Come On, Burn the Dinner (Little)
Gorky is good. Burnt ends, blackened catfish, creme brulee, and a giant charred bubble on a pizza pie are just a few examples of how delicious pizza can be. Taste can vary in five flavors – sweet, salty, bitter, savory and umami – and the best dishes will work with several, if not all five, to create a harmonious experience for your taste buds. You can do the same thing by deep-frying your food aggressively (and maybe even setting it on fire a little).
Charring food has definitely been in vogue ever since humans started cooking over fire , and especially since the Spanish word barbacoa started appearing in print in the 1500s. This flavor is so popular that there are endless tutorials and cooking show episodes on how to get the perfect grill marks and how to grill properly on the stovetop . You don’t just highlight the single flat taste of carbon. These methods can create hundreds of complex flavors depending on the chemical components of the food and how it has been browned.
We owe this deep, roasted, balancing and sometimes bitter taste to several things: the Maillard reaction and caramelization . People you know already know that the Maillard reaction is a type of non-enzymatic browning that happens when you bake bread, toast marshmallows, or roast coffee beans. On a more technical level, it is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that typically occurs when foods are heated between 280℉-330℉, resulting in appetizing new flavor compounds and pleasing color changes. Caramelization is simply the darkening of sugars caused by heating food to even higher temperatures (about 338℉ for pure sucrose), resulting in polymers with a deep nutty flavor and a classic caramel brown hue. Give me one or both, these processes add visual appeal and flavor. Go either “too far” and then everything will start to smoke a little (which can be good).
Roast your food on the grill or in the oven for a hint of bitterness and an inviting smoke that can turn any good dish into a delicious one. Roast red bell peppers before cutting them into black bean soup. The charred tomatillos add depth of smoky flavor to your salsa verde. Grill romaine to turn a simple salad into a side dish your friends are still talking about. Making Strawberry Rhubarb Pie? Roast these strawberries and sliced rhubarb in the oven to caramelize the sugar and bring out new flavors before composing the filling. Use white chocolate in a new way by exceeding its melting point and deep browning it to sprinkle on ice cream.
In addition to flavor, aggressively browning or scorching food has benefits for texture. The addictive texture development can range from dried and cured to crunchy and dizzying. I feel especially sad when I see an underdone grilled cheese sandwich, pale French toast, or pale fruit pie. Hyper-contrast in texture is an important point that I look forward to when I find out that there is a soft dough or sticky middle hiding behind a crispy barrier.
Of course, browning can be wrong when the whole dish becomes “overcooked”, or charring goes deep into the center of the dish. It also happens when the taste becomes unbalanced, when the bitterness no longer contrasts but dominates. And although this is not good, it usually happens due to absent-mindedness or care during cooking. Be sure to keep an eye on the cooking process when cooking with aggressive heat to ensure the best tasting results. (And security too, I suppose.)
With an alert eye and keen taste, boldly sear meat over high heat, sauté onions in onion sauce, leave pizza in the oven for a crispy crust, or toast a peach and caramelize sugar for an incredible sensation. contrast! The next time someone says you “burned” something, don’t get angry. It’s a pity their amateurish taste. Without browning, all we have is wilted fries and unleavened bread. I’ll take French toast, which is deep browned with a whisper of bitter, overly caramelized sugar, and a crunchy, custard-in-the-center exterior instead of the sticky, basic any day.