The Science of Cold-Start Searing

The old-school method for searing chicken breasts calls for a ripping-hot skillet and a single flip halfway through cooking. It’s an aggressive way to cook a delicate protein, and invariably, the exterior of the meat toughens and overcooks while the interior comes up to temperature. You might recognize the pitfalls of this technique with steaks that have been seared too hard which results in a gray band around the exterior. You won’t see a gray band around a chicken breast, however, it still results in a tougher exterior.

With the gentler cold-start searing method, an initial burst of high heat drives off moisture so that the chicken will brown evenly; the heat is then lowered and the breasts flipped every 2 minutes. Cooked this way, the meat unhurriedly warms from the outside in so that it remains maximally juicy; meanwhile, a rich brown crust steadily develops on the surface with each flip. And an added benefit to cold-start searing is it reduces splatter and smoke that you might normally get from the old-school method.