Searing
Searing is cooking the surface of food in a very hot, dry pan until it browns. The browning is a flavour reaction — the Maillard reaction — not a seal; searing does not lock juices in. It builds the deep, savoury crust that defines a good steak, roast, or braise.
01How it works
It’s the Maillard reaction, not a seal
Push a dry surface past about 300°F (150°C) and the amino acids and sugars in it start reacting — the Maillard reaction. It crawls along at 250°F and runs hard above 350°F, cascading into hundreds of new aroma and flavour compounds. That browned crust isn’t decoration; it’s where most of the savour comes from.
The old line that searing “seals in the juices” was tested and put to rest decades ago. Seared meat loses as much water as unseared meat — sometimes more, because the fierce heat contracts muscle fibres and squeezes moisture out.
So sear for taste and texture, not for a watertight shell. What actually keeps meat juicy is the final internal temperature and a proper rest — not the crust.
02How to do it right
Dry surface, hot pan, room to breathe
Pat the food bone-dry first. Surface water has to boil off at 212°F before anything can climb to the 300°F+ where browning starts — a damp steak just steams itself grey.
Get the pan genuinely hot, a surface around 400–450°F (200–230°C). Use cast iron or stainless steel, never nonstick. Cast iron holds its heat when cold food hits it; reach for stainless if you’ll build a pan sauce afterwards, since butter scorches fast on screaming cast iron. Use a fat with a high smoke point — a refined oil (~440°F), not butter alone.
Don’t crowd the pan. Too much food at once drops the temperature and releases steam, so work in batches. Then leave it alone for two or three minutes: a proper crust releases itself from the metal when it’s ready. That release, not the clock, is your cue to turn it.
03Common mistakes
Why your crust didn’t form
- Wet surface. Moisture has to evaporate before browning begins — a damp surface steams instead of searing.
- Pan not hot enough. Below the Maillard threshold you get grey, not brown, no matter how long you wait.
- Crowding the pan. Too much food crashes the temperature and fills the pan with steam. Batches.
- Flipping and poking early. Moving it before the crust sets tears it. Wait for the natural release.
→Recipes that use searing
