Searing a roast before cooking?

Jbird

Jbird

Kick Henry Jackassowski
I bought a top round roast yesterday after asking the guy in the meat dept at my supermarket what would be a good roast for one that cuts a bit more like a steak. One where you maybe throw some dark mushroom gravy over and sautéed mushrooms. Not one of the fattier roasts that you cook with potatoes & carrots, etc.

Anyways he recommended me this top round roast, and the told me to sear it first before I throw it in the crock pot.

I've never seared meat before….just heat up a frying pan really hot and throw the meat on there 'til brown on all sides? Or is there more to doing it right than that?
 
It's the classic style generally. The idea is that you're creating a crust and "sealing" the meat before it starts a longer cooking process, thusly starting what will end with a nice exterior and a moist interior.

Now, that said, many of the classic cooking techniques are coming up false in modern cooking experiments, one or two such recent scientific experiments claimed greater liquid/moistness retention searing AFTER it was where they wanted it roasting, but if memory serves we are talking total 1-2% difference per pound, so it makes little difference.

As for your particular cut, it really doesn't have the fat content to break down while braising which is more or less what you do with a crock pot, for something like pot roast or pork roast, what i'd do would be just to season it and roast it whole in the oven. This is essentially roast beef which I think is what you're going for.
 
Grave Bomber said:
It's the classic style generally. The idea is that you're creating a crust and "sealing" the meat before it starts a longer cooking process, thusly starting what will end with a nice exterior and a moist interior.

Now, that said, many of the classic cooking techniques are coming up false in modern cooking experiments, one or two such recent scientific experiments claimed greater liquid/moistness retention searing AFTER it was where they wanted it roasting, but if memory serves we are talking total 1-2% difference per pound, so it makes little difference.

As for your particular cut, it really doesn't have the fat content to break down while braising which is more or less what you do with a crock pot, for something like pot roast or pork roast, what i'd do would be just to season it and roast it whole in the oven. This is essentially roast beef which I think is what you're going for.
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There was an episode of Good Eats that actually measured out the science on this.

The crux of the episode was that it's good for flavor but it doesn't "seal the meat". That's what she said.
 
Alternatively, you could use a blowtorch. Less mess.

But either way, "searing before vs searing after" makes virtually no discernible difference.

All that said, sous-vide beats roasting here.
 
Flamencology said:
Alternatively, you could use a blowtorch. Less mess.

But either way, "searing before vs searing after" makes virtually no discernible difference.

All that said, sous-vide beats roasting here.
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Sous-vide beats many techniques but it's still outside the hands of most home cooking. I understand where you're coming from but it's a moot point generally speaking.
 
I haven't looked into the cheaper ones in years, the earlier models were supposedly pretty faulty or fluctuated temp too often by too many degrees, perhaps it's time to look again. Thanks Flamencology. :thu:
 
Grave Bomber said:
I haven't looked into the cheaper ones in years, the earlier models were supposedly pretty faulty or fluctuated temp too often by too many degrees, perhaps it's time to look again. Thanks Flamencology. :thu:
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Sorry, I was wrong. You can't use it with a pot, like with the more expensive ones. But you can use it to adapt crock pots, rice cookers, stuff like that.
 
I grill those now. You get a good fatty 5 lb pot roast, slap it on the grill for 4 hours or so, and it's prime rib good.

No reason to sear meat before cooking the life out of it in a crock pot. Waste of heat.
 
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