Do you want to cook with more confidence? Learn to check this one thing

Core the energy transmission of heat to food is essentially. However, everyone who cooks knows that it is much more complex. A fundamental difference between a passable dish and a large one is how they control the temperature. Gentle heat can keep meat juicy and tender, while the heat can make the heat inconspicuous for too long in certain cuts. A few degrees can mean the difference between Jammy or rubber eggs. It’s not just about heat. Freezing foods can change their flavors and textures, and ice pools can keep the lively color of vegetables and prevent them from being approved.

Great chefs do not leave the temperature of chance. They understand how to use it for your advantage to create the desired textures and flavors. Playing with temperature is not just science, but the key to unlock really delicious meals and deliver consistent results every time, which makes it a better, stronger cook.

Note from the publisher: This is the fourth in a number of articles that share essential tips and techniques that have changed the way I, like me, cook the other serious Eats editors and our readers. Researched the first rate Play-related preparation tipsThe second presented Key uses for saltand the third covered the Importance of time. This series is by no means an ultimate collection of essential techniques – just some of the more important ones that separate good chefs from really great.

The Maillard reaction is a fundamental chemical process when cooking, which appears when warmth turns proteins and sugar in order to create new taste connections and to give food its characteristic flavors, colors and flavors. This is the reason Bread yards brown, French fries Make golden and roasted coffee beans Riechs wonderfully nutty. When you understand how the Maillard reaction works Brown mushrooms To intensify their Umami and vegetables to unlock their sweet, smoky notes.

Many recipes require the addition of meat and seafood to boiling water or a hot pan, but sometimes it is worth starting cold. Starting with minimal heat, there are proteins to cook gently and evenly so that they remain tender instead of capturing. For example, if you start chicken legs in a cold pan, the fat can slowly render and produce ultra-creeping skin without combustion. Similar, Start the shrimp in cold water Gradually heats the shellfish and delivers juicy, sensitive meat.

The opposite Sear is a serious eating classic – and for good reason. The cooking of steak in an oven at 121 ° C heats it slowly and evenly and reduces the risk of overcooking. The quick end of the steak in a ripping pan creates a nice crust. Since the meat gradually reaches its target temperature, it does not have to rest before serving – just cut it and enjoy it. This foolproof technology reliably delivers medium -heavy steak with a beautifully tanned crust and works just as well for pork, lamb and other proteins.

In contrast to popular belief, it is not about preserving juices. Instead, it helps to control the temperature and manage the transmission of the cooking, which occurs when the residual heat continues to cook meat as soon as it rests. Rehling gives you a better shot if you hit your target temperature without exceeding you. As our editorial director, DanielNotes in his article, Ruhing is “best understood as a method for temperature control, not as a juice”. The rest only has to take as long as the inner temperature is chopped on your destination. Leave your thermometer, not the clock, say when it is time to cut into slices.

The freezer can turn the ingredients in a way that heat simply cannot. Freeze and thaw repeatedly PearFor example, for example, incredibly juicy fruits with a texture similar to traditional poached pears provide. Cryo blanching-appealed, thaw and then cookVegetables Improves and locks your lively color and strict texture. Freezing even helps with the preparation: Mussels Serle out of their mussels more easily and chilled Meat Or cut fish – especially fat or sensitive cuts – much easier. Just put the meat or fish in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes and then cut it.