Long and Slow

Braising

by Carole Kotkin

For a glance at the future, you can look to the past as French and French-trained chefs everywhere are taking advantage of the time-honored method of braising. While edgy food trends go in and out of style, this down-to-earth approach has always been popular, especially in the unpretentious busy bistros of Paris where braised foods like gigot d’agneau a la sept heures (seven-hour leg of lamb) are served out of well-worn casseroles placed on the table. A braised dish is “real food” with wonderful flavors we too often take for granted. Today, the times have changed and as stylish restaurants look for ways to cut costs for themselves as well as diners, restaurants of all ethnicities are now presenting those fine, well-simmered classics. But this time around, the hearty dish may arrive at your table on an elegant Villeroy and Boch china plate adorned with local fresh-from-the-farm vegetables and luxury ingredients such as truffles.

Top restaurants around the country proudly serve braised beef short ribs, veal and lamb shanks, and pork belly. Braise, a French word for coals or embers, is also "just another name for stew or fricassee," says Julia Child in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Braised dishes, stews, daubes and fricassees are all in the same family. Braising generally uses whole pieces or large cuts of meat and a minimal amount of liquid (water,  wine, stock) in relation to the item's volume. By contrast, stewing uses smaller pieces of meat and more liquid. And while some will argue the fine points among them, they all rely on the same kinds of ingredients and cooking process. Traditionally, meat was cooked with a small amount of wine or other liquid, in a braisiere, which was topped by a tight-fitting concave lid that held hot embers. It was set into a hearth and surrounded by more embers so that heat came from above and below the pot. Today, a heavy pot of enameled cast iron to distribute the heat evenly and a tight-fitting lid to keep the moisture in works in much the same fashion. Tradition-minded French cooks seal the pot with a flour and water paste, which then must be sliced away with a sharp knife. During the slow cooking period, collagen--a connective tissue in meat--and fibers melt and soften, releasing a depth of flavor and richness impossible any other way. Daniel Boulud, the award-winning chef of Daniel, one of Manhattan’s haute-cuisine French restaurants, as well as other outposts in New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and Las Vegas is the author of “Braising.”  “Braising is to cooking what blues is to music. The notes are soft and beat is soothing, and the cooking technique is soul-satisfying,” says Chef Boulud, whose mother and grandmother served braises at the family farm near Lyon, France. Chefs know that braising is often the best technique for salvaging tough cuts of meat and turning them into exquisitely crafted entrees. Boulud, who has been serving braised short-ribs to satisfied customers for twenty-five years at Le Cirque and at Daniel is credited with introducing braising to fine dining restaurants. “I grew up eating pot-au-feu (poached beef and vegetables) made with short ribs. But short ribs are one of the most fantastic cuts for braising. I’ve been preparing these humble dishes all my life. It was one of the first things I learned to make as an apprentice in France. With braising the aromas scent the air during the preparation and when it is served,” says Boulud. Wherever you find peasants and cheap, relatively tough cuts of meat, you'll find braised roasts or stews that are lovingly simmered in aromatic liquids for many hours until they're tender. What peasants knew was that these cuts of meat actually are more flavorful than their tender, expensive counterparts, and that they are easily tenderized by long slow cooking in liquid. Cuts from the rump, the breast, the shank, the round and the shoulder are all good braising material. “Veal and mushrooms are a wonderful combination because veal can absorb a lot of flavor from other ingredients, “ Boulud writes in describing Veal Shoulder Forestiere au Riesling in his just released cookbook, “Braise, A Journey Through International Cuisine,” written with Melissa Clark.   Pot roast and lamb shanks, along with mainstays such as osso buco (veal shanks), are examples of braised dishes. Although we've borrowed our English word from the French, no single cuisine or culture can claim braising as its own. According to Boulud, "No matter how much the ingredients and flavors vary from place to place, nearly every culture likes to braise.”  You can add just about anything. If you like spicy foods, add some chilies. Or give the dish a Greek accent by adding lemon slices. Make it Sicilian with olive oil and almonds; Asian with curry powder; or French with wine. Boulud says that he is inspired by other cuisines and constantly searches for new ingredients, flavors and recipes to add to his repertoire. His combination of Layered Beef    and Root Vegetables in a Spicy Coconut Curry is an exciting and original adaptation of a common Indian dish. “But I refine the dish and make it more,” he says.   

In braised dishes, the meat is browned on the stove top -- ideally in a large Dutch oven or similar pot, which will eventually be used for the slow cooking of the meat, liquid and vegetables. Browning the meat well initially is important because it contributes to color and flavor. While browning produces flavor, only simmering can ensure the fork-tender results that are the essence of a braised meal. The choice of liquids to add can be wonderfully varied: broth or stock, water, a marinade, vinegars, beer or, of course, wine. Wine forms as natural a marriage in the kitchen as it does at the table, achieving that special combination that creates a spectacular and memorable dish. Wine as an ingredient in cooking is as basic as salt or pepper. Chef Boulud explains, “The acidity in wine adds flavor and balance.” Cooking with wine takes food to a higher level. Not only does wine provide myriad flavors and textures on its own, from fruit and acid to richness and body, it helps to transform other elements in the dish. So don’t stash all the wine in the cellar. Keep some in the pantry. “Already mellow and rounded, wine adds instant complexity to a dish. The alcohol contributes not just zest and vigor, but it also reacts on food in various ways, as do the other components in wine, particularly the acid, “ writes cookbook author Ann Willan in her comprehensive book, Cooking with Wine. It’s important to know the wine you use in cooking. It’s a common error to think that cooking wine need not be good: if it’s not, reduction will only concentrate its undistinguished flavor. As Ann Willan says, “what tastes in the glass will echo in the pan.” Never use cooking sherry or any other so-called cooking wines. They are loaded with salt and other additives and make foods taste worse, not better. Cooking lore tells us that salt was added to wines meant for cooking to keep the kitchen staff from nipping at the wine.

Tips:

First the ingredients are sautéed in a thin film of hot fat to brown before adding the liquid. Meat and vegetables should be well browned as quickly as possible to add color and flavor to the sauce. Make sure the meat is at room temperature and patted dry with paper towels before adding it to the pan. Salt extracts moisture, so season after the meat is browned. Be patient and allow the meat to brown on all sides. If the oil cools or there is too much food in the pan, moisture will collect before the outside is seared, and the meat will steam rather than sauté. If all the meat won’t fit in a single layer, brown it in batches.  Before browning, the meat is sometimes dredged in flour, which helps thicken the sauce as it cooks. Or the sauce may be thickened at the end with a butter and flour mixture called beurre manie.

The liquid for simmering can be plain or seasoned broth, wine, beer or fruit juice, all of which can be accented with pungent mustard or acidic vinegar. The aromatics of onion and garlic and herbs and spices complete the mellowness of flavor.

Although it may take some time to prepare, everything can be done in advance, and an extra day allows the flavors to meld. Once the simmering has begun, there’s not much more you need to do. You can leave them to gently simmer, knowing you will return to a properly cooked dish.  As an added attraction, braised dishes usually require only one pot for cooking. And, they taste great when reheated.

Hearty and flavorful they need only a dessert and something to soak up the luscious juices you’ll have when you are finished. All of these long-simmered meats go well with mashed potatoes, couscous, pureed root vegetables, noodles, polenta, beans or rice.

If you're cooking the pot on top of the stove, its bottom should be heavy enough for even heat distribution; and if the pot is destined for oven braising, be sure the whole pot, including the lid, is ovenproof. The pan can also be sealed with a layer of heavy aluminum foil before it goes into the oven.

An otherwise perfect braised dish’s flavor will be hidden if there is fat left floating on the surface, so skim the fat off occasionally during cooking and after the dish is finished. If cooking ahead, cool the dish and refrigerate. The next day, spoon off the fat solidified on top.

By definition, braised meats are always cooked through. There is no such thing as a rare pot roast. Unlike roasting, you don’t need to bother with a meat thermometer or charts that advise on minutes per pound. Your braised meat is ready when you can stick a fork into the meat easily. For that reason most recipes give a range of cooking times, qualified by the general phrase, “until fork tender.”