KITCHEN PRACTICE 2 — Properly Spaced vs. Crowded Pan
==================================================
Chapter: French Cookery 6 — Sautéing & Building a Pan Sauce

TASK
----
Sauté two batches of the same ingredient side by side — one properly
spaced, one deliberately crowded into too small a pan. Compare the
colour and texture of both once done.

WHAT TO DO
----------
1. Cut a vegetable that browns well (mushrooms work particularly
   well for this, since they release visible moisture) into similar-
   sized pieces, enough for two batches.
2. Heat two pans (or the same pan twice, one batch at a time) with
   the same amount of oil, to the same real heat.
3. In the first pan, add only enough pieces to leave real space
   between each one — no piece touching another.
4. In the second pan, pile in roughly double or triple that amount,
   deliberately overcrowding it.
5. Cook both batches for the same amount of time without stirring
   too often, then compare.

WHAT TO EXPECT
--------------
- The properly spaced batch should develop real, even golden-brown
  colour on the pieces that contacted the pan directly.
- The crowded batch should look pale, grey, and slightly wet-looking
  rather than browned — you may even see visible liquid pooling in
  the pan, released by the vegetables as they steam rather than sear.
- Tasted side by side, the properly spaced batch should taste more
  concentrated and savoury, while the crowded batch often tastes
  flatter and slightly boiled, even though both cooked for the same
  amount of time.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
----------------------------
This is a direct, visible demonstration of the chapter's own central
warning — a crowded pan doesn't just cook more slowly, it produces a
genuinely different, worse result through steaming instead of
searing. Doing both batches side by side, with everything else held
constant, isolates crowding itself as the one real variable, making
the difference impossible to explain away as bad luck or an
off ingredient.