11.4 Food types suitable for braising

11.4  Food types suitable for braising

What Ingredients Are Best For Braising?

Meat
When it comes to meats, you want to stick with the tougher, less tender cuts that come from an animals more exercised muscles. These cuts tend to have more connective tissue that breaks down making the meat tender and flavorful. A lean cut from the loin area is a waste to braise. The meat is already tender and has little fat or connective tissue.
Some good cuts of meat for braising include:
Top Blade Roast
Chuck Eye Roast
Seven Bone Roast
Ribs
Brisket
Shanks
Short Ribs
 
Chicken
The best cuts of chicken, in my opinion, are the legs and thighs although lots of people like to raise a whole chicken. You also want to be sure to use chicken on the bone with skin so you get all the fat and connective tissue. There's really no reason to braise boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You are better off sauteing or grill them.
Fish
Although you can braise just about any fish you like, I think large, firm fish are the way to go. Shark, swordfish are worthy of a braise but tender filets like tilapia or even cod will just fall apart on you. If you do braise a more tender cut like flounder, be sure to shorten the braising time.
Fruits & Vegetables
Again you want to stay with the hardier varieties. Squash, sweet potatoes, leeks, parsnips, carrots, beets, cabbage and onions are great braised alone or along with meat and chicken. In the fall and winter, I like to braise meat with firm pears and apples but in the summer, I might braise chicken with pineapple.
Braised Vegetables - the science is the same expect the moist heat breaks down the vegetable's cellulose and expands its starches. The fibers soften giving the vegetables an incredible texture and flavor depending on the cooking liquid you are using.
When braising meats with vegetables, you may want to keep in mind that the vegetables will cook much quicker than the meat. You might want to wait until the last hour or two of cooking to add them so that they aren’t over cooked.

11.3 Over cooking or under cooking

11.3  Over cooking or under cooking

If not compensated by countermeasures, the opening of the oven door and the resulting loss of temperature and moisture content of the air circulating inside can lead to increased evaporation from the meat surfaces. In the case of tough meats such as beef, bison, and deer, the result can be a hardened, shell-like, overcooked or burned outer crust, while inner layers of the meat may still be undercooked or raw; with soft meats such as poultry, the result can be a thorough drying from the surface to the bone, as in the case of the traditional American turkey.
To prevent this, the easiest solution is to place the meat in a closed oven bag, which traps evaporating moisture and does not let it disseminate into the oven space and then out to the kitchen. The meat is "auto basted" when the air trapped inside the bag reaches the point of its maximum possible moisture content, and the resulting precipitate forms into drops on the surfaces of the meat or the wall of the bag. The drops roll down to the lowest point of the closed space, where the meat sits and cooks in the resulting juices. This technique often requires very minimal or no added liquids other than what the meat already contains, for loss of moisture is virtually negligible from inside the bag.
However, oven bags lose their advantage if they are opened even one time during the cooking process, and seasoned cooks, who prefer adding flavoring, natural oils (herbs), or aromatics in different times and portions during the process, generally use alternate practices to avoid drying out the meat. For instance, they allow extended cooking time, administer increased amounts of juices, coat the meat with moisture rich fruits or fat-rich cuts, such as bacon, or actual fat, place moisture rich fruits and vegetables around the cooking meats, and if possible, use a convection oven.
Cooking times
Choosing the proper cuts 

Braising meats falls into two categories: short braising and long braising. Each method has its cuts of choice.

Tradition implies that long braising works best with the tougher cuts, such as shanks, shoulders, ribs, chuck roasts and briskets, as well as cuts harvested from older animals, which have more collagen in their connective tissue. These cuts need maximum braising time, anywhere from 2 to 4 hours or more to reach the desired fall-off-the-bone tender state. Besides the higher amount of connective tissue in these cuts, they are also more coarsely grained, which is another factor in choosing a good cut for braising. Coarser-grained meats are associated with the working muscles of the animal. This characteristic is important since coarser-grained meats more readily absorb flavors than finer-grained meats.

Short braising refers more to the method of delivering flavor, nuance and complexity to a dish than an actual tenderizing process. This term is reserved for things like vegetable braises. Braised leeks and braised cabbage quickly come to mind. Chicken pieces and seafood, such as braised scallops, also fall into this quicker-cooking category. These foods are not naturally tough and can be braised in times ranging from a few minutes to up to 2 hours.

A braise is based on flavor extraction. The idea is to gently encourage the flavors of the meat and vegetables to mingle with the juices in the pot to create a finished meal truly distinctive in character and greater than the sum of its parts. Once the meat is seared, a small amount of liquid, usually stock, wine, water or some combination of the three, is added and the pot is covered. As everything begins to cook, the broth will begin to pick up the flavors released by the meat and vegetables. The broth transforms from a simple braising liquid into a flavorful, nuanced sauce. The simmering broth will also form steam to further cook the meat.

Braising is a moist-heat cooking technique. Certain cuts of meat cook better with moist heat so, when making a braise, select a cut that becomes tender with this process.
Moist heat breaks down the collagen in meat. Braising allows for this connective- tissue breakdown without muscle-fiber breakdown. The braising process heats the muscle fibers, which consist mainly of water. Once heated, they contract, which squeezes out some of the moisture and causes shrinking and drying. Connective tissues also release water when heated. Plus, the heat and moisture turns the collagen in the connective tissue into a rich, flavorful gelatin that also melds with the braising liquid. When the muscle fibers reabsorb this liquid, the braising cycle is complete.
According to Harold McGee, author of “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen,” food scientists have compared collagen conversions in a rump roast when it is roasted well done, about a two-hour process, and when it is braised for 30 minutes and for 90 minutes. The roasted sample had 14% of its collagen gelatinized, the 30-minute braise 11%, and the 90- minute braise 52%. The long, slow braise, one can conclude, is the best way to tenderize meat with high connective- tissue content.

Techniques

Glazing consists in covering meat with a preparation called glaze, which is strong gravy boiled as quick as possible till it thickens, as directed in braising. The glaze is put on with a brush kept for the purpose. Hams, tongues, and stewed beef, may be thus glazed

Basting is a cooking technique that involves cooking meat with either its own juices or some type of preparation such as a sauce or marinade. The meat is left to cook, then periodically coated with the juice

Braising liquids
Before the lid goes on, some braising liquid is added. Red wine is a good choice for this example, but beef broth or even water could be used. The pot is then placed in a low-temperature oven.

1.2 Methods

1.2 Methods

There are two methods of braising: brown and white.

• In brown braising joints and portion cuts of meat are marinated and may be larded then sealed quickly by browning on all sides in a hot oven or in a pan on the stove. Sealing the joints helps retain flavor and nutritive value, and gives a good brown colour. Joints are then placed on a bed of root vegetables in a braising pan, with the liquid and other flavorings, covered with a lid and cooked slowly in the oven.
• In white braising vegetables and sweetbreads are blanched, refreshed and cooked on a bed of root vegetables with white stock in a covered container in the oven.

Larding
 The process of injecting fat into the interior of meat, generally by using a larding instrument to accomplish the task. Larding is a method used to add fat to very lean and/or tough pieces of meat. The added fat acts to moisten, enhance the flavor and tenderize meat as it cooks. Typically, a strip of lard, referred to as a lardon, is cut from bacon or pork and chilled to harden the substance. Many meat stores sell lardon for larding however, if the lard is to be cut from existing meat, slice the cuts on the diagonal to produce the most effective cuts for insertion. The fat may be seasoned with herbs, wine, salt, pepper, or other seasonings for added flavoring. The meat is then pierced across the meat's grain with the tool and the fat is either drawn through or pushed into the meat.

Marination is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origins of the word allude to the use of brine (aqua marina) in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flavor by immersion in liquid. The liquid in question, the 'marinade', can be acidic with ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, or wine or enzymatic (made with ingredients such as pineapple or papaya.) Along with these liquids, a marinade often contains oils, herbs, and spices to further flavor the food items.
It is commonly used to flavor foods and to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. The process may last seconds or days. Different marinades are used in different cuisines. For example, in Indian cuisine the marinade is usually prepared with a mixture of spices. Root vegetables  like beets, turnips, carrots, parsnips, onions, rutabagas, and radishes are used for braising