Last night, my friend Chuck Terhark invited me to eat some free burgers at Smashburger, the latest addition to the twin cities chain restaurant scene.  It was ok.  The burgers were juicy but lacked structure, the patty tending to fall apart if improperly supported.  Other than that I thought it was fine. (for a detailed review go here)

The part that fascinated me was the smashing of the burger, something that any cook worth his or her salt will tell you is bad for the burger (it pushes all the juices out).  Smashburger seems to disagree with this idea.  Thier cooking process starts with a 1/3 or 1/2 pound ball of ground beef, then it’s smashed on a griddle for ten seconds, flipped and toppped  (cheese, onions, etc) and served.  From my experiance, except for the smashing on the grill, very straight foreward.

I got a little face time with a manager who explained what was going on as we watched.  He explained to me that the burgers were seared, therefore keeping the juices in and making a juicy burger.  This is where my hackles got raised.  Searing meat does not keep the juices inside the meat. Here’s a little exerpt to help prove my point:

“So what is searing? By definition, searing is to cook something hot and fast to brown the surface and to seal in the juices. Yet many of the leading cooking experts agree that searing does not seal in juices. Harold McGee in his book On Food and Cooking shows scientifically that a “seared” steak has less juices than an equally cooked not “seared” steak. Frankly the idea that you can somehow melt the surface of the meat into a material that holds in all the juices has always seemed a little strange to me. Conclusively it seems that science is agreed that sealing in juices just doesn’t work and is not the real goal of searing. Searing is a process of cooking that creates the crusty surface texture most people find appealing and the caramelized sugars that gives us that steak flavor we want.” (from about.com)

Yes, searing makes food taste better, but doesn’t make for a juicier end result.  To achieve a juicy result fat must be added before or after cooking to create a juicy mouthfeel.

I’m not mad at Smashburger or anyone else that tells me that searing ‘seals in the juices.’  It’s a very common mistake, (I make them all the time) and I hope that this informs people a little more on food chemistry.