Browning (partial cooking) heat and the excess fat is drained off. Browning (partial cooking) Browning is the process of partially cooking the surface of meat to help remove excessive fat and to give the meat a brown color crust and flavor through various browning reactions. Ground meat will frequently be browned prior to adding other ingredients and completing the cooking process. The process is commonly used when adding ground meat to casseroles or other prepackaged food products like Hamburger Helper, where the final cooking temperature will not be high enough to initiate the Maillard reaction. It is typically done using a skillet or
Carryover cooking to the process of allowing the liquids in meats to redistribute through the food over a 5- to 20-minute period. This allows for a more flavorful and juicy finished product. Because larger objects have a lower surface-area-to-volume ratio, they are more able to retain heat. This heat retention translates to a uniform temperature increase throughout the food as the heat dissipates to cooler areas. Additionally, foods with a higher water content are more subject to carry over cooking as water has a higher heat capacity and will have more heat to distribute throughout the food item. Carryover cooking Carryover cooking