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[Kristin Meredith]

I read this article this morning and thought some of you might be interested.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/01/31/the-maillard-reaction-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters/

[pmillen]

Excellent "find" Kristin, and an excellent article.

A quote from it, "Higher heat can promote the Maillard reaction, too, up to a point. Above 355 degrees, 'Modernist Cuisine' says, you get a different type of browning: pyrolysis, or burning."

Yay!  I've been preaching this on this forum to those people who sear meat to the point of blackening it.  Black meat is bitter burned meat, not a Maillard reaction.  Also, the carcinogens hide in it.

[hughver]

Great article, and I believe the science. The problem that I find is that searing to 350° is easier said than done. You surely can't do it with a torch, but I find that achieving a 350° sear even in an oven, pan or grill is virtually impossible without partially over cooking the product. 

[pmillen]

The problem that I find is that searing to 350° is easier said than done.

The 350° temperature may refer to the meat's surface.

[okie smokie]

I have a RT 590 with the GrillGrates for searing.  My son-in-law has the identical unit and says he now keeps the GG's upside down for steaks and chops as that gives him flat pan like surface (with holes of course) and much more Maillard, like a pan fried steak. My GG's have so much fired on gunk on the bottom, that I will have to do a clean up before I follow his lead. Apparently many of the great chefs pan fry their steaks (as seen on You Tube).  Comment? 

[pmillen]

Omaha, NE, was justifiably famous for it's steak houses.  My mother worked in the kitchen in one of them.  She was taught to cook steaks like this–

• Get a cast iron pan really hot
• Sear one side of the steak in it
• Flip the steak and put it in a preheated oven

When she and my father built a house in about 1960, they had a charcoal grill built into one kitchen wall, similar to a fireplace.  She never pan fried/baked a steak again.

[Bentley]

Mom was definitely into grilling, gotta love that.  I think it is a French Technique as I believe they invented cooking, or at least that is what a few of them have told me.  I think it is a great technique for beef that is to be served with a sauce.

[okie smokie]

Omaha, NE, was justifiably famous for it's steak houses.  My mother worked in the kitchen in one of them.  She was taught to cook steaks like this–

• Get a cast iron pan really hot
• Sear one side of the steak in it
• Flip the steak and put it in a preheated oven

When she and my father built a house in about 1960, they had a charcoal grill built into one kitchen wall, similar to a fireplace.  She never pan fried/baked a steak again.

I was born in Omaha and spent some time there when a 17 year old--working in a large neighborhood (IGA) grocery store and we bought out beef sides 2 weeks before delivery and the slaughter house dry age them at 37-38*. When I oven grilled a T bone at home, you could cut it with a fork. I remember that when the sides were delivered to the butcher, the fat was shrunken and quite yellow. Meat was dark red.  Can't get that at any store I know of today. Also, Omaha has some of the greatest steak houses and Italian restaurants I have ever been to. Been back a few times to visit and never disappointed. 

[Bar-B-Lew]

At the time (23-24 years old), the best steak I had ever eaten was in Hastings, NE.  I don't remember much about it anymore other than it was great.  Wish I remembered more to be able to compare to all of the steakhouses I have been to in Chicago.

[pmillen]

Also, Omaha has some of the greatest steak houses and Italian restaurants I have ever been to. Been back a few times to visit and never disappointed.

They're all on the east side of town (old part).  Their clientele is dying off and they won't change anything to try to attract new clientele that lives 10 miles west.  As a result, one-by-one, they're closing.

[okie smokie]

Also, Omaha has some of the greatest steak houses and Italian restaurants I have ever been to. Been back a few times to visit and never disappointed.

They're all on the east side of town (old part).  Their clientele is dying off and they won't change anything to try to attract new clientele that lives 10 miles west.  As a result, one-by-one, they're closing.

Gone: Johnny's near packing town I think is now gone.  1922, used to seat 1000+ and they came in bus loads. 
Caniglia's both steaks and Italian. 
Sam Nisi's Spare Time Cafe. 1930's
I am sure there are many more that I don't know about. 
Omaha was a maybe the biggest rail head (bigger than Chicago) and cattle were shipped there to be corn fed and slaughtered. I can do steaks as well as anyone, but cannot duplicate the beef that was (is?) available there. That was before the industry realized that it was cheaper to ship corn to cattle country than to ship cows to corn country.