Braising Meat

Braising as a method of cookery is similar to pot roasting, except that in this case the meat is fully covered with liquid during cooking.

It's most suitable use is for those tougher cuts of meat, such as blade steak, which nevertheless repay prolonged cooking with exceptional flavor. It has the effect of breaking down tissue fibre, making it tender and edible. The texture is further improved by being cooked in the braising liquid.

This may be water, stock, wine or a mixture of the last two. For the basic recipe we will just use the kind of liquid stock you can buy at the supermarket.

The recipe is for 4 people:

Ingredients
750g (1.5lbs) blade steak or similar
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 stick of celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed (optional)
1 sprig thyme
few parsley stalks
30g (1oz) clarified butter OR 2tbs oil
stock to cover - about 2 cups
salt and pepper
flour

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F

Have ready a close-covered casserole dish that you can also use on top of the stove.

Season the flour with the salt and pepper.

Dust the meat with the flour, shaking off any excess. Heat the butter or oil in the casserole dish and brown the meat on both sides over a medium heat.

Remove and replace with the vegetables and the garlic, if using. Brown these, using a little more fat if necessary, then add a little stock or wine to loosen the residue on the bottom of the pan. This is called 'de-glazing'. Use a wooden spoon to scrape and stir this into the stock then add the steak, the herbs and enough extra stock to come just over the meat.

Cover tightly and braise undisturbed in the centre of the oven for 90 minutes.

At the end of the cooking time, remove the meat and keep warm. Strain the stock and discard the vegetables which will be soft and tasteless. Draw any excess fat off the surface using kitchen paper.

You can now either thicken the stock with a little cornstarch or arrowroot for gravy, or leave it as it is. You could also add a little tomato ketchup or purée to it, which will improve the color and add in a bit more flavor.

First published on Qassia