bros I'm having a retarded brain meltdown thinking about pan frying food. probably 90% of the food I cook is in a frying pan but lately I've been feeling like I was wrong about everything. I try a lot of different things but it seems like the only thing that really works as far as meat is concerned is when it's wiped dry and with plain salt and pepper only. if there's marinade on the meat it just kind of steams and the marinade gets burned. same goes for herbs and shit. one time I decided I wanted to make chicken with tarragon but when I tried to pan fry my chicken all of the tarragon I put on it turned into nasty black bits. I wonder if I should have just cooked the chicken plain and used the tarragon in a butter or cream sauce or if I should have used a different cooking method like roasting. if I want to make fajitas I don't bother with fancy marinades any more and just use lime juice and salt and only add the other seasonings at the end after the meat is already cooked. am I doing it all wrong or did I figure out something everyone else already knows?
>>22133818Heat control, size of pan, and adding ingredients that will turn to charcoal way too early. You know, you can do the meat up, let it rest and make a pan sauce, and then add it back in right?
>>22133818With leafy green herbs like tarragon you add them at the very end of cooking, so they only get a few seconds of heat
>>22133823if I'm using dried herbs won't they still be all woody if they're barely cooked? >>22133821>you can do the meat up, let it rest and make a pan sauce, and then add it back in right?that's what I said
>>22133843I admit, I trailed off before the last few sentences in that dense paragraph. But yeah.
>>22133818burning your marinades? unless they’re really sugary I don’t know why that would happen. are you sure what you’re describing is actually “burnt”. just because some of it get stuck to the pan and blackened doesn’t necessarily mean it’s burnt
>>22133849well the meat is just going to steam as long as there's liquid in the pan so if you're getting a sear on your meat the marinade has turned into burned syrup by then
>>22133853Pat off your meat with paper towel, and if you're going to reduce your marinade into a sauce do it in a separate pot.
>>22133857giggity
>>22133857if I'm going to wipe it off then most of the stuff in the marinade will get removed too which defeats the purpose of putting them in it.
>>22133863Well that's where you're wrong, kiddo. Marinade is to denature the proteins in the meat and the sauce is where the flavor's at.
>>22133866so why should I use anything but salt and acid in my marinade and not just put all of the other ingredients in later?
>>22133873It imparts some flavor. Boiling your meat in it will fuck up not only the sear, but everything else becoming burnt along with it. These are two separate concepts.
>>22133818There's a couple of things to pull apart here. What many don't realise is that dishes such as Chicken Tikka Masala use marinated chicken and it is purposely scorched most of us don't have a Tandoor so it's cooked under the Grill (or Broiler for our Burger frens) and then added to the sauce later. If you are making stuff with dried herbs (such as Tarragon with your chicken) then don't bother with any sear. Wrap the chicken in foil (with your butter, tarragon and seasoning) and put it in the oven to cook.Frying with marinades always makes a mess, it's not worth it.
