Why put a glass or a crystal glass in a pan when cooking meat: an old chef's trick
Each chef has his own secrets and special "chips". And since they do not like to share them, we will do it! Our subscriber Andrey told about an old life hack that helps to make the meat tender and juicy, and the broth as transparent as possible. Now he himself always uses this chef's trick. What we are talking about - read on.
The secret of cooking on fire
In 2017, I was at the opening of the hunting season in the Astrakhan region. We lived in tents for a week, and cooked at the stake - a real male romance. But my health is not iron and after several days of a camp life and a cold, intoxicating drink I got sore throat. In order not to bring the condition to a serious one, I decided to stay with a friend who was from the local for a couple of days. He assigned me to his grandmother.
While visiting his grandmother, I noticed the incredibly tender, tasty and juicy game (wild geese, ducks) that she cooked. Game in my preparation has never been so soft. I asked the hostess - “What's the secret? What do you add to the meat? " To which she replied - "Tomorrow I will cook, I will show you!"
The next morning she butchered the goose carcass, put it in a saucepan, filled it with water and... as the main "ingredient" she added a faceted glass! I didn’t understand anything, but she said: “Wait 20 minutes and you will see everything!” I was staring at the pan and suddenly... I heard the noise of rattling glass. When boiling, the glass container began to drum on the bottom of the pan. The hostess, hearing this sound, removed the foam and lowered the fire. The glass stopped rattling.
Then she said that this is the secret: when cooking or stewing, meat / poultry should not be boiled in boiling water, but should languish in broth. In such a moderate temperature regime, it cooks soft and retains its juiciness. If you start boiling meat / poultry, then, firstly, the product will give everything tasty and healthy to the broth; and secondly, it will remain dry. Yes, and the broth in this mode will boil and destroy all the taste and benefits.
How it works?
So a glass, a crystal glass or a glass cork from a decanter serve as a kind of temperature signaling devices. When the liquid boils (reaching an unacceptable water temperature for cooking meat), they simply begin to rattle and indicate that the meat has ceased to be cooked correctly. This is a signal to turn down the fire. The temperature must be set in such a way that the water does not boil, and the glass object does not rattle during cooking. This achieves the optimal cooking / stewing temperature, at which the meat becomes unusually tender, juicy and, accordingly, tasty. And also in moderate temperature conditions, the broth is as transparent as possible.
This chef's trick went back to the times when they cooked on stoves and open fires. The heat of a stove or fire is difficult to regulate, and therefore a glass or crystal object was used as a temperature sensor.
Then I learned from professional chefs that meat is really cooked at a broth temperature of 75 to 95 degrees. So it turns out soft and juicy. What happens to it with active boiling - see below.