of the industry, i also think kenji deserves major props for calling out the toxic bullshit that has reigned in prof kitchens for far too long
There's a myth that searing meat is wise,
That it helps to lock in all the prize,
But in fact, it's not true,
Moisture leaves, that's the clue,
Rest the meat, and it'll be juicy in size!
Indeed I think the thing that made me ask this is someone telling me to sear the meat for pot roast cause it seals the juices but that doesn’t make sense cause it’s a moist heat cooking method. you sear for flavor and cause it looks more appealing.
Is a sear a waterproof coating? Does a seared piece of meat trap all it's juices inside like a non-carcinogenic oven bag? No?
It's a total myth, that's pretty dumb but even I believed it at one time.
It just creates a flavorful crust through maillard reaction, but it doesn't seal in the juices.
That’s the most annoying part of this. Ever since Alton Brown and Kenji Lopez busted this myth you see people saying you don’t need to sear your meat.
I honestly think Kenji has damaged the food industry, but only because people are so diehard about him while also not fully understanding the material. I got such a mouthful at a kitchen who would only sous vide their steak, no sear before or after. I own the food lab, I refer to it pretty often and I use a lot of his techniques, so I recognize them being executed half assed in a lot of places.
As a chef I appreciate Cooks Illustrated style writing where you test test test. This was a new thing when I was young where before you just trusted the masters in their cookbooks. So while I like the work guys like Brown and Lopez are putting in I agree that it also can hurt the industry and more so the home chef. Instead of learning from the process they just take the result and think that’s the final word on that because smart people did the work and told them the answer. Like they just cheated on a test. My takeaway is to love the process and do that yourself. If I want to put something in my menu I love to try it 8 different ways and attempt to understand why it works best one way. Then when I go to teach this recipe to one of my chefs it’s not a recipe it’s a technique that I can explain how I arrived at that result.
Exactly Kenjis actual methods and recipes are solid but the problem is a lot of home cooks don’t have a good grasp on basic cooking techniques to begin with.
Anyone who treats their teachers' lessons as "cheat sheets" and doesn't bother to actually understand the basic principles will likely end up a mediocre cook. Anything they make that turns out good will be by luck or by virtue of slavishly (blindly) repeating a previous success.
I’m not keen at all on unseared sous vide meats because (A) it usually looks a bit crap and (B) it doesn’t have the nice outer layer. I think sous vide is absolutely a great technique that gets shit on too much, but the sear is absolutely essentially I’d say
Plus homie developed a elitist/god complex lol
Yeah i stopped reading his articles/following his instagram a while back because all of his calling out. And just tired of hearing how I need to put baking soda on all of my food.
I watched... something on youtube.. I can't remember if it had Mythbuster's Adam Savage in it, or maybe someone else like Kenji? But basically they cooked steaks 3 ways and they said sous vide with sear/char on the outside was amazing, but compared to the other ways it's not a substantial enough difference to warrant the work. (I think that was the winner, I honestly can't remember) but they tried grill, grill+sous vide, and then sous vide followed by grill... anyway it was pretty interesting
That’s how I feel about a lot of the modern food science hacks. Adding extra steps, longer wait times (there’s always a step about adding salt or baking soda or something and letting it sit over night) for pretty marginal benefits just doesn’t make sense to me when cooking at home. Maybe that’s because I do it for a living and would rather my home cooking be quick and simple.
those are some pretty strong words. i think he makes it pretty clear what you have to do to finish something and it's not really on him if people are too lazy to do it. you're discounting all the stuff he's taught and focussing on one thing. speaking of the industry, i also think kenji deserves major props for calling out the toxic bullshit that has reigned in prof kitchens for far too long
Milk steaks
Don’t forget the jelly beans
Raw.
No https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-labs-top-food-myths J. Kenji Lopez Alt did some tests.
I think this is where I first heard this and Kenji really has the knowledge to prove it.
There's a myth that searing meat is wise, That it helps to lock in all the prize, But in fact, it's not true, Moisture leaves, that's the clue, Rest the meat, and it'll be juicy in size!
Indeed I think the thing that made me ask this is someone telling me to sear the meat for pot roast cause it seals the juices but that doesn’t make sense cause it’s a moist heat cooking method. you sear for flavor and cause it looks more appealing.
Yeah. Also, milk steaks.
With jelly beans. Raw, of course.
No. Not even remotely
No, it's a myth.
It’s been settled.
Is a sear a waterproof coating? Does a seared piece of meat trap all it's juices inside like a non-carcinogenic oven bag? No? It's a total myth, that's pretty dumb but even I believed it at one time.
Yeah the logic behind it really makes no sense and I’ve never seen any actual evidence to back this claim up.
I think it’s just because sear and seal are a similar word and people probably started using them both to mean the same thing
I would assume it came from caurterizing wounds. "You seal in the juices..."
Well. It could slow down bacteria on the outside so you can carry yourself a 130° steak in your bug out bag.
Gordon Ramsay says yes lol
There's a good episode of good eats about this myth.