On browning.

So not that long ago, I got into searing - particularly the myth that searing seals in juices (which it doesn't). So why do we do it?

The answer? Browning.

Browning is, by definition, the act of turning something brown (doi). Now, in culinary terms, this is an overarching way to describe caramelization and the Maillard reaction. Organic molecules all have one element in common - carbon. And when compounds containing carbon are exposed to enough heat to break them down, the carbon reacts, turning black. Combined with everything else that's going on, this steadily darkens (or browns) the food until all the other elements burn away, leaving you with, well, carbon. Which is a fancy way of saying 'burnt'.

So what happens before we get to burnt? Let's look at caramelization first. We've heard the term, maybe even heard the phrase 'breaking down of sugars' bandied about. And said phrase is a pretty decent snapshot of what's going on - sugars, which are composed entirely of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, do in fact break down from their more complex forms (like sucrose and lactose) and recombine into smaller, less complicated sugars (like glucose, fructose, and galactose) that, when they reach the tongue, require a lot less effort to process and therefore taste sweeter to us.

But wait, that's not all! The process also creates all kinds of weird little mongrel molecules out of these three building blocks, organic acids and polymers that don't just taste sweet. They hit bitter and sour notes, creating a multidimensional flavor profile for us to appreciate.

Which brings us to the Maillard reaction, which is pretty much the same thing, only we're bringing proteins to the party. Amino acids have a shit-ton more elemental diversity than sugar itself, which means the chemical compounds formed with sulfur, nitrogen, potassium and more get infinitely more complicated and unique, leading to an insanely more complex and diverse flavor profile in the finished product.

So if browning is so amazing, why don't we do it all the time?

Well, first of all, browning involves an assload of heat and a giant pile of chemical reactions. As intense and interesting as the new flavors we create through the process, we're destroying just as many flavors as we're creating. Sometimes we want these flavors present in a dish - we want an avocado to taste like an avocado. Sometimes, in order to bring a food up to a temperature high enough to generate these reactions, we destroy the textural things we enjoy about them, like egg or celery.

Secondly, browning makes things... well, brown. Cooks and chefs the world around know the value of visual contrast, how the bright green crunch of a fresh scallion can make a dish pop. Chicken stock traditionally skips the browning process of the bones and mirepoix to maintain its light, delicate coloration. It's tough to make a plate look pretty if everything's the same color. Come to think of it, it's tough to make a dish taste complex if everything's a complicated brown muddle of flavor. Contrast is key, be it in flavor, appearance, or texture.

So there it is. A rough breakdown of browning and why we do and don't do it. Cheers, guys - I'll see you next time 'round.