Jump to content

Braising


Recommended Posts

I was happy to find boneless short ribs at The Springfield Butcher this weekend, over two pounds for around $16. I made Thomas Keller's Beef Bourguignon on yesterday for dinner on Tuesday (It taste better after sitting a few days). Now I know why his restaurants are so damn expensive, all that refinement takes a lot of work, and it calls for throwing away about 2lbs of vegatables. I love the Bouchon cookbook, it's a lot of work, but the results are always worth it. Only Thomas Keller and turn beef stew into a 3 day event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JV question on brisket. I just made one and I wanted to slow cook it. I don't have a slow cooker so I wanted to do it stove top. (Might this be my first mistake?)

I followed the Cooks Illustrated recipe for the broth and browning the meat. Once it was on the stove, the temperature read at around 200 for four hours. When it was done, thankfully it wasn't tough or in strings, but it also wasn't the result of Cook's Illustrated advice, "This is one of those recipes that we recommend on low heat only." Questions: 1) what's the translation for "low temperature" if you don't have a slow cooker? Are we talking above 220 or below boiling point? 2) should I have done it in the oven instead? 3) should I invest if I ever want to slow cook again?

Like MDT said, in the oven at 200 works great. I've done it at 225 or 250 with the same results. I also do it on the stove top at a bare simmer, which for my stovetop is the lowest of the low setting.

Slow cookers are great and all, but you can't do the initial browning of the meat and you can't sweat the veggies either. I have one and have wondered why I browned the meat in a pot, and then put it in the cooker. Why bother? Just leave it in the pot. I guess there are good recipes out there where you just throw everything in at once completely raw, and then cook it all day. But you wouldn't get any of that delicious caramelization.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like onions? While I haven't used this particular recipe, Genovese is grand.

ETA: Oops! :lol: Corrected link to recipe from someone trustworthy. Genovese is a Neapolitan answer to brisket. You cook beef (usually, though Alberto, here recommends pork) forever under a mound of onions and serve the meat as a second course after pasta covered with the melted oniony goo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought beef shanks today without knowing what to do with them. Would it be appropriate to cook them as I would beef short ribs? Similar technique?

Well, not knowing how you cook short ribs, I'd have to say a qualified yes. Beef shank is a tough cut of muscle, and so requires long, slow cooking in liquid, in order to become tender.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, not knowing how you cook short ribs, I'd have to say a qualified yes. Beef shank is a tough cut of muscle, and so requires long, slow cooking in liquid, in order to become tender.
My favorite recipe for braised short ribs is from an issue of Fine Cooking and involves white wine, whole tomatoes and their juice, carrots, celery, pancetta, onions and about 3 hours of cooking time. I went ahead and tried it. The whole mess is about 45 minutes into the process. I'll let you know how it goes.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite recipe for braised short ribs is from an issue of Fine Cooking and involves white wine, whole tomatoes and their juice, carrots, celery, pancetta, onions and about 3 hours of cooking time. I went ahead and tried it. The whole mess is about 45 minutes into the process. I'll let you know how it goes.
Dinner about 8:30, then? Sounds delicious. Can't wait!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much. :o It's out of the oven and I'm waiting for it to cool down a bit. When I last turned the meat and ensured the liquid was still covering it, the beef shank was already fork tender. Nice! I'll soon skim some fat, remove the meat from my dutch oven and then reduce the liquid a little bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have now braised short ribs twice, both times using this recipe. I used boneless short ribs the first time, and it turned out well. (Maybe not quite fork-tender, but tender enough for my novice-level expectations.) Last night, I made it with bone-in short ribs. We found the result way too gristle-y. I noted that after the bones fell out (or were nudged out by me), the inside of the rib, which formerly touched the bone, was basically a layer of connective tissue. I know that short ribs are heavy on such stuff, and that's why we braise them. But this stuff was nowhere near tender. Some ribs were better than others. For the two ribs that were on my plate, I left half uneaten.

So did I get bad short ribs? (Got them at Shoppers Food.) Or does the recipe call for an insufficient braising time (about 2.5 hours, on the stovetop)? Or did I mess up somewhere along the way?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have now braised short ribs twice, both times using this recipe. I used boneless short ribs the first time, and it turned out well. (Maybe not quite fork-tender, but tender enough for my novice-level expectations.) Last night, I made it with bone-in short ribs. We found the result way too gristle-y. I noted that after the bones fell out (or were nudged out by me), the inside of the rib, which formerly touched the bone, was basically a layer of connective tissue. I know that short ribs are heavy on such stuff, and that's why we braise them. But this stuff was nowhere near tender. Some ribs were better than others. For the two ribs that were on my plate, I left half uneaten.

So did I get bad short ribs? (Got them at Shoppers Food.) Or does the recipe call for an insufficient braising time (about 2.5 hours, on the stovetop)? Or did I mess up somewhere along the way?

Not a huge fan of the meat at SFW and that could be why the meat was overly gristle-y, but most likely the connective tissue did not have a chance to dissolve. It sounds like the temperature of your simmer was too high, they key is slow and low. Was the liquid bubbling? If so, that is too high a temperature. It can be difficult to keep the temperature low and even on a stovetop so you might want to try putting the pot in the oven. Set you oven for 200F and put the pot in the oven after searing the outside of the meat and creating the simmering liquid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a huge fan of the meat at SFW and that could be why the meat was overly gristle-y, but most likely the connective tissue did not have a chance to dissolve. It sounds like the temperature of your simmer was too high, they key is slow and low. Was the liquid bubbling? If so, that is too high a temperature. It can be difficult to keep the temperature low and even on a stovetop so you might want to try putting the pot in the oven. Set you oven for 200F and put the pot in the oven after searing the outside of the meat and creating the simmering liquid.

You've probably got the correct diagnosis. It was bubbling. In fact, there was a point at which I had inadvertently let it rise to a virtual boil. (I hate to lift the lid to check too often, you know?) Next time, the oven it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You've probably got the correct diagnosis. It was bubbling. In fact, there was a point at which I had inadvertently let it rise to a virtual boil. (I hate to lift the lid to check too often, you know?) Next time, the oven it is.
Both household cooks are now working outside the house, that is to say, I got a job. And now find myself looking for shortcuts. Thus, I dusted off the slow cooker. And you know what? It does a perfectly acceptable job braising beef. So far I've made pot roast, beef stew, corned beef, and daube. Tastes remarkably like the same dish braised in the oven.

I hesitated to mention it before, but now that William-Sonoma is selling an upscale slow cooker, I reckon it's time to come out of the closet. Not that I am going to spend $300 for a "gourmet" slow cooker with a steel cooking pot that allows one to brown the meat on the stove top. If I wanted to brown the meat, I'd use a saute pan, then my ceramic lined slow cooker, and to get all the fond into the cooker, just deglaze the pan.

Mark Bittman uses a slow cooker.

http://www.e-cookbooks.net/articles/slowcook.htm

Dunno about chicken yet but my office is only 15 minutes from home during the lunch break so it's do-able to run home at lunch, take the pot out of the fridge, and start up a chicken dish on high.

Even at high, the contents of the pot never bubble, just simmer.

Learning as I go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Costco has reasonably priced boneless leg of lamb, but all the lamb stew recipes I see call for lamb shoulder. Would it be a mistake to cut up a leg of lamb instead? I mean, on a par with braising beef steak?
I've used leg of lamb to make stew. I wouldn't pay a premium price for it, but if you're getting it inexpensively, why not? I sometimes make lamb stew out of leftover roast leg of lamb, as well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pulled a pork loin roast (with bones) out of the freezer the other day and I am going to braise it in milk using Marcella Hazan's recipe. I will report back on the results.
I have done that and liked it. I was just looking at the recipe again recently because someone elsewhere was looking for pork loin recipes. It reminded me that I hadn't made it in a long time.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done that and liked it. I was just looking at the recipe again recently because someone elsewhere was looking for pork loin recipes. It reminded me that I hadn't made it in a long time.

It turned out nicely and the pork was easily fork tender. The pork was from Cedarbrook farms and was very tasty, but the resulting sauce was a bit blah for me. Not sure that I would make it again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It turned out nicely and the pork was easily fork tender. The pork was from Cedarbrook farms and was very tasty, but the resulting sauce was a bit blah for me. Not sure that I would make it again.
I've only made it a few times, but I recall that what I served with it seemed to make the difference. I think I may have liked it served with spinach and garlic, but I don't seem to have notes on that. I keep notes rather erratically on the recipes I make, which can be frustrating when I can't quite recall something on my own.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me put in a plug for "flap meat" from Costco, about $4/lb, not a lot of connective tissue or fat compared with, say, beef short ribs, cooks in about 2 1/2 hours, as the basis of a braise.

I was ill this weekend so DH cooked instead of me, did not cook as I had planned to, with red wine, tomato paste, and dried porcinis, but very tasty. I will give the other half pack (now frozen) a go next weekend.

I had hoped to cook several pots of various things including beef with red wine, lamb stew, and white bean stew, to nosh on during the week, but there's always next weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It turned out nicely and the pork was easily fork tender. The pork was from Cedarbrook farms and was very tasty, but the resulting sauce was a bit blah for me. Not sure that I would make it again.

I used to make this dish frequently, using Madeleine Kamman's recipe. I looked at Marcella's recipe, which seemed one-dimensional compared to Kamman's. Kamman's recipe calls for roasting the pork (shoulder/butt in her recipe) for twenty minutes first, before braising. And reducing four cups of milk down to three, with aromatic herbs (bay, thyme, parsley, sage), and sauteing onion and garlic in the braising pot before pouring the milk into the braising pot with the pork. After the meat has cooked, the sauce is strained and thickened, and I thought it was very flavorful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to make this dish frequently, using Madeleine Kamman's recipe. I looked at Marcella's recipe, which seemed one-dimensional compared to Kamman's. Kamman's recipe calls for roasting the pork (shoulder/butt in her recipe) for twenty minutes first, before braising. And reducing four cups of milk down to three, with aromatic herbs (bay, thyme, parsley, sage), and sauteing onion and garlic in the braising pot before pouring the milk into the braising pot with the pork. After the meat has cooked, the sauce is strained and thickened, and I thought it was very flavorful.

Well that sounds much, much better than Marcella's recipe. I will look it up and try it, thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got a flat cut brisket braising with a sauce I've been curious to try for a while now. The braise is chili sauce, (beefy) onion soup mix and coke. It smells like heaven now- about half way through. I'm going to add some potatoes and carrots (the Farm at Sunnyside) shortly.

I'l report back later in the dinner thread ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I braised country-style pork ribs in Gewurtztraminer & apple cider, with carrots, onion, apples, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns, allspice, and thyme. They're refrigerating tonight; tomorrow I'll skim the fat, reduce the sauce a little more, and serve them with mashed potatoes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This may be answered upthread, but I'm crazy busy and don't have time to read. :(

How do you like to reheat your braised items?

Usually what I'll do is braise the item (goat shank, beef short rib, etc.) overnight, stick it in the fridge in the morning, and then eat it that night. That way I can enjoy the "all day cooking" items even on weeknights. But after taking them out of the fridge, what's the best way to get them up to serving temperature? Reheat them on the stovetop in liquid? Stick them in the oven at low temp? High temp? Once they're heated, do you give them a final sear?

Tips are welcome. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This may be answered upthread, but I'm crazy busy and don't have time to read. :(

How do you like to reheat your braised items?

Usually what I'll do is braise the item (goat shank, beef short rib, etc.) overnight, stick it in the fridge in the morning, and then eat it that night. That way I can enjoy the "all day cooking" items even on weeknights. But after taking them out of the fridge, what's the best way to get them up to serving temperature? Reheat them on the stovetop in liquid? Stick them in the oven at low temp? High temp? Once they're heated, do you give them a final sear?

Tips are welcome. :P

Simply reheating on the stove.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simply reheating on the stove.

I usually reheat in the same vessal that I braise in, unless I'm only going to need a small portion of the meal. In that case, I reheat in another lidded pot and bring it up to temp on the slow side. In the case of brisket, I braise, cool, slice, return to vessal and cover. Refrigerate overnight. Skim solid fat from top. Cover and slowly reheat in oven so I don't have to think about it too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...