On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 316
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intact, and preserve its leatheriness. A
crisp skin is easier to obtain with a dryprocessed bird — kosher or halal, for
example — whose skin hasn’t been
plumpedwithaddedwater(p.143).Italso
helps to let the bird air-dry uncovered in
therefrigeratorforadayortwo,andtooil
the skin before roasting. (Oiling improves
heat transfer from hot oven air to moist
meat.) The cooked bird should be served
promptly, since crisp skin quickly
reabsorbs moisture from the hot meat
beneath, and becomes flabby as it sits on
theplate.
Forsomepurposes,meatsmaybepartly
precookedatarelativelylowoiltemperature,
andthencookedthroughandbrownedata
highertemperaturejustbeforeserving.Fastfoodfriedchickenispreparedinspecial
pressurecookers(p.785),whichfryatthe
usualoiltemperatures,butraisetheboiling
pointofwater,sothatlessofthemoisturein
themeatvaporizesduringthecooking.The
resultismorerapidcooking(lesscoolingby
evaporation)andmoistermeat.
TheSearingQuestion
The best-known explanation of a cooking
method is probably this catchy phrase:
“Sear the meat to seal in the juices.” The
eminentGermanchemistJustusvonLiebig
cameupwiththisideaaround1850.Itwas
disproved a few decades later. Yet this
myth lives on, even among professional
cooks.
Before Liebig, most cooks in Europe
cooked roasts through at some distance
from the fire, or protected by a layer of
greased paper, and then browned them
quicklyattheend.Juiceretentionwasnot
a concern. But Liebig thought that the
water-soluble components of meat were
nutritionally important, so it was worth
minimizing their loss. In his book
