Braising
Brown the meat, half-cover it with wine or stock, put the lid on and leave it in a low oven until the toughest cuts turn soft and the liquid becomes a sauce.
Why it works
Braising is a two-part method. First you brown the meat in fat over high heat for flavour. Then you cook it slowly in a covered pot with liquid coming partway up the sides, so the bottom simmers and the top cooks in the steam trapped under the lid. Stewing is the same idea with smaller pieces fully covered in liquid. Braising uses bigger pieces and less liquid, so the sauce ends up more concentrated.
The cuts that braise well are the hard-working muscles: shin, cheek, shoulder, neck, tail. They are full of collagen, the connective tissue that makes them chewy when cooked fast. Held hot and wet for long enough, collagen breaks down into gelatin. That is what turns the meat soft and gives the sauce its sticky, lip-coating body. The change starts slowly from about 70 °C and goes much faster nearer 90 °C, which is why braises take hours.
The catch is that muscle fibres tighten as they heat and squeeze out their juice. Above 60 °C or so, meat loses moisture steadily, and at a rolling boil the fibres clench hard enough to turn even a fatty cut dry and stringy. So you want the liquid at a bare simmer, around 90–95 °C: hot enough to melt collagen in a few hours, gentle enough not to wring the meat out. The gelatin then coats the fibres, so the meat feels moist in the mouth.
A low oven is the easiest way to hold that temperature. Heat reaches the pot from every side rather than only from below, nothing catches on the base, and the liquid settles just under the boil without you watching it. Lean cuts like fillet or loin have almost no collagen to gain, so they only get drier. Braise the tough cuts and roast or sear the tender ones.
What you need
- Heavy casserole with a lid: Enamelled cast iron of 4–6 litres is ideal; it browns well, holds heat evenly and goes from hob to oven.
- Tongs: For turning meat while browning without piercing it.
- Flat-edged wooden spoon: Scrapes the browned bits off the base when you deglaze.
- Fine sieve: For straining the sauce before you reduce it, if you want it smooth.
- Ladle or fat separator: Skims fat off the hot sauce; a separator jug pours the juices from underneath the fat.
- Baking paper: A sheet pressed onto the surface under the lid (a cartouche) cuts evaporation and keeps exposed meat from drying.
Step by step
Cut big and salt early
Leave small cuts whole and cut boneless ones like chuck or shoulder into pieces of at least 5 cm, so they hold together over hours of cooking. Trim thick outer fat and any silver skin, but leave the internal fat and sinew; that is where the collagen is. Salt the meat well, ideally the day before, and keep it uncovered in the fridge.
Tip: Salting ahead seasons the meat right through and dries the surface, so it browns faster.
Brown in batches
Pat the meat dry. Heat a thin film of oil in the casserole over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add only as many pieces as fit with a finger's width between them, and leave them alone until they release easily and are deep brown, then turn. Lift each batch out and carry on.
Tip: Crowding drops the pan temperature and the meat stews in its own juice instead of browning. Three patient batches beat one grey one.
Build the base
Pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of fat. Lower the heat and add finely chopped onion, carrot and celery, the Italian soffritto or French mirepoix, with a pinch of salt. Cook for 10–15 minutes until soft and golden, scraping the base as the vegetables release moisture. Add garlic for the last minute.
Toast the tomato paste
Stir in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and fry it for 2–3 minutes until it darkens from bright red to rust. This cooks out its raw, tinny edge and caramelises its sugars, adding savoury depth even to braises that do not taste of tomato.
Tip: Stop if it starts to look black at the edges. Burnt paste makes the whole sauce bitter.
Deglaze with wine
Pour in the wine and scrape up every brown bit stuck to the base; that fond is concentrated flavour from the browning. Boil it hard until reduced by about half. This concentrates the wine and softens its sharpness, which would otherwise sit raw in the finished sauce.
Tip: Use a wine you would drink, but there is no need for an expensive one. A dry, fruity red suits beef and lamb; dry white suits veal, pork and chicken.
Add the meat and liquid
Return the meat and any juices from the plate, tucking it into a snug single layer. Add herbs such as bay, thyme or rosemary. Pour in stock until it comes about a third to halfway up the meat. The exposed tops will cook in steam and colour slightly, and less liquid means less reducing later.
Tip: A snug pot matters. In a pot that is too wide, you need far more liquid to reach the same depth, and the sauce ends up thin.
Cover and cook low
Bring the liquid just to a simmer on the hob, put the lid on and move the pot to an oven at 140–160 °C; 150 °C suits most braises. After 30 minutes, lift the lid. You want a lazy bubble or two, not a rolling boil. Turn the meat halfway through and add a splash of water if the level has dropped below a third.
Tip: On the hob, use the lowest heat that keeps a bare simmer and stir from the base now and then so nothing catches.
Test with a fork, not the clock
Start checking at the low end of the times in the table. Push a fork or skewer into the thickest piece: it should slide in and out with almost no resistance, and the meat should yield and start to separate when pressed. If it grips the fork or springs back, it needs longer. Check every 20–30 minutes.
Rest, skim and reduce
Take the pot out and let the meat rest in the liquid for at least 20 minutes; meat cooled out of its liquid dries on the surface. Lift the meat out, skim off the fat, then strain the sauce if you like it smooth. Boil it down until it coats the back of a spoon, taste and only then adjust the salt, and return the meat to warm through.
Tip: If the sauce is reduced but still thin, whisk in a little beurre manié (equal parts soft butter and flour) and simmer for 2 minutes.
Brighten before serving
Hours of cooking leave a braise rich and rounded but sometimes heavy. A squeeze of lemon, a few drops of vinegar or a scatter of gremolata (chopped parsley, grated lemon zest and a little raw garlic) lifts it. Serve with something to catch the sauce: mash, polenta, risotto, boiled potatoes or bread.
Cuts and oven times at 150 °C
| Cut | Time at 150 °C | Notes |
|---|
| Beef short rib, bone-in | 3–3.5 h | Rich and fatty; chill overnight to lift the fat. |
| Beef cheek | 3–4 h | Full of collagen; turns spoon-soft and glossy. |
| Beef shin, 5 cm pieces | 3–3.5 h | The best stewing beef; lean meat laced with sinew. |
| Beef chuck, 5 cm pieces | 2.5–3 h | Reliable all-rounder for bourguignon and kalops. |
| Oxtail | 3.5–4 h | Lots of bone and fat; the sauce sets firm when cold. |
| Osso buco (veal shin, 3–4 cm slices) | 2–2.5 h | Tie round the middle so it keeps its shape. |
| Lamb shank | 2.5–3 h | Done when the meat shrinks back from the bone. |
| Lamb neck, on the bone or fillet | 2–2.5 h | Fillet needs the shorter end; it is sweet and fatty. |
| Pork shoulder, 5 cm pieces | 2.5–3 h | Takes well to cider, milk or soy-based liquids. |
| Pork cheek | 2–2.5 h | Small and quick for a braise; very tender. |
| Chicken legs, whole | 1–1 h 15 min | Brown skin-side down well first. |
| Chicken thighs, bone-in | 45–60 min | Keep the skin above the liquid so it stays crisp-edged. |
Classic braises around the world
| Country | Dish | Liquid | Aromatics |
|---|
| Italy | Osso buco alla milanese | Dry white wine, light stock | Soffritto, bay; finished with gremolata, served with saffron risotto |
| Italy | Brasato al Barolo | Barolo, often as an overnight marinade | Onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay, rosemary, clove, cinnamon |
| France | Boeuf bourguignon | Red Burgundy, beef stock | Lardons, small onions, mushrooms, garlic, bouquet garni |
| France | Coq au vin | Red wine, chicken stock | Lardons, small onions, mushrooms, thyme, bay |
| Belgium | Carbonade flamande | Dark beer | Lots of onion, thyme, bay, brown sugar, vinegar, bread spread with mustard |
| Sweden | Kalops | Water or light beef stock | Onion, carrot, whole allspice, bay; served with boiled potatoes and pickled beetroot |
| Morocco | Lamb tagine with prunes | A little water or stock | Onion, ginger, saffron, cinnamon, honey, toasted almonds |
| China | Hong shao rou (red-braised pork belly) | Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, water | Ginger, spring onion, star anise, cinnamon, rock sugar |
| Korea | Galbi-jjim (braised short ribs) | Soy sauce, water, grated pear | Garlic, ginger, spring onion, sesame oil, chestnuts, jujubes |
| Mexico | Birria | Puréed dried chillies, vinegar, stock | Garlic, cumin, oregano, clove, cinnamon, bay |
Troubleshooting
The time is up but the meat is still tough
It is not done yet. Collagen breaks down on its own schedule, and an older animal or a larger piece can take an hour more than the table suggests. Put the lid back on and keep testing every 30 minutes.
It falls apart but tastes dry and stringy
The liquid boiled rather than simmered, or the meat cooked well past tender. Lower the oven by 10–20 °C next time and check that only a bubble or two breaks the surface. Very lean cuts do this too, so pick shin, cheek or shoulder over topside or silverside, and let the meat cool in its liquid.
The meat went grey instead of brown
It was wet or the pan was crowded, so it steamed. Pat it dry, heat the fat until it shimmers, and brown in smaller batches without moving the pieces until they release.
The sauce is thin and watery
Too much liquid, or a pot too wide for the meat. Lift the meat out and boil the sauce hard until it coats a spoon. Next time use less liquid, a snugger pot, or take the lid off for the last 30–45 minutes.
The sauce is greasy
Fatty cuts like short rib and oxtail render a lot of fat. Skim it with a ladle, use a fat separator, or best of all chill the whole pot overnight and lift off the solid fat.
The sauce is too salty
Salted stock or bacon was reduced along with everything else. Thin the sauce with water or unsalted stock and thicken it again with beurre manié. Next time use unsalted stock and salt only after reducing.
It tastes rich but flat
It needs salt or acid, usually both. Season after reducing, then add lemon juice, a little vinegar or gremolata a few drops at a time until the flavour lifts.
Cool it fast, reheat it hot
A big pot of braise cools slowly, and some bacteria that survive cooking as spores can multiply quickly in warm, meaty liquid. Get leftovers cold quickly and heat them thoroughly when you serve them again.
- Cool leftovers quickly and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Divide a large batch into shallow containers, or stand the pot in a sink of cold water and ice and stir now and then.
- Keep braises in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze them for up to 3 months and thaw them in the fridge.
- Reheat until piping hot all the way through, with the sauce bubbling and the centre of the meat steaming, not just warm.
- Reheat only the portion you need, and reheat it only once.
