What is braising and how do I do it?
Browning then cooking gently in a small amount of liquid — the technique behind most of the best cheap cooking.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 3 hr
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Brown the ingredient, add liquid to come roughly halfway up it, cover, and cook very gently for a long time. The partial submersion is what distinguishes braising from stewing, and it gives a more concentrated result.
Braising uses a combination of moist and dry heat: the submerged part cooks in liquid while the exposed part roasts above it. It suits tough cuts and firm vegetables, and the sauce is made by the cooking rather than added to it.
What you'll need
- Heavy casserole with a lid
- Stock or wine
- Aromatics (optional)
- Oven (optional)
Step by step
- Brown the main ingredient hard, in batches.This is where most of the flavour originates. A braise made without browning tastes noticeably thinner.
- Soften aromatics in the same pan.Onion, carrot, celery, garlic. They lift the fond and become the base of the sauce.
- Add liquid to come about halfway up the ingredient.Not covering it. The exposed top continues to brown, which is what makes a braise different from a stew.
- Bring to a bare simmer, then cover tightly.A tight lid keeps the moisture circulating. A poorly fitting lid dries the braise out.
- Cook in a low oven, around 150°C.More even than a hob and it needs no attention. Two to three hours for most meat braises.
- Turn the ingredient once during cooking.So both sides spend time submerged. It gives an even result and keeps the exposed part from drying.
- Add vegetables in stages near the end.Root vegetables an hour before the end, softer ones later. Everything added at the start turns to mush.
- Reduce the sauce at the end if needed.Lift the meat out, simmer the liquid uncovered until it concentrates, then return the meat. It transforms a thin braise.
Tips
- Braises are better the next day without exception. Cooling and reheating lets the flavours combine and the fat can be lifted off the top.
- Vegetables braise beautifully too — fennel, chicory, leeks and cabbage are excellent given this treatment.
- A slow cooker does the same job with less evaporation. Use less liquid than a hob or oven recipe specifies.
Common mistakes
- Covering the ingredient completely with liquid — That is stewing rather than braising. The result is more dilute and you lose the browning on the exposed surface.
- Cooking it too hot — A boiling braise makes meat tough and stringy. A bare simmer, or a low oven, is what breaks down the collagen properly.
- Adding all the vegetables at the start — Three hours reduces them to nothing. Stagger them according to how long each takes.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between braising and stewing?
Braising cooks a larger piece in liquid that comes only partway up it, so the top browns as it cooks. Stewing uses smaller pieces fully submerged in more liquid.
What temperature should a braise be?
A bare simmer, or a low oven around 150°C. Anything hotter makes the meat tough rather than tender, however long you cook it.