sous vide browning - heat gun [General]
2011 Apr 30
Any type of searing. The temperature range of Maillard reactions is 300F - 500 F.
Also I looked up the smoking point of oils. Even canola oil smokes under 500 F.
Of the common cooking oils only two smoke above 500 F: Avacado oil at 520 F and Safflower oil (pure / refined) at 510 F. All the others are below 500 F.
en.wikipedia.org
Baldwin recommends searing sous vide meat in a smoking hot oil, or using a butane torch, but he says it's tricky to get the searing right with a butane torch. No wonder! It's 2500 F and you can only control the temperature by distance. It's easy to char the meat instead of browning it.
But a cheap heat gun delivers the right temperature for browning - 495 F on the high setting, or about the same temperture as a smoking hot oil.
Safer than a butane torch or smoking hot oil too and easy to use.
Also I looked up the smoking point of oils. Even canola oil smokes under 500 F.
Of the common cooking oils only two smoke above 500 F: Avacado oil at 520 F and Safflower oil (pure / refined) at 510 F. All the others are below 500 F.
en.wikipedia.org
Baldwin recommends searing sous vide meat in a smoking hot oil, or using a butane torch, but he says it's tricky to get the searing right with a butane torch. No wonder! It's 2500 F and you can only control the temperature by distance. It's easy to char the meat instead of browning it.
But a cheap heat gun delivers the right temperature for browning - 495 F on the high setting, or about the same temperture as a smoking hot oil.
Safer than a butane torch or smoking hot oil too and easy to use.
2011 May 2
I hadn't used it at that point, it was just an idea then, but now I have. It works quite well if you hold it about 1cm from the surface of the meat and move it along slowly. Perhaps a hotter heat gun would work better (faster). Mine is about as cheap as it gets. It took me about 15 minutes to do three steaks, both sides. I also brushed the meat with a rub of oil, sodium bicarbonate, and sugar, before the heat gun, to promote the Maillard reaction - no water, as water inhibits the Maillard reaction.
There are better heat guns out there can blow 1000F, and "speedheater" guns for stripping paint that use infrared heat. In any case, you have more indoor safety with a heat gun and better control than with a butane torch.
Apparently the Jobmate Heat Gun at Canadian Tire goes on 1/2 price sale quite often. It's comparable to mine and at 1/2 price it would be around $15.
www.canadiantire.ca
Princess auto has another one like mine for $19,
www.princessauto.com
and a better model for continuously variable temperature with a dial for $29
www.princessauto.com
The ads say 500C or 550C but that might be a misprint (500C is 932F). Also they don't say if that's heating element temperature or air temperature.
And a digital one for $50 that goes to 550 C.
www.princessauto.com
There are better heat guns out there can blow 1000F, and "speedheater" guns for stripping paint that use infrared heat. In any case, you have more indoor safety with a heat gun and better control than with a butane torch.
Apparently the Jobmate Heat Gun at Canadian Tire goes on 1/2 price sale quite often. It's comparable to mine and at 1/2 price it would be around $15.
www.canadiantire.ca
Princess auto has another one like mine for $19,
www.princessauto.com
and a better model for continuously variable temperature with a dial for $29
www.princessauto.com
The ads say 500C or 550C but that might be a misprint (500C is 932F). Also they don't say if that's heating element temperature or air temperature.
And a digital one for $50 that goes to 550 C.
www.princessauto.com
2011 May 2
Douglas Baldwin replies to my email about heat guns:
Hello Francis,
Thank you for the very nice email.
I'm glad to hear that a heat-gun is working well for you. Heat-guns
were a hot topic of discussion in one of my online discussion groups a
few years ago: most of the people that tried it had mixed results but
a few thought they were the bees-knees. Over time, though, I believe
even they switched back to smoking-hot skillets and butane blowtorches
for their browning needs.
In reference to your link: reducing sugars (like glucose) work very
well for browning meat where reducing sugars limit the reaction and
baking soda works better for browning onions where lowering the pH
makes the amino acids more available for the reaction.
Very best wishes,
Douglas
-- Douglas E. Baldwin Department of Applied Mathematics, 526 UCB University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0526 Email: Douglas.Baldwin@Colorado.EDU URL: www.douglasbaldwin.com
Hello Francis,
Thank you for the very nice email.
I'm glad to hear that a heat-gun is working well for you. Heat-guns
were a hot topic of discussion in one of my online discussion groups a
few years ago: most of the people that tried it had mixed results but
a few thought they were the bees-knees. Over time, though, I believe
even they switched back to smoking-hot skillets and butane blowtorches
for their browning needs.
In reference to your link: reducing sugars (like glucose) work very
well for browning meat where reducing sugars limit the reaction and
baking soda works better for browning onions where lowering the pH
makes the amino acids more available for the reaction.
Very best wishes,
Douglas
-- Douglas E. Baldwin Department of Applied Mathematics, 526 UCB University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0526 Email: Douglas.Baldwin@Colorado.EDU URL: www.douglasbaldwin.com
2011 May 3
I was curious about my heat gun's output temperature, so I measured it with my digital thermometer. It's around 400 F on the high setting. Actually, it kind of varies between 375 F and 425 F. So it's definitely not as hot as the advertised specs. Probably a hotter one (close to 500 F) would work better (faster). I would really like to be able to do one side of a steak in about 1 minute, instead of 2.5 min. It is safer than a butane torch indoors though - I would think comparable to using a hair dryer.
Francis
Now the ideal temperatures for Maillard reactions are 300F - 500F. By coincidence, this is exactly the output temperature range of a cheap electric heat gun, which can also be used safely indoors.
For example this one on ebay is around $20 with shipping. I have it actually, for coffee roasting.
tinyurl.com/3ob8j9x
I'm also interested in learning about brush on glazes to promote surface browning at lower temperatures: sugars and sodium bicarbonate are two promoters I've found so far.