On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 317

Researches on the Chemistry of Food, he
saidthatthiscouldbedonebyheatingthe
meat quickly enough that the juices are
immediately sealed inside. He explained
what happens when a piece of meat is
plunged into boiling water, and then the
temperaturereducedtoasimmer:
Whenitisintroducedintotheboiling
water,thealbumenimmediatelycoagulates
fromthesurfaceinwards,andinthisstate
formsacrustorshell,whichnolonger
permitstheexternalwatertopenetrateinto
theinteriorofthemassofflesh….The
fleshretainsitsjuiciness,andisquiteas
agreeabletothetasteasitcanbemadeby
roasting;forthechiefpartofthesapid
[flavorful]constituentsofthemassis
retained,underthesecircumstances,inthe
flesh.
Andifthecrustcankeepwateroutduring
boiling,itcankeepthejuicesinduring


roasting,soit’sbesttoseartheroast
immediately,andthencontinueatalower
temperaturetofinishtheinsides.
Liebig’s ideas caught on very quickly
among cooks and cookbook writers,
includingtheeminentFrenchchefAuguste
Escoffier. But simple experiments in the
1930s showed that Liebig was wrong. The

crust that forms around the surface of the
meat is not waterproof, as any cook has
experienced:thecontinuingsizzleofmeat
in the pan or oven or on the grill is the
soundofmoisturecontinuallyescapingand
vaporizing. In fact, moisture loss is
proportional to meat temperature, so the
high heat of searing actually dries out the
meat surface more than moderate heat
does. But searing does flavor the meat
surface with products of the browning
reactions (p. 777), and flavor gets our
juices flowing. Liebig and his followers
were wrong about meat juices, but they