No, but it does make it more tasty, says Yotam
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I’ve often read about cooking meat briefly over high heat to sear it and “seal in the juices”, but I suspect this is unscientific because, as I understand it, high heat constricts the meat fibres and squeezes out the juices.
Norman Kliman, Spain
There have been several, often conflicting theories about searing meat. When I was a young cook, I often heard the phrase “sear the meat to keep in the juices”, and just assumed it to be true. Only after many years of research, and of reading the great food scientist Harold McGee, did I realise this is, in fact, not the case.
