OMG. This lady knows absolutely everything. Like, I just watched her microwave video, and now I'm stuck in a rabbit hole that is changing everything I've ever been taught about cooking.
Not really. I have cooked for decades, longer than her. All I use, is salted buttet. Perfect results. Every time. I don't add water, for example, to brown steaks. If that's the way she likes it? Good for her. I am not convinced. When I roast vegetables for salsa, I do not use water. Another good example. All these already have moisture. Would you add water to fried potatoes? No way. My wife has a problem turning them to soon. It really takes good timing skill. Would you add water, to make french fries? Not at all. Baked or fried. I surely wouldn't add water to bacon, cooking in an iron skillet. As a once professional cook, I don't advise her adding water. Just takes longer, to cook off. Oh, browning any meat? Never add water.
I guess I've found out why I like this lady now: She is to the point and precise. No word-salads or non-sense babblings; just pure, useful knowledge. Thank you.
For anyone wondering, add a splash of water to your pan when you start cooking your bacon, it’ll help the fat render more evenly which means flatter and therefore more evenly-crisped bacon! Cheers 🥓
@@MS-oy4vo I'd imagine so, but I'd use less since the radiative/convective heat of the oven won't evaporate the water as quickly as the direct conduction of a skillet. It also probably isn't as necessary for the oven, since roasting bacon is all about more even and gentle cooking. If you start it in a cold oven, the fat will have plenty of time to render out and get you super-crispy bacon. The water trick probably wouldn't hurt though!
How do you avoid the water popping in the pan? Every time I’ve had water in the pan with oil or fat, it begins to shoot out and spray/pop all over the place!
My dear mum would use water with onions to caramelise onions as a base for her curries. 20 years later, you’ve explained why. Thank you so much for this great video! It will improve my cooking no end!
This is the reason I love ATK. The recipes are great, but it's information like this that changes the way I approach cooking. I have been watching it for years, so it's also amazing watching Lan grow. She is now so comfortable in front of the camera.
An excellent explainer! Chinese potstickers and Japanese gyoza kinda work on this principle too, though their aims are a little different: if they just pan-fried on a dry wok, the skins would be charcoal by the time the filling's done. But when you add water, the steam will cook the fillings evenly, and the dry heat after the steam is gone will brown the bottoms to perfection.
That is also how I reheat anything that is supposed to be without notable water at the end. Heat up pan with a small amount of oil, throw everything in, when the pan is hot put in an adequate amount of water (only about maybe 10 ml per serving) on the sides of the pan, turn down heat to half, put on the lid. The water is there only for heat transfer, it carries the heat to the parts not touching the pan. Since the pan is hot it eveporates when you put it in and your food can't absorb it, so nothing gets soaked.
I carry this over by including some soy, sesame oil and vinegar to the water lid and set over low heat. By the time the water is gone and the 'stickers are cooked, they've let go of a bit of wheat starch which thickens the remaining liquid into a nice light glaze. No making of dipping sauce needed!
Gyoza is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word for jaozi. Both just refer to Chinese dumplings. For some reason, gyoza and potstickers are the english language words for them as if they are different even though theyre the same thing.
I tried steaming/boiling eggplant then saute /stir fry, not very good. The eggplant is filled with water and doesn't taste as flavorful . I haven't found a good recipe for eggplant without frying (steamed eggplant for a side dish is delicious but that's a totally different dish from what are talking about here). But there is a way to make it less greasy. 1. after washing and cutting up the eggplant, sprinkle some salt on the pieces evenly. 2. After about 15 minutes, add a couple of table spoons of flour. toss it to make sure every piece of eggplant is covered by flour. Now fry the eggplant. The flour would prevent the eggplant from soak up the oil while making the skin a little crispy. Now saute with other ingredients.
@@janegao5747 I would have thought that you can keep cooking to get all the water out, but then the eggplant would turn into leather. But I'm going to give it a try anyway to see how it goes for me. Experimenting in the kitchen is just fun, and I love eggplant.
@@janegao5747you can boil, cool / ice bath, then gently the SQUEEZE the excess water out with your hands (similar effect to squeezing extra water after salting the eggplant). Then pan fry to caramelize without excess oil.
Your deep understanding and practice of science and chemistry has "combed out" this old wives tale I had followed without questioning. Thank you. I take my hat off to you ...
She’s right. I’ve been using this technique on almost everything I need to brown. You use much less oil as the steam renders the oil. Once the water has evaporated, you’re able to use the meat fats for the browning. It’s much faster, less messy and way easier to control! Great tip!
@@Ethan_is_me it would work for dark meat cuts like thigh and leg as they are usually fattier. The goal is to render the fat and then use it to brown the meat on medium low. It's almost like reverse 'pot roasting'. Chicken breasts would dry out to quickly before browning happens.
Once I learned the technique of water browning for my mushrooms, it changed my life. I didn't know it would work for other foods. I can't wait to try it.
Same! I've been using the mushroom technique for a bit and love it, but I had no idea it would work for meat... I wonder if water could push sugar out of fruit (like pineapple) to brown that in the pan
My grandpa used to add water to the frying pan when making Italian sausage! I never asked him why but just started doing this on my own years ago. Now I see all the reasoning behind it and am impressed with not only grandpa from the past but with this whole compilation! Thank you
Adding water to pork is one way of ensuring the heat penetrates the dense ground meat. It can also aid in even cooking usually after the browning. But now knowing this I would try it before the browning. Love it!
An old timer did sausages over the campfire like this; put water in the pan, added some mixed herbs, and threw in the sausages. Very tasty and the sausages were always browned by the end of it all...(also once sausages were done and removed, the remainder could be made into a gravy)...
Here in Australia it's quite common to add beer to onions when on the BBQ. It not just adds the water to transfer heat but also adds more sugars to be caramelized.
I cant thank you enough for this video. I have had to cut down the added fats in my diet for health reasons and ive been struggling to know how to saute and give flavour to my dishes like I have in the past. What a blessing these techniques are thank you so much!!
My Mother cooked this way too. I’m 72, and my Mother has passed at 80 in 2003. She was a fabulous cook and baker. We are Italian and she cooked Italian sausage this way, pork chops, and more. It kept the food tender and flavorful. Miss you Ma, thanks for teaching me to cook. We are a cooking family for sure. Grateful and blessed ♥️♥️🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸
Here’s a tip I learned late in life lol. Ice water in your meatloaf makes it super tender. Works well for meatballs or anything ground . Measure depends how much-1/8th a cup for a pound. ICE COLD K? Water livens up all dishes, often just a tablespoon. Be careful, too much and meats get mushy. 🙏🏻🤔❤️
It is worth noting that adding salt initially helps extracting the liquid from onions faster (and possiblly breaking down cell structure for better interior browning), which is why adding water works well here. That's a basic thing to keep in mind when you are stir frying in a home cook setting using non-stick pans where adding salt too early can lead to watery results, which is not desirable in such case.
Either ATK or Cooks Country has at least one episode (maybe more) that discusses how important salt is in cooking..,sheesh, just about everything. And yes salt improves browning in dry pans, for meat, onions, it acts on food in more ways than just pulling water from it. Go LAN!
It's so great that there are long form explainers of techniques now. I find that learning how cooking works is better for me than learning recipes religiously. I think i can credit good eats and alton brown for starting this genre. And im glad other people i know that cook are also fans.
Great call. Alton Brown was probably the first explainer of the science of food and how that related to the best techniques to cook a specific ingredient or dish...
I love Lan Lam! The way she explains recipes & techniques…..I don’t know what it is, but I think if she had been my teacher in high school, I would have actually understood Algebra!!!! 😂❤❤
This is great stuff, and accessible for anyone who cooks. It just goes to reinforce the point that simple techniques and ingredients, applied at the right time, can make all the difference.
12:21 “When we started talking about this concept, I didn’t quite realize I’d get a meal out of it. This is great.” The video comes together at the end in a totally unexpected way, with three different “plot lines”-onions, mushrooms, and gravy-all wrapped up satisfyingly, as in a good novel.
@@StrangerToEarth Nah man, I like this guy and his impostor. Every Jeff W I meet makes my life that much better. And you can never take cooking too seriously.
I've been using water, a LITTLE bit of oil and butter (flavor), and a lid for cooking veggies for years, but I didn't know why. Thank you, Lan! Brilliant!
That technique is often used to make fresh or frozen pan fried dumplings. The water provides greater surface contact with the pan and helps to speed up the cooking, plus the trapped steam in the covered pan helps to cook the non contact part of the dumplings. Also method for breakfast sausage. Great idea to apply to cooking mushrooms!
omg, these are exactly the cooking lessons I need! I am not an intuitive cook -- I can't cook by feel -- I need to understand WHY different techniques produce different results. Only then can I start to understand cooking. I will be binging on ALL these videos! Thank you!
Wow! I’d done this for onions & mushrooms when I wanted to use less oil because I needed to lose weight but wanted to continue to eat food that had flavor. Worked like a charm. Lost 70 lbs. Also works for a quick sauté of veggies. Water steams veggies faster and oil adds flavor. Glad to see this. It’s a good one.
In school our chef always told us to start with water for browning. Love that this is being talked about more. It's makes so much more sense. Especially with mushrooms. The water helps get their water going. I always notice a huge difference when I eat mushrooms that were started with oil vs water
@@8cupsCoffee Don’t listen to bogus like this. Just dry them off really well and put them in a scorching hot pan. It will release water and will evaporate. Keep on cooking them until they get golden brown. Don’t know what culinary school he went too.
@@king_ltc_ It's because the mushrooms (and onions) initially don't touch the bottom of the pan much at all, they don't lie flat, so there's so much air blocking the heat flow into them from the pan, and air is a very good insulator. Adding water enables you to transfer the heat into the mushrooms or onions which enables them to rapidly reach boiling so they start to sweat down and produce their own water until they fully soften.
I started splashing my onions with water when I noticed fonde getting too dark with onions looking a little too firm and bright. The water deglazed and caused all the onions to spread out evenly on the bottom of the pan along with nicely distributing the brown back on to the onions. I repeated this over and over and found that I could have onion jam in under an hour.
I must admit that I don't use this method enough. But what I do use it for is potstickers. Some people like their potstickers just steamed. I like mine Brown and steamed, so what I do is I put them in the skillet and start them Browning and then pour in a little bit of water and put a lid on the skillet which Browns them further and steams them inside. Delish!
Lan Lam is a star: Every single video I've watched with her in it has taught me a technique I now use regularly in the kitchen or given me some further insight into something I didn't quite understand preciously. These are quick, poignant and efficient, thank you so much!
Thank you, for this episode that finally recognizes the power of steam in convection (cooking). I learned caramelizing onions from Stephane from French cooking academy who puts shallow water in the pan and a piece parchment on top to mimic the steaming process. This method clicked with me hard by connecting basic thermal dynamics with the prevalence of its application in Asian cooking was I able to begin appreciating and applying it into my day to day cooking. It’s not just a method/mechanism that helps make caramelized onions or crisp bacon but also for all other veggies, pot stickers, shallow steamed eggs (instead of boiling & wasting a whole pot of water) and even the browning of baguette, pide and other oven/pastry applications! It was once mentioned by Kenji that a lot of people don’t really understand how inefficient air (dry heat) is at thermal transfer such as in oven or grill and it was actually the vaporized water/steam that does the most cooking.
I learned more from this fantastic video than I have from most other cooking videos. Her explanations are clear and concise and easily remembered because of her delivery. Awesome!
I like this technique. Quite interesting. I must say, I do 5 pounds of onions in a heavily buttered Lodge Dutch oven, lid on and I always said to myself they are steaming first, then carmelizing once the lid is removed. Very similar end result... jammy.
I started adding water to onions some time ago, after I noticed that after an, ehm, emergency deglazing, the almost-burnt brown bits dissolved in the water and coated the onions almost uniformly. I'm going to try adding water from the start, this sounds like a great tip!
Lan ! I love this. I have done this but just because its a short cut. I thought I was cheating! It works with anything you need to collapse. I do it with eggplant. It keeps it from sucking up so much oil. They brown great. Thank you!!
And I have always been pressing down on the eggplants with a spatula to release juices, because I noticed that it helps the browning. I never understood why until now.
In the Western Cape in South Africa one of the defining cooking styles of the region is called Cape Malay (very interesting historical reading behind that for those who are interested). They use a lot of caramelized onions in their food and they taught me to use water to get it soft before finishing. Initially I was surprised but after following their advice I realized they were right. Glad to see you making a video about something so simple yet quite important and totally overlooked.
I heard about this technique for bacon, but I didn’t believe it because it wasn’t explained properly. Lan explained that you’re getting more sugars and amino acids into the pan faster and once the water boils off will lead to better browning. Brilliant! I’ll definitely try this with mushrooms and onions now too.
I live in France and have been cooking most of the day for years for my own pleasure and I am very surprised to discover Lan Lam just today. She is fantastic! Although I did not learn anything new, it took me YEARS to understand and develop myself what she explains here in a few minutes. This is GOLD!
Also if you're cooking a roast, cooking it covered is a good way to get it rendered/cooked, and uncover to brown toward the end. Once it is done you can remove the roast to rest, but leave the sauce/drippings in the pan uncovered for some good concentrated browniness of the veggies and such in it. Once you pull it out you can add a few more things and it's like a gravy/pan sauce thing that is heavenly. Bonus: when done, cut the roast up small and put it in with the gravy in a container. Reheat the next day and serve over rice or roast potatoes!
I've been adding water into the pan with my roasts (in the oven) for decades. The meat is way more tender. Someone selling sliced roast meats in a take away shop gave me that hint, when I asked how come their roasts were so tender. At home, once the roast is removed to relax, I used whatever is in the pan to make the gravy.
Lan does a great job on all her videos and I really enjoy watching and listening to her as she cooks. Very professional, yet still maintains some humor to keep you interested! I need to try this technique!
i LOVE this series, my new favourite food series on youtube. lan is a star and im obsessed with how clearly and engagingly she explains things! i cooked the best steak of my life using the technique from her earlier vid :) thank you for these!
I learned the "water sauté" method from oil-free vegan cooking blogs. While I don't use it for everything, I find it indispensable for mushrooms. My sister loves to cook, and she was pleasantly surprised at how well this method cooks mushrooms.
I don't know how long Lan Lam has been part of the ATK team but she is delightful to learn from, just like everyone else at ATK. She fits right in like she's been there forever. I like her.
Lam Lan is one of my favorites on cooking instruction. She cuts to the chase and explains the underlying principles which is a gift I can take with me and use.
Interesting. I found that for a video about sizzle, there wasn't very much...well, sizzle. I started this video last night and stopped it midway because I found the whole thing very flat and irritatingly boring. Hmmm.
Yes, yes, yes! Although being a simple housewife, I was always annoyed by these receipts, who declared that fried potatoes, sautéed or caramelized onions or browning meat can be done in five to ten minutes. My mother taught me cooking and she always said, that she cooks with love. And love here means time and attention. And even having a lot of routine, it still happens, that meals cooked in a hurry will taste inferior.
As a retired professional cook I learned another very useful method for carmelized onions: lightly coating them with oil toss them in a microwavable bowl and cook for 10 M then toss and repeat for a total of 3 times. As I have always struggled for space on a stove top I can them add these straight to the soup pot and finish off French Onion Soup in a fraction of the time with excellent results. Maybe you can use this.
I recently started adding water to the pan with diced guanciale for carbonara. It draws out the fat which can be used for the sauce without any burning, you can then brown the pieces evenly making them really crispy but tender on the inside.
i've been a gravy snob for decades and always make my own homemade broth and gravy starting with browning but you have taught me something new that will make it even better! thank you!
I've been doing something similar to this with onions for years. I start the same way - add some water, bring to boil, cover and wait until tender. Then I remove the cover and up the heat a little to start evaporating the water, while stirring the onions. When the water is mostly gone, I add a quarter to half a cup of either dry sherry or Drambuie (adding sugars basically). I raise the heat some more and quickly continue to sauté until the alcohol is gone and the onions are a glazed, golden brown.
Nope. You can if you want to (maybe a couple of pats of butter). I do something similar with pears and Chambord. Peel and chop the pears. Cook in a little water until lightly tender, add a couple of shots of Chambord, raise the heat a bit and stir until the Chambord becomes a syrup coating the chunks of pears
I always boil aubergines for a bit to prevent them soaking up too much oiul white frying. Probably same principle. Very interesting and so well explained.
My Mother did too, she passed in 2003, was a great cook and baker too, all self taught. She was taught by her Mother too . This technique isn’t new, but nice to be taught, with the technique being scientifically explained. My Grandmother and Mother, just cooked that way. My family had a restaurant too, still running today. ♥️♥️🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸
Same here. Even when I don't want to particularly brown, but just add a bit of colour, I find that little water gets them softened, still with a bit of bite ( I have difficulty digesting raw) and once the water evaporates, the oil in there will allow the level of brown the recipe demands.
Same with frying onions for curry or any sauce, if they start to stick I put a bit of water in and scrub the stuck bit off with the spoon, the onions get nice and soft and golden without too much oil plus any stuck onion on the pan gets spices stuck to it and it burns
Very interesting! I especially like the discussion of mushrooms, as I've been confused how to get them to brown well without turning oily, due to their absorbent, spongy nature. I love when something that seems counterintuitive really works and gives you a whole new angle for how to think about something. Awesome video!!
I cook mushrooms dry. If she’s comparing cooking tons of oil with mushrooms vs water, I can see water being better, but we prefer dry heat (can press mushrooms into pan with spatula or other pan if want) until they sweat then can add aromatic fat for flavor…. But seems like many methods will work 🤷🏽♀️
What a great technique. I've been frustrated countless times while browning mushrooms, and burning meat juices and at the same time not searing the meat well. This is going to be a game changer! I caramelize onions by Kenji's The Food Lab recipe, which says to dump a bunch of them into a heavy cast iron pot with a lid and crank the heat to high to let them wilt and release juices quickly. It's been working great, but maybe adding some water to make the wilting even easier will work better still.
I follow other cooking channels as well but the way how Lan explains everything makes so much sense. Getting they why part helps me remember the technique. Thank you so much
I love science-based cooking. I like to understand what's techniquely happening! In answer to the question, I've used this method of browning with water for cooking breakfast sausages and for pork chops. They form a lovely glaze which can be transformed into the most flavorful gravies.
The Chinese pot-stickers, the dumplings are seared with oil over high heat at the beginning, add some water into the hot pan and put the cover on so the top of the dumplings are being steamed while their bottom are heated directly on the pan, when all the water is evaporated, the bottom of the dumplings becomes perfectly browned and crispy. Of course, even no water is being added, the dumplings could still cooked to proper doness for serving, but the texture of the crispy surface is totally different. In fact, some people would do pretty much the same thing with pork stuffed buns.
...funny! i do it with aubergines and everyone laughed at me at first, but were surprised that they were cooked properly but not oily. excellent video👍
Really interesting and useful. I cook mushrooms often, and I haven't been browning onions because of the time required. I'll cook both using these tips.
Hey, LAN! That was great! Nice job. Very informative and really mind blowing to shatter all our previous concepts of water ruining browning. I learned a long time ago to sauté mushrooms in 1 T of EVOO and 1T of butter. Can’t wait to try your method.
This is a really interesting idea -- thank you! Here's my understanding of why this method works: (1) water more evenly distributes the heat to everything in the pan, rather than just the bottom layer making direct contact with it; (2) that even distribution (because water is a liquid and also an excellent conductor of heat) allows the onions (etc.) to heat through quickly and evenly, denaturing proteins and causing them to rapidly give off their own liquid; (3) once all of the veg's liquid has been released, you can boil off both the original water and the released water, and then the things in the pan will be dry and ready to brown quickly. Once again, so much of cooking comes down to water being an excellent conductor of heat and having a very high specific heat...
Yeah it's definitely just that water helps the heat contact all surfaces of the food without burning. I don't understand the "flavor is in the liquid" part -- the food is the flavor lol. Then, by the time the food is cooked, the water will have evaporated ready for browning like you said.
@@adamlawrence487 The food is not the flavor, the flavor is the compounds IN the food, some of which are water soluble and some are fat soluble. So if you boil food in some water, it’s water soluble flavors are now in that water. If you then boil off that water though, the flavors condense and can coat the food again. Sugars are one example of a water soluble flavor compound.
Last year I had a really rough time with gastritis and duodenitis and had to cut almost all fat. I had no idea how to sautée vegetables and mushrooms and I figured out water stir-frying through trial and error but I wish I had watched this masterclass of water cooking before. Brilliant material!
The people of Malay descent in Cape Town have used this technique all along. They brown their food slowly for 30 to 45 minutes, adding a little hot water every few minutes. I learned from them to do the same.
Lam is the BEST teach when it comes to cooking !! Very knowledgeable & precise instructions !! NO hype or fluff !! Just pure incredible results !! I could watch & learn from her all day !!
At last.......validation! Growing up, our mother was a chef so we were all instilled with a love for cooking. I, being a retired Dr have always thought of the kitchen a little differently than most people. To me, the kitchen is my laboratory and the ingredients therein are my reagents. I have always viewed cooking as a science, but have not found many people who approached it in the same way. That is, until today. Creating great food is not a matter of luck, it is a discipline that requires a deep understanding of science. Trained chefs know this. This is what they teach in places like the CIA. This knowledge is what separates them from everyday "good cooks." I have never seen anyone on the internet open a window to this knowledge like Lan Lam. Maybe Alton Brown? Knowledge is not knowing how to do something, it is knowing why you do it! This is the most refreshing series of videos I have ever seen. Thank You Lan.
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OMG. This lady knows absolutely everything. Like, I just watched her microwave video, and now I'm stuck in a rabbit hole that is changing everything I've ever been taught about cooking.
"Water is the enemy of browning" has been drilled into my head so much that this feels like an earth shattering revelation
It is IF you put in too much so it doesn't evaporate...it must evaporate in order for the browning to happen
Same, except--I always wonder why my chicken is so much crispier/browner when I do add a little water. 😅
Another missing point is the surface area of the pan. You can brown onions in 10min of they are spread jn a thin layer.
Do not add waterr. That is catastrophic, mixed with grease with grease. Uaually a fire.
Not really. I have cooked for decades, longer than her. All I use, is salted buttet. Perfect results. Every time. I don't add water, for example, to brown steaks. If that's the way she likes it? Good for her. I am not convinced. When I roast vegetables for salsa, I do not use water. Another good example. All these already have moisture. Would you add water to fried potatoes? No way. My wife has a problem turning them to soon. It really takes good timing skill. Would you add water, to make french fries? Not at all. Baked or fried. I surely wouldn't add water to bacon, cooking in an iron skillet. As a once professional cook, I don't advise her adding water. Just takes longer, to cook off. Oh, browning any meat? Never add water.
I guess I've found out why I like this lady now: She is to the point and precise. No word-salads or non-sense babblings; just pure, useful knowledge. Thank you.
thank u for saying word salad, stealing that haha
I tried it and it worked. Not too much water.
Al brought in a pleasant, calm manner.
She is very pleasant to see, too. It's a minor thing next to the rest, but it helps
For anyone wondering, add a splash of water to your pan when you start cooking your bacon, it’ll help the fat render more evenly which means flatter and therefore more evenly-crisped bacon! Cheers 🥓
can you do this with bacon in the oven?
@@MS-oy4vo I'd imagine so, but I'd use less since the radiative/convective heat of the oven won't evaporate the water as quickly as the direct conduction of a skillet.
It also probably isn't as necessary for the oven, since roasting bacon is all about more even and gentle cooking. If you start it in a cold oven, the fat will have plenty of time to render out and get you super-crispy bacon. The water trick probably wouldn't hurt though!
Yes, I was definitely wondering about bacon. So thank you for your informative comment,
@@MS-oy4vo I never done this but for oven, you could try spray bottle to cover bacon in droplets. Seems like only sensible way to try this.
How do you avoid the water popping in the pan? Every time I’ve had water in the pan with oil or fat, it begins to shoot out and spray/pop all over the place!
My dear mum would use water with onions to caramelise onions as a base for her curries. 20 years later, you’ve explained why. Thank you so much for this great video! It will improve my cooking no end!
SIR! BOBS N VAGINE DESI
@@ericcartmann your mom regrets having you
@@ericcartmann unbelievable levels of cringe
Every Indian I know browns food with water. I think everyone in the Caribbean browns food with water.
That onion thing she did is something every old lady does.
I could watch an entire channel with just Lan. She's so informational and easy to listen to
I can detect astroturfing a mile away
100%. "On-camera" isn't a skill that chefs usually cultivate.
Omg yes!
Absolutely agree and this is the first video of hers I've seen.
@@styleisaweapon where are you seeing evidence of astroturfing on a cooking channel? a cooking channel with a scientific approach nonetheless
This is the reason I love ATK. The recipes are great, but it's information like this that changes the way I approach cooking. I have been watching it for years, so it's also amazing watching Lan grow. She is now so comfortable in front of the camera.
Big agree, Lan is the best.
Everything that you said is so true for me tooooo...
100%
@@masterchief7301 Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
@@gastropod557 dammit! you beat me to it lol
An excellent explainer! Chinese potstickers and Japanese gyoza kinda work on this principle too, though their aims are a little different: if they just pan-fried on a dry wok, the skins would be charcoal by the time the filling's done. But when you add water, the steam will cook the fillings evenly, and the dry heat after the steam is gone will brown the bottoms to perfection.
thank you !
I’ve done this with pierogies also. I like the brown crunchy bits along with the soft steamed filling. Not traditional but tastes really good.
That is also how I reheat anything that is supposed to be without notable water at the end. Heat up pan with a small amount of oil, throw everything in, when the pan is hot put in an adequate amount of water (only about maybe 10 ml per serving) on the sides of the pan, turn down heat to half, put on the lid. The water is there only for heat transfer, it carries the heat to the parts not touching the pan. Since the pan is hot it eveporates when you put it in and your food can't absorb it, so nothing gets soaked.
I carry this over by including some soy, sesame oil and vinegar to the water lid and set over low heat. By the time the water is gone and the 'stickers are cooked, they've let go of a bit of wheat starch which thickens the remaining liquid into a nice light glaze. No making of dipping sauce needed!
Gyoza is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word for jaozi. Both just refer to Chinese dumplings. For some reason, gyoza and potstickers are the english language words for them as if they are different even though theyre the same thing.
I've started doing this for eggplant too. Makes for good caramelisation without having to drench them in cooking fat.
Oh thank you, I'm going to try that 🤗 (I love eggplant, and it always seems to need too much fat or oil !)
I tried steaming/boiling eggplant then saute /stir fry, not very good. The eggplant is filled with water and doesn't taste as flavorful . I haven't found a good recipe for eggplant without frying (steamed eggplant for a side dish is delicious but that's a totally different dish from what are talking about here). But there is a way to make it less greasy. 1. after washing and cutting up the eggplant, sprinkle some salt on the pieces evenly. 2. After about 15 minutes, add a couple of table spoons of flour. toss it to make sure every piece of eggplant is covered by flour. Now fry the eggplant. The flour would prevent the eggplant from soak up the oil while making the skin a little crispy. Now saute with other ingredients.
@@janegao5747 I would have thought that you can keep cooking to get all the water out, but then the eggplant would turn into leather. But I'm going to give it a try anyway to see how it goes for me. Experimenting in the kitchen is just fun, and I love eggplant.
@@janegao5747you can boil, cool / ice bath, then gently the SQUEEZE the excess water out with your hands (similar effect to squeezing extra water after salting the eggplant). Then pan fry to caramelize without excess oil.
When science & culinary meet. This was the best straightforward comprehensive presentation I’ve ever seen.
The way Lan Lam talks is so consistently comforting. ATK and Cook's Illustrated have a great cast, so I'm not putting anyone else down.
You're secretly putting them all down.
@@Pat315 Not really. There are plenty of other positive qualities a person can posses besides being comforting.
I agree with that. She's an insightful, pleasant, mature adult. A rare personality these days.
Your deep understanding and practice of science and chemistry has "combed out" this old wives tale I had followed without questioning.
Thank you. I take my hat off to you ...
Lan is so good at explaining without overcomplicating things.
..and she looks good when she’s explaining things.
Lan Lam is clearly a food scientist. Very educational and shatters common cooking techniques. Thank you!
She’s right. I’ve been using this technique on almost everything I need to brown. You use much less oil as the steam renders the oil. Once the water has evaporated, you’re able to use the meat fats for the browning.
It’s much faster, less messy and way easier to control!
Great tip!
no cleaning the stubborn splatter screen either. Not to mention the stove top.
Does this work for pan frying chicken too?
@@Ethan_is_me it would work for dark meat cuts like thigh and leg as they are usually fattier. The goal is to render the fat and then use it to brown the meat on medium low. It's almost like reverse 'pot roasting'. Chicken breasts would dry out to quickly before browning happens.
@@nkulusn thank you. I'll definitely try this out. Does sound better than using a ton of oil to get fond.
Once I learned the technique of water browning for my mushrooms, it changed my life. I didn't know it would work for other foods. I can't wait to try it.
I learned it with onions. Had no idea it would be the same for meat.
Same! I've been using the mushroom technique for a bit and love it, but I had no idea it would work for meat... I wonder if water could push sugar out of fruit (like pineapple) to brown that in the pan
How you brown the mushrooms?
@@clarafierro6921 Watch the video again!
My grandpa used to add water to the frying pan when making Italian sausage! I never asked him why but just started doing this on my own years ago. Now I see all the reasoning behind it and am impressed with not only grandpa from the past but with this whole compilation! Thank you
Adding water to pork is one way of ensuring the heat penetrates the dense ground meat. It can also aid in even cooking usually after the browning. But now knowing this I would try it before the browning. Love it!
Believe it or not, those are the instructions on sausage packaging.
That is a different reason, not for browning but for cooking the sausage. It’ll brown quickly regardless on outside
An old timer did sausages over the campfire like this; put water in the pan, added some mixed herbs, and threw in the sausages. Very tasty and the sausages were always browned by the end of it all...(also once sausages were done and removed, the remainder could be made into a gravy)...
Here in Australia it's quite common to add beer to onions when on the BBQ. It not just adds the water to transfer heat but also adds more sugars to be caramelized.
YOU WASTE good beer ? how bloody dare you ? to the VB dungeon you go !!😊
Bareego
Great idea. Good on ya mate!
And more amino acids - lots of proteins in beer.
Common German to American style of beer brats. I actually made them with a mess of onions tonight, so now I know the science.
That's because Aussies are alcoholics😂
12:03 loved how she said "this gravy is out of control" in the most controlled way 💜
I cant thank you enough for this video. I have had to cut down the added fats in my diet for health reasons and ive been struggling to know how to saute and give flavour to my dishes like I have in the past. What a blessing these techniques are thank you so much!!
You've been lied to if you have been told fat is bad for you.
My Mother cooked this way too. I’m 72, and my Mother has passed at 80 in 2003. She was a fabulous cook and baker. We are Italian and she cooked Italian sausage this way, pork chops, and more. It kept the food tender and flavorful. Miss you Ma, thanks for teaching me to cook. We are a cooking family for sure. Grateful and blessed ♥️♥️🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸
Here’s a tip I learned late in life lol. Ice water in your meatloaf makes it super tender. Works well for meatballs or anything ground . Measure depends how much-1/8th a cup for a pound. ICE COLD K? Water livens up all dishes, often just a tablespoon. Be careful, too much and meats get mushy. 🙏🏻🤔❤️
It is worth noting that adding salt initially helps extracting the liquid from onions faster (and possiblly breaking down cell structure for better interior browning), which is why adding water works well here. That's a basic thing to keep in mind when you are stir frying in a home cook setting using non-stick pans where adding salt too early can lead to watery results, which is not desirable in such case.
So I add salt and water? Or you replace salt with water?
@@ghrayo I'm just explaining what she did in the video. Of course you still need water otherwise your onion would burn.
Really useful to know!
Either ATK or Cooks Country has at least one episode (maybe more) that discusses how important salt is in cooking..,sheesh, just about everything. And yes salt improves browning in dry pans, for meat, onions, it acts on food in more ways than just pulling water from it. Go LAN!
It's so great that there are long form explainers of techniques now. I find that learning how cooking works is better for me than learning recipes religiously.
I think i can credit good eats and alton brown for starting this genre. And im glad other people i know that cook are also fans.
Great call. Alton Brown was probably the first explainer of the science of food and how that related to the best techniques to cook a specific ingredient or dish...
@Michael Kettering That's how I really learned to cook too. Some of my techniques that I learned from Good Eats I still use to this day.
Fun fact, Alton Brown didn't even know how to cook when he started Good Eats. Movie magic folks. Everything you know is a lie.
Dear Lan, you are a great representative for ATK! Love your chemistry background and how it makes you define cooking terms with so much logic!
Natural born teacher!
I love Lan Lam!
The way she explains recipes & techniques…..I don’t know what it is, but I think if she had been my teacher in high school, I would have actually understood Algebra!!!! 😂❤❤
This is great stuff, and accessible for anyone who cooks. It just goes to reinforce the point that simple techniques and ingredients, applied at the right time, can make all the difference.
Cooking don't have to be science, but it can every well be explained by it ^^
I agree with your assessment 👍
The science of cooking--Alton Brown would love this. How does the water work for cooking bacon?
12:21 “When we started talking about this concept, I didn’t quite realize I’d get a meal out of it. This is great.”
The video comes together at the end in a totally unexpected way, with three different “plot lines”-onions, mushrooms, and gravy-all wrapped up satisfyingly, as in a good novel.
👉👉 Dominion (2018)
First time I’ve seen another Jeff W on TH-cam 👍😄
@@jeffw8218 Haha, me, too! Who's the impostor? 🤔😉
Jesus, chill out, it's a cooking video
@@StrangerToEarth Nah man, I like this guy and his impostor. Every Jeff W I meet makes my life that much better. And you can never take cooking too seriously.
I've been using water, a LITTLE bit of oil and butter (flavor), and a lid for cooking veggies for years, but I didn't know why. Thank you, Lan! Brilliant!
You know why. Because it works. Lol. Just had to. I knew what you meant. Makes sense.
@@donnalawrence8593 Indeed it does, Donna! Isn't Lan just GREAT?
That technique is often used to make fresh or frozen pan fried dumplings. The water provides greater surface contact with the pan and helps to speed up the cooking, plus the trapped steam in the covered pan helps to cook the non contact part of the dumplings. Also method for breakfast sausage. Great idea to apply to cooking mushrooms!
omg, these are exactly the cooking lessons I need! I am not an intuitive cook -- I can't cook by feel -- I need to understand WHY different techniques produce different results. Only then can I start to understand cooking. I will be binging on ALL these videos! Thank you!
Wow! I’d done this for onions & mushrooms when I wanted to use less oil because I needed to lose weight but wanted to continue to eat food that had flavor. Worked like a charm. Lost 70 lbs.
Also works for a quick sauté of veggies. Water steams veggies faster and oil adds flavor.
Glad to see this. It’s a good one.
In school our chef always told us to start with water for browning. Love that this is being talked about more. It's makes so much more sense. Especially with mushrooms. The water helps get their water going. I always notice a huge difference when I eat mushrooms that were started with oil vs water
That makes no sense at all. Adding more water to get rid of the water? Yeah, will stick to drying those suckers up in the pan any day of the week.
So weird I was always told to keep water away from mushrooms! I didn't go to school. Looks like everything needs to be reevaluated.
@@8cupsCoffee Don’t listen to bogus like this. Just dry them off really well and put them in a scorching hot pan. It will release water and will evaporate. Keep on cooking them until they get golden brown. Don’t know what culinary school he went too.
@@king_ltc_ It's because the mushrooms (and onions) initially don't touch the bottom of the pan much at all, they don't lie flat, so there's so much air blocking the heat flow into them from the pan, and air is a very good insulator. Adding water enables you to transfer the heat into the mushrooms or onions which enables them to rapidly reach boiling so they start to sweat down and produce their own water until they fully soften.
I started splashing my onions with water when I noticed fonde getting too dark with onions looking a little too firm and bright. The water deglazed and caused all the onions to spread out evenly on the bottom of the pan along with nicely distributing the brown back on to the onions. I repeated this over and over and found that I could have onion jam in under an hour.
I must admit that I don't use this method enough. But what I do use it for is potstickers. Some people like their potstickers just steamed. I like mine Brown and steamed, so what I do is I put them in the skillet and start them Browning and then pour in a little bit of water and put a lid on the skillet which Browns them further and steams them inside. Delish!
that's how I do it, too... and now you've made me hungry for potstickers!
@@MissAdventurzzz that's okay, I made myself hungry for them too! Haha
Lan Lam is a star:
Every single video I've watched with her in it has taught me a technique I now use regularly in the kitchen or given me some further insight into something I didn't quite understand preciously.
These are quick, poignant and efficient, thank you so much!
Thank you, for this episode that finally recognizes the power of steam in convection (cooking). I learned caramelizing onions from Stephane from French cooking academy who puts shallow water in the pan and a piece parchment on top to mimic the steaming process. This method clicked with me hard by connecting basic thermal dynamics with the prevalence of its application in Asian cooking was I able to begin appreciating and applying it into my day to day cooking. It’s not just a method/mechanism that helps make caramelized onions or crisp bacon but also for all other veggies, pot stickers, shallow steamed eggs (instead of boiling & wasting a whole pot of water) and even the browning of baguette, pide and other oven/pastry applications! It was once mentioned by Kenji that a lot of people don’t really understand how inefficient air (dry heat) is at thermal transfer such as in oven or grill and it was actually the vaporized water/steam that does the most cooking.
I learned more from this fantastic video than I have from most other cooking videos. Her explanations are clear and concise and easily remembered because of her delivery. Awesome!
I want Lan to present every single recipe to me from now on! She is such a pleasure to listen to!
My favorite teacher
(after Jacques Pepin of course) !
ATK at its absolute best. Counter-intuitive yet extremely useful ideas explained in an accessible way. Lan has been killing it lately!
Lan is excellent at explaining the processes, as well as demonstrating the techniques.
This TH-cam video is pure genius and science. Thank you!
I like this technique. Quite interesting. I must say, I do 5 pounds of onions in a heavily buttered Lodge Dutch oven, lid on and I always said to myself they are steaming first, then carmelizing once the lid is removed. Very similar end result... jammy.
Butter for the win! Forget oil!
I started adding water to onions some time ago, after I noticed that after an, ehm, emergency deglazing, the almost-burnt brown bits dissolved in the water and coated the onions almost uniformly. I'm going to try adding water from the start, this sounds like a great tip!
I noticed the same when adding white wine mid way through caramelizing it seemed to speed it up
Lan ! I love this. I have done this but just because its a short cut. I thought I was cheating! It works with anything you need to collapse. I do it with eggplant. It keeps it from sucking up so much oil. They brown great. Thank you!!
And I have always been pressing down on the eggplants with a spatula to release juices, because I noticed that it helps the browning. I never understood why until now.
I love the idea to do it with eggplant! I'm gonna try it. I recommend potatoes
In the Western Cape in South Africa one of the defining cooking styles of the region is called Cape Malay (very interesting historical reading behind that for those who are interested). They use a lot of caramelized onions in their food and they taught me to use water to get it soft before finishing. Initially I was surprised but after following their advice I realized they were right. Glad to see you making a video about something so simple yet quite important and totally overlooked.
She is my favorite part of America's test Kitchen at the moment. So much cleverness.
I love this slightly advanced basic technice, you can transfer to so much other stuff and teaches real cooking, not just a specific recipe
Yes I LOVE Lan! Her voice is amazing! Reassuringly friendly with that distinctly confident cadence! Hypnotic! That’s it! 😊
I heard about this technique for bacon, but I didn’t believe it because it wasn’t explained properly. Lan explained that you’re getting more sugars and amino acids into the pan faster and once the water boils off will lead to better browning. Brilliant! I’ll definitely try this with mushrooms and onions now too.
I live in France and have been cooking most of the day for years for my own pleasure and I am very surprised to discover Lan Lam just today. She is fantastic! Although I did not learn anything new, it took me YEARS to understand and develop myself what she explains here in a few minutes. This is GOLD!
Also if you're cooking a roast, cooking it covered is a good way to get it rendered/cooked, and uncover to brown toward the end. Once it is done you can remove the roast to rest, but leave the sauce/drippings in the pan uncovered for some good concentrated browniness of the veggies and such in it. Once you pull it out you can add a few more things and it's like a gravy/pan sauce thing that is heavenly.
Bonus: when done, cut the roast up small and put it in with the gravy in a container. Reheat the next day and serve over rice or roast potatoes!
Or cut meat up, warm in barbeque sauce and make barbequed beef sandwiches
What kind of roast are we talking about here, like an English Sunday roast?
I've been adding water into the pan with my roasts (in the oven) for decades. The meat is way more tender. Someone selling sliced roast meats in a take away shop gave me that hint, when I asked how come their roasts were so tender. At home, once the roast is removed to relax, I used whatever is in the pan to make the gravy.
Lan does a great job on all her videos and I really enjoy watching and listening to her as she cooks. Very professional, yet still maintains some humor to keep you interested! I need to try this technique!
i LOVE this series, my new favourite food series on youtube. lan is a star and im obsessed with how clearly and engagingly she explains things! i cooked the best steak of my life using the technique from her earlier vid :) thank you for these!
I learned the "water sauté" method from oil-free vegan cooking blogs. While I don't use it for everything, I find it indispensable for mushrooms. My sister loves to cook, and she was pleasantly surprised at how well this method cooks mushrooms.
I really love the way she describes everything. It's like I'm getting knowledge and a hug 😊
I don't know how long Lan Lam has been part of the ATK team but she is delightful to learn from, just like everyone else at ATK. She fits right in like she's been there forever. I like her.
Lam Lan is one of my favorites on cooking instruction. She cuts to the chase and explains the underlying principles which is a gift I can take with me and use.
Lan is one of those cooks you could watch all day long. Brilliant, no nonsense. Very enjoyable.
Interesting. I found that for a video about sizzle, there wasn't very much...well, sizzle. I started this video last night and stopped it midway because I found the whole thing very flat and irritatingly boring. Hmmm.
Really glad I found this cooking science channel. Lan Lam has a good presentation style, authoritive, informative and confident.
I love your techniques Lan Lam. I learn more from your techniques than I have learned in 50 years.
Yes, yes, yes! Although being a simple housewife, I was always annoyed by these receipts, who declared that fried potatoes, sautéed or caramelized onions or browning meat can be done in five to ten minutes. My mother taught me cooking and she always said, that she cooks with love. And love here means time and attention. And even having a lot of routine, it still happens, that meals cooked in a hurry will taste inferior.
Martha Steward recipe: Fry onions 5 minutes until caramelized
Me: Caramelized means black, right?
As a retired professional cook I learned another very useful method for carmelized onions: lightly coating them with oil toss them in a microwavable bowl and cook for 10 M then toss and repeat for a total of 3 times. As I have always struggled for space on a stove top I can them add these straight to the soup pot and finish off French Onion Soup in a fraction of the time with excellent results. Maybe you can use this.
@@donaldwarriner1640 Interesting...
There is nothing 'simple' about being a housewife!
That is a full time job.
@@ejimbru being a housewife is simple youre just exaggerating
Love it, I have been adding water for years to brown and to use less fat. I didn't know why it worked like Lan lam explains so well. Thank you.
I recently started adding water to the pan with diced guanciale for carbonara. It draws out the fat which can be used for the sauce without any burning, you can then brown the pieces evenly making them really crispy but tender on the inside.
I like that the science is included in the recipes to makes sense of this technique for us who have been taught other methods.
Lan has some of the best no-nonsense delivery on cooking knowledge and skills.
i've been a gravy snob for decades and always make my own homemade broth and gravy starting with browning but you have taught me something new that will make it even better! thank you!
Do you use water or chicken broth for browning the chicken?
This is such a fascinating series. A great addition. I just love Lan!!
me to
Me too
Me too
👉👉 Dominion (2018)
A hour n 15 minutes to carmalize onions ?
I've been doing something similar to this with onions for years. I start the same way - add some water, bring to boil, cover and wait until tender. Then I remove the cover and up the heat a little to start evaporating the water, while stirring the onions. When the water is mostly gone, I add a quarter to half a cup of either dry sherry or Drambuie (adding sugars basically). I raise the heat some more and quickly continue to sauté until the alcohol is gone and the onions are a glazed, golden brown.
No oil ou butter in the final stages?
Nope. You can if you want to (maybe a couple of pats of butter).
I do something similar with pears and Chambord. Peel and chop the pears. Cook in a little water until lightly tender, add a couple of shots of Chambord, raise the heat a bit and stir until the Chambord becomes a syrup coating the chunks of pears
Sounds delicious. I like the no oil approach.
I always boil aubergines for a bit to prevent them soaking up too much oiul white frying. Probably same principle. Very interesting and so well explained.
Love it! The explanation makes me realize where I made mistakes while cooking and why. It is presented clearly, and in a charming manner.
I've been doing this intuitively for a long time, no one ever taught it to me, but glad to see my techniques validated here lol
My Mother did too, she passed in 2003, was a great cook and baker too, all self taught. She was taught by her Mother too . This technique isn’t new, but nice to be taught, with the technique being scientifically explained. My Grandmother and Mother, just cooked that way. My family had a restaurant too, still running today. ♥️♥️🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸
Same here.
Even when I don't want to particularly brown, but just add a bit of colour, I find that little water gets them softened, still with a bit of bite ( I have difficulty digesting raw) and once the water evaporates, the oil in there will allow the level of brown the recipe demands.
Same with frying onions for curry or any sauce, if they start to stick I put a bit of water in and scrub the stuck bit off with the spoon, the onions get nice and soft and golden without too much oil plus any stuck onion on the pan gets spices stuck to it and it burns
Very interesting! I especially like the discussion of mushrooms, as I've been confused how to get them to brown well without turning oily, due to their absorbent, spongy nature. I love when something that seems counterintuitive really works and gives you a whole new angle for how to think about something. Awesome video!!
I cook mushrooms dry. If she’s comparing cooking tons of oil with mushrooms vs water, I can see water being better, but we prefer dry heat (can press mushrooms into pan with spatula or other pan if want) until they sweat then can add aromatic fat for flavor….
But seems like many methods will work 🤷🏽♀️
What a great technique. I've been frustrated countless times while browning mushrooms, and burning meat juices and at the same time not searing the meat well. This is going to be a game changer! I caramelize onions by Kenji's The Food Lab recipe, which says to dump a bunch of them into a heavy cast iron pot with a lid and crank the heat to high to let them wilt and release juices quickly. It's been working great, but maybe adding some water to make the wilting even easier will work better still.
Lan is such a great Teacher. I love how she explains things.
I follow other cooking channels as well but the way how Lan explains everything makes so much sense. Getting they why part helps me remember the technique. Thank you so much
Such a great series. Clearly the host is a great chef by creating the recipes, and teaching the “why” of how it works.
I love science-based cooking. I like to understand what's techniquely happening!
In answer to the question, I've used this method of browning with water for cooking breakfast sausages and for pork chops. They form a lovely glaze which can be transformed into the most flavorful gravies.
Lan is really hitting these videos out of the park! Keep ‘em coming ATK!
Lessons in Chemistry! This is the most informative cooking channel I’ve yet seen, and I watch a lot of them! Thanks a lot.
The Chinese pot-stickers, the dumplings are seared with oil over high heat at the beginning, add some water into the hot pan and put the cover on so the top of the dumplings are being steamed while their bottom are heated directly on the pan, when all the water is evaporated, the bottom of the dumplings becomes perfectly browned and crispy.
Of course, even no water is being added, the dumplings could still cooked to proper doness for serving, but the texture of the crispy surface is totally different. In fact, some people would do pretty much the same thing with pork stuffed buns.
I love getting this kind of information in order to make me a better cook! Well done Lan! I always love watching you share your tips.
I usually am impatient when preparing my gravy. This is solid information I can use to speed up the process. Thanks, Lan.
I can never get my gravy thick enough. Please someone, tell me the secret. Flour or cornstarch?
I absolutely love everyone on Test Kitchen, but Lan is one of my hands-down favorites.
...funny! i do it with aubergines and everyone laughed at me at first, but were surprised that they were cooked properly but not oily. excellent video👍
I love the way she explains everything so simply!
Really interesting and useful. I cook mushrooms often, and I haven't been browning onions because of the time required. I'll cook both using these tips.
Hey, LAN! That was great! Nice job. Very informative and really mind blowing to shatter all our previous concepts of water ruining browning. I learned a long time ago to sauté mushrooms in 1 T of EVOO and 1T of butter. Can’t wait to try your method.
Great video! Lan does a great job explaining and demonstrating the technique.
She is pure business, no beating around, I've tried it and it works like a charm.
I've tried this method and it really works. I wish I'd known sbout it years ago..😊
Love Lan's style and personality, not to mention the great techniques she teaches!
I'd like to see Lan and Dan work together.
This is a really interesting idea -- thank you! Here's my understanding of why this method works: (1) water more evenly distributes the heat to everything in the pan, rather than just the bottom layer making direct contact with it; (2) that even distribution (because water is a liquid and also an excellent conductor of heat) allows the onions (etc.) to heat through quickly and evenly, denaturing proteins and causing them to rapidly give off their own liquid; (3) once all of the veg's liquid has been released, you can boil off both the original water and the released water, and then the things in the pan will be dry and ready to brown quickly.
Once again, so much of cooking comes down to water being an excellent conductor of heat and having a very high specific heat...
Yeah it's definitely just that water helps the heat contact all surfaces of the food without burning. I don't understand the "flavor is in the liquid" part -- the food is the flavor lol. Then, by the time the food is cooked, the water will have evaporated ready for browning like you said.
@@adamlawrence487 The food is not the flavor, the flavor is the compounds IN the food, some of which are water soluble and some are fat soluble. So if you boil food in some water, it’s water soluble flavors are now in that water. If you then boil off that water though, the flavors condense and can coat the food again. Sugars are one example of a water soluble flavor compound.
Lan and Lisa have a special talent and it shows. Great descriptions and explanations that are helpful and easy to watch
Two of my favorites!
Last year I had a really rough time with gastritis and duodenitis and had to cut almost all fat. I had no idea how to sautée vegetables and mushrooms and I figured out water stir-frying through trial and error but I wish I had watched this masterclass of water cooking before. Brilliant material!
The people of Malay descent in Cape Town have used this technique all along. They brown their food slowly for 30 to 45 minutes, adding a little hot water every few minutes. I learned from them to do the same.
I have never learned so much about cooking basic foods in such a short amount of time. Good stuff !
Fascinating stuff. Thank you Lan. I’m gonna have to try this.
I love this series. It’s educational and entertaining.
This is what I'm here for. You guys own technique-based content for me.
Lam is the BEST teach when it comes to cooking !! Very knowledgeable & precise instructions !! NO hype or fluff !! Just pure incredible results !! I could watch & learn from her all day !!
At last.......validation! Growing up, our mother was a chef so we were all instilled with a love for cooking. I, being a retired Dr have always thought of the kitchen a little differently than most people. To me, the kitchen is my laboratory and the ingredients therein are my reagents. I have always viewed cooking as a science, but have not found many people who approached it in the same way. That is, until today. Creating great food is not a matter of luck, it is a discipline that requires a deep understanding of science. Trained chefs know this. This is what they teach in places like the CIA. This knowledge is what separates them from everyday "good cooks." I have never seen anyone on the internet open a window to this knowledge like Lan Lam. Maybe Alton Brown? Knowledge is not knowing how to do something, it is knowing why you do it! This is the most refreshing series of videos I have ever seen. Thank You Lan.
Been cooking since a kid, went to culinary school..and I learn so much from this channel daily