Why You Should Burn Your Food (A Little Bit) | What’s Eating Dan?



Dan shows how to push your food into a zone of prized, next-level flavor and complexity by moving beyond browning and into the world of blackening. 🔥

Recipe for Blackened Chicken:
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How to Blacken Chicken (Without Tripping Your Smoke Alarm):

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34 Comments

  1. Potatoes tastes so good when burnt slightly.
    Important note. The ratio of oil is the key when burning potatoes. If yoi do it with minimal oil then the potatoes dry out and become bitter, where as generous (not excessive) oil produces the best result.
    Baaically any oven roasted veggies taste good when slighly burnt.

  2. One thing that Louisiana cooks were SLIGHTLY charring long before Paul Prudhomme was born was the flour we cook for our roux. That 50/50 mix of oil and flour, cooking in a cast-iron skillet, needs to be VERY dark brown before it's ready for the next step in making gumbo. I cook mine until it's almost the same color as dark-roast coffee. This deep, deep, brown-but-not-burned is key to deep, rich, intensely flavored gumbo.

  3. So, for smores, I have not had them in sometime. I may try again, but I don't have a torch, yet. Now if and when I get one I like my marshmallows to be carmel colored, soft in the middle. The chocolate I love is Nestlé's Special Dark and I'd be into tying that chocolate.
    I have blackened cod for so many years now and since the place I rent doesn't have an exhaust fan I blacken outside on my grill. I searched for a blackened seasoning recipe and they are everywhere. I chose one and assembled an amount, but I tweaked it. I must watch my salt intake. Therefore, I cut the salt down to a teaspoon. I make double the amount and I save in a tightly sealed container to replace the lost salt I added more garlic powder. It calls for finely ground black pepper and my spice mill makes peppercorns into powder very well. I may return to the bird, I may try chicken again. Thank you.

  4. I put two mallows on a stick and roast them right over the flames. Once they catch fire, I move away from the heat source and let the flame climb the mallows until it goes out on its own. Then I put the charred mallows on a Honey Maid graham cracker topped with a one by three section of Hershey’s milk chocolate.

  5. Yesterday, I roasted some butternut squash to make a soup for Thanksgiving appetizer. The squash got a bit too done, charred on the edges. The result was an absolutely delicious soup with a deep savory flavor combined with the sweet squash and cream.

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