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I have recently bit doing a bit of cooking (and experimenting) from a book called All About Braising by Molly Stevens. I'm sure most of you are aware that braising is essentially cooking something (frequently meats, sometimes leeks, potatos, shallots, etc.) partially submerged in some sort of liquid in a covered vessel. This allows the steam to condense on the lid and then drip back down effectively basting the food. Molly's book focuses mostly on using cast iron pans, dutch ovens, and the ever so popular LeCreuset. I prefer the use of a heavy dutch over myself, as well as putting a layer of parchment paper between the lid of the oven and the meat to reduce the space in the pot and the distance which the condensed liquid has to drip back onto the meat (hopefully getting more of the liquid back on to the meat). I have done a good amount of experimenting with slow braises from this book, including some delicious BBQ rib sandwiches. One of the few slow braises that I have done almost exactly to the recipe is the porter braised beef short ribs with a rosemary and maple glaze.  I don't know the exact recipe at the moment, but it was fairly straight forward. Heat up the oven to about 300, and stick the dutch oven on the range to get it nice and hot. After salting and peppering the short ribs braise them for about 2 minutes on all sides. Remember not to overcrowd the pan, and don't touch them for the full amount of time. This should brown them nicely and add flavor. After all the ribs have been browned, set them aside, and sautee some shallots and garlic, then add a coarsely chopped carrot, and about 1lg sweet onion. Then deglaze the pan with some porter, add beef stock (make sure if you're using store bought that you find something with the least amount of sodium as possible). Cover with parchment, punch it down a little in the middle, stick on the lid, then trim the parchment around the sides. Throw this in a 275-300 degree oven and wait at least 15 minutes. Take a peek and ensure that it's simmering gently. If the heat is too high it's going to cook too fast and your meat won't become tender. It will probably be ready at around 3 hours. At this point I basted on a melted glaze of rosemary, brown sugar, and maple syrup and stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes. You might want to scoop out the aromatics with a slotted spoon as this point, but that's up to you. I know the colors in the veggies aren't the greatest looking, but I was really just concerned with how the meat was going to come out. I was very happy with the result, but it was a bit salty from reducing the sauce from a store-bought stock. I can't wait to try this method with a nice pork belly for some good pork sandwiches.
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Feb 18, 2008 19:33
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 02:04 |
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Cathab posted:My question is, just how much vinegar/worchestire sauce goes in the bottom? Should the pork be floating in it? Should it be fully submerged? Or just a little bit in the bottom? Also, should I add water or anything else? This is a braise, so you don't want the braising liquid to come up much more than halfway up the meat. You don't want to boil it in the liquid, so you want just enough liquid to evaporate, hit the lid, and then drip back down constantly basting the meat. After a good number of hours I would pull out the meat, throw the oven on the stove, and reduce the crap out of the liquid until you have a nice sauce. In the mean time you should be shredding the pork and getting ready for those delicious sandwiches.
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May 2, 2008 19:19
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