Sealing in the Juices, feh.

(tpc- Grilled NY strip w/ancho-poblano cream sauce and carmelized onions)

I had an email over the weekend asking if Survival Spice™ was good for grilling steak.

The answer of course is yes, but the intriguing part of the email is that he went on to mention his frustration in being able to "seal in the juices" so meats would stay juicy.

It drives me crazy when I hear that phrase so I thought I'd rant about that a bit, because I've heard similar remarks from other similarly frustrated people.

First of all, you can't 'seal' in the juices in a piece of meat or anything else with moisture in it, for that matter, but let's use a steak in this example. As the internal temperature of the steak rises, the juices in the meat will expand and make their way to the surface. Don't believe me? Next time you're grilling, watch the top of your steak after you sear it and flip it. You'll still see blood rise to the top of the now 'seared' side. Short of anodizing your Porterhouse, there's no way to stop it.

Still, there are plenty of valid reasons to sear a piece of meat when you first put it in a pan or on the grill. The color is appetizing, the mouth feel of crispness yielding to a tender interior, etc. But is there any difference in flavor, knowing what we know now?

Indeed there is, due to an interesting phenomenon known as the Maillard reaction. Discovered in 1912 by a French chemist named Louis-Camille Maillard, he noted that when amino acids and sugars such as glycerol were heated in a test tube, a brown color was obtained. In addition to the color change, hundreds of new chemical compounds were created. (An interesting side note, Maillard actually had no interest in how these new compounds tasted.) So at any rate, the answer is yes, sear away, friends!

But how? Here's a few tips:

• Your meat should have no water in its surface. Water creates steam, which is an enemy of browning and will contribute to the loss of juices. Oil is fine, but if you've marinated your steaks, blot them dry with paper towels. I like to season with kosher salt just before grilling, it really helps to create a nice crust because it will 'raise the grain' of the meat by drawing out a bit of the remaining water.

• Put your meat on presentation (nicest looking) side down first.

• There are a few valid schools of thought on this, but I only flip meat once. Put your steak on, once you peek and see it's got nice grill marks turn it 90º (I actually prefer 60º, but 90º is what I was taught. Theoretically 90º makes the piece look bigger, but I think it looks like a tile job). Once your presentation side is looking good, flip and finish. This is important- any time you turn/flip, always put it on an unused spot on the grill because the grill where your meat was when you picked it up has cooled somewhat.

• Always have a hot end/cooler side to your grill setup. (Roughly twice as many coals to the hot end). If you finish your steaks on the slightly cooler side, the expansion forces won't be as great so you won't lose as much juice. If you're cooking a bunch of steaks, get your most well-done requests on first. Sear 'em off and move them to the cooler side to finish, where they won't bleed out completely. Do your mediums next and then sear-only your rares and medium rares. This way all your steaks are done at once. What a concept, eh?

• Let your meat rest for a few minutes! As your steak cools a bit, the internal pressure will lower , making it easier for juices near the edge to redistribute back into the center.

I hope this helps. It's just an overview and your mileage may vary but that's part of the fun, isn't it?

--tpc