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Wipe meats and fish before cooking

When you want to cook meat or fish, there's a very simple yet very important step to take before you even start: It's to dry, or wipe, each side of the meat or fish, sometimes called "dabbing" or "sponging".

But why? And how? Let me explain.

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Keywords for this post:Cooking Drying Drying Meat Fish Kitchen towel Paper towel Paper towel

Last modified on: April 14^th 2024

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Wipe meats and fish before cooking

When we're about to cook meat, we often take it out of the fridge, where it was wrapped in paper.

If it's been waiting a while, you've probably already noticed that it's moist, sometimes even almost wet, which is normal, as meat naturally exudes a little muscle fluid when it's resting.
The same goes for fish and scallops, which naturally become moist and slightly sticky when they wait a little too long before cooking.

viande humide poisson humide

This moisture isn't a problem in itself, but it can be a bit of a hindrance to cooking, because if you put the meat directly into the hot pan (for example), the moisture will, with the heat of the pan, create a little film of steam between the meat and the bottom (of the pan).
On the one hand, this film will reduce the cooking heat, thus increasing cooking time, but above all it will slow down caramelization (the famous Maillard reactions), and unfortunately your meat won't brown as well, and won't taste as good.

As you can see, it's no big deal, but the solution is so simple that it would be a shame to do without it: simply dry the meat well, dabbing it with a cloth or paper towel, before seasoning and cooking.

viande séchage viande séchée

The same goes for fish and scallops: simply pat dry with kitchen paper before seasoning and cooking.

poisson essuyage poissonessuyé

It's a reflex that restaurant chefs have: they systematically dry all their meats and fish before cooking them.
It's in our interest to follow their example...

To sum up: You should always dry meat or fish by dabbing it with a paper towel or tea towel before cooking, to ensure better cooking and coloring.

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