Why does the beef in Goulash need to be floured and brown before cooking?
In most recipes example from BBC, in making a Goulash, a step is to brown/fry lightly the beef in flour before the stewing steps. Why is this done?
Since the beef will be in a liquid it can't be to prevent drying. Is it to keep the form and texture of the beef?
If you fry without the flour what difference is made?
Best Answer
Flouring the beef does two things:
- It facilitates the development of a crust on the outside of the meat that is brown and flavorful;
- It contributes to the development of the sauce, as the starch will dissolve off of the meat into the sauce, where it will swell at about 180 F, helping to thicken the sauce.
In this particular recipe, the flour is the only source of thickening, so it is being used for both purposes, but mostly for the second, where it is essentially creating a roux as your brown the beef, because you are also cooking the flour in the olive oil. In this recipe, omitting it would give you a much thinner sauce.
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Quick Answer about "Why does the beef in Goulash need to be floured and brown before cooking?"
Thickening The Sauce Most resources that I found agreed that flouring the meat before browning helps to thicken the eventual sauce. This stands to reason, as a very common method of thickening is through the use of a roux.Why do you coat beef in flour before cooking?
But traditionally coating the beef with the flour is the way to go and there are several reasons for this: The flour helps brown the meat better, the browned flour enhances the flavor of the sauce, and it also enhances the surface texture of the meat.Why do you coat beef in flour before browning?
The idea behind coating meat with a sprinkling of flour before browning in a hot pan is pretty simple: Flour is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.Why do you dredge meat in flour?
The reason you dredge chicken or any other food before pan-frying is to help give it an enticingly brown crust. A food that you dredge in flour or another coating will also gain flavor and texture from the coating and absorb extra flavor from the oil or butter in which you've cooked the food.Why is it important to seal and brown meat before braising?
As meat browns, it leaves behind some tasty caramelized brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Pan sauces and braising liquids get their incredible depth of flavor from these little guys called sucs, or sometimes fond in America. Without them, the finished sauces just won't be as good.Huge Mistakes Everyone Makes When Cooking Beef Stew
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