Techniques: Braising
Let’s talk about what it is, how it’s different from stews or roasts, how pressure cooking is a braise on steroids with less evaporation, and how awesome it is that you can skip the browning step for slow cooker short ribs (a braise with a countertop device).
Braising refers to cooking in a moist environment over low to medium heat over a long period of time. This technique renders meats quite tender, even if you start out with a relatively “tough” cut. It also has the advantage of melding flavors and developing complex deliciousness through the long cooking time. Unfortunately, it’s precisely that long time that can turn cooks away from it – especially busy folks during the week. Braising isn’t going to happen when you need dinner on the table 30 minutes from now.
Stews are similar but include a lot more liquid, which is intended to soften the vegetable and legume ingredients as well as cook the meat, and that liquid is intended to be consumed with the rest of it. The ingredients of a braise are typically removed from the liquid at serving time. (The cooking liquid is often reduced to concentrate it, sometimes with addition of other ingredients to boost the flavor, and served alongside or drizzled over the food that was cooked in it.) Pressure cooking is similar but requires way less liquid than braising or stewing, but the mechanism of cooking the meat is somewhat different (and requires a special device – a pressure cooker), though the results for many types of recipes is the same.
Braising is also the main technique by which a SLOW COOKER works. It just so happens to be its own device, rather than relying on a stove or oven to accomplish the heating. Crock pot cooking is braising. There is ZERO difference. Here are the usual steps for any braise, via any cooking vessel:
- Sear your main ingredients (usually this is meat) in oil until brown on all/most sides. Roasts, chops, chicken pieces, stew cubes, seitan – they all benefit from a crisped, seared exterior and leave some delicious yummy bits behind when you take them out to proceed with the recipe.
- Add aromatics, like onions, garlic, celery, leeks, carrot, shallots, soften, and then deglaze the whole thing with a liquid. The liquid can be water, stock, wine, beer, juice, or vinegar, depending on the recipe. Scrape up and incorporate those crispy bits.
- Add back the meat and add any vegetables or legumes. Stir.
- Put the lid on, cook it at low temperature for a long time, and when done, enjoy.
Many of these dishes benefit from the addition of an acid at the end of cooking to brighten the flavor. Tomato paste, lemon juice, vinegar, a bit of wine or another spirit, spice- or herb-infused oil… the list goes on.
There are a tremendous number of recipes out there for stovetop braising, oven braising, and slow cooking. There’s a lot of flexibility in these, and lots of room for trial and error (because even the errors teach you something and still usually taste good.)
PROTIP: you don’t actually need to sear the meat for some types of recipes. For instance, if you make sure the meat is only partly submerged in the cooking liquid when slow-cooking boneless short ribs, the exposed surfaces will brown almost as if seared. Flipping them over halfway through cooking renders the second, now no-longer-sumberged side, equally brown. While you lose a small amount of flavor that you would have gotten through actual oil searing, for many dishes with flavorful braising liquids the difference isn’t appreciable and not searing can be a time-saver.
One of my favorite resources is a recipe generator for short ribs from the chef-writers over at the Fine Cooking website: http://www.finecooking.com/articles/cyor/braised-short-ribs.aspx
My favorite things to braise include: lamb shanks, short rib, chicken thighs , and chicken drumsticks. Each can be done so many ways: white wine wine and chicken stock, prune juice and teriyaki sauce; balsamic vinegar and sugar; capers and olives and fruits and a bright pinot noir. There’s no end to the possibilities.