Praising Braising

By Rona Boyer

In his book Braise, A Journey Through International Cuisine, Daniel Boulud

explains that every new cook who comes to work in his kitchen is asked to prepare for the staff a dish from his or her home country. While the chefs come from the four corners of the earth and the taste and ingredients differ, the dish is almost invariably braised. This ancient technique is popular everywhere because it transforms inexpensive, tough cuts of meat (beef, lamb, veal, pork, poultry or seafood ) into succulent morsels and creates a perfect sauce to accompany it. The technique is therefore very economical—especially for a large group. It is also very easy to do. For anyone who has mastered the basic "secrets," braising can make a casual cook seem like a talented chef.

The Differences between Braising and Stewing

Both braising and stewing cook pieces of meat with selected vegetables in liquid at fairly low temperatures, but there are many differences:

	STEWS	BRAISES
Heat	Meat cooks in the liquid	Meat cooks in the moist heat created by the cooking liquid
Chunks of meat size	Fairly small	Fairly large
Liquid	Covers the meat	Covers very little of the meat
Searing before adding liquid	None	Meat and veggies slowly seared on all sides before adding the liquid

Secrets to Successful Braising

• MAKE IT THE DAY BEFORE

Make the braise the day before you plan to serve it. Allow it to sit overnight in the refrigerator, and then remove any fat from the surface before reducing your sauce. This way you get all of the flavor from the fat but do not actually eat it. An added bonus is that you only need to reheat the braise when the guests arrive. No mess, no stress—making the dinner party enjoyable for the cook as well.

• USE THE RIGHT POT

             You will need a heavy-lidded pot or Dutch oven. An enameled cast-iron pot (like Le
             Creuset) heats evenly and retains the temperature well. It is the perfect pot.

• SEAR YOUR MEAT
  Pour some oil and/or butter into the pot over medium-high heat, then add the meat. Don’t crowd the pot (brown the meat a few pieces at a time if need be.  Brown until there is  deep color on all side of the meat. Remove meat; set aside. DO NOT CLEAN THE POT.
  
  

·        SAUTÉ THE VEGGIES
Add more oil and/or butter if needed and cook the vegetables (chopped onions, celery, carrots, etc.), in the drippings left behind from searing, stirring frequently. As with the sear, use medium-high heat and cook until you have a caramel-brown color—without burning the ingredients. DO NOT CLEAN THE POT.

·        DEGLAZE THE POT
Add the braising liquid, stirring and scraping up any bits left from the searing of the meat and the veggies. They are full of flavor, and when they dissolve in the cooking liquid, they enrich the entire dish and create the base for the sauce.

·        BRAISE IT
Return the meat to the pot, with any accumulated juices and add enough liquid (wine, broth, stock or water—whatever the recipe calls for). The liquid should not cover any of the meat. (If the meat is submerged, it will boil, not braise, and the sauce will be diluted). Bring the liquid to a simmer and then cover the pot and slide it into a 275° F- to 325° F oven. Cook until the meat is so tender it will fall off the bone.

·        REDUCE THE SAUCE
Remove the meat and veggies and keep warm while you reduce the sauce until it is thick enough to coat the meat pieces. (You can speed up the process by removing some of the liquid and that adding it, bit by bit, once the sauce is at desired thickness.)

Best Cuts of Meat for Braising

Beef & Large Game	Veal	Lamb	Pork	Poultry & Small Game	Seafood
Shoulder Short Ribs Brisket Flank Oxtail	Shoulder Breast Osso Bucco Shanks	Shoulder Shank	Shoulder Loin Ribs Belly Shanks	Poultry Legs Whole Quail Rabbit Pheasant Partridge Squab	Scallops Shrimp Lobster Crayfish Octopus Squid Monkfish (etc.)