u/crablegs17

Other than salt which penetrates meat well, does marinading with spices before searing really help compared to adding the spices after?

Why isn't it better to instead dry the meat out before searing (air dry/paper towel), sear the unseasoned protein to get a nice maillard reaction without any spices/fluids to block the contact between the protein and the pan, and add the seasoning afterwards? I would think that marinated spices will burn if added too early in the searing process, which doesn't do any good.

I think part of the problem is that I don’t preheat the pan high enough but I don’t want to overheat the pan while it’s empty so I start when there’s a small leidenfrost effect. I also avoid bringing the stove past medium. I know sears won’t be as good as on carbon steel but they’ve been disappointing so far despite my best efforts to dry the food before hand and let it come close to room temperature.

Any thoughts?

I'm looking for suggestions for 240 gyutos with a flat profile optimized for push cutting while still being able to rock chop occasionally. The only ones I've come across so far are the the yoshikane skd and moritaka. What I've noticed is that they have a large proximal flat spot with continuous contact with the board, see eg below. This seems like it would help prevent accordion cuts.

https://preview.redd.it/p7j62l8pduah1.png?width=714&format=png&auto=webp&s=797034a96061c5378393df30bb79e1b90e9d9d41