6 Braising Mistakes Most Beginners Make

have you ever had a braised or slow-cooked piece of meat come out dry or tough instead of moist and succulent well i have and let me tell you it is a bummer so today i've got six mistakes that most beginners make and more importantly how to solve them in the hopes that we can all turn out moist succulent and just to die for braised dishes because it's peak brazing season y'all now this video is sponsored by porter road who are offering 15 off your first order if you guys want to pick up some brazing cuts after watching this video but with that being said before we actually get to those mistakes we need to first understand why are we even brazing in the first place so as noted in the professional chef the basic process to braise almost anything is pretty simple first you've got to salt and season the meat second sear the meat then set it aside third brown and sweat and aromatic base fourth add your braising liquid with the seared meat five bring that liquid to a simmer six cover and let it braise in the oven or on the stove until it's tender seven remove it make a sauce and eight plate that dish as required now you can braise anything from meats to vegetables to fish but most commonly this is used to turn tougher cuts of meat into mouth-watering tender treats so how does this actually happen well that is all down to the collagen to gelatin transformation so this is the same idea outlined in my barbecue video and again it's the critical transformation that must happen so collagen is a type of connective tissue that is invisibly scattered throughout the muscle and bones of an animal often surrounded fibers and sheets now the more collagen a cut of meat has the tougher it is to cut and chew now generally there are three ways to make collagen less tough and more enjoyable to eat the first one is something we do all the time which is cut it into smaller pieces so here's two new york strip steaks and these are actually just cut pieces from one longer muscle and then when we actually go to cook these we cut it again before finally popping it into our mouth to eat them now the second and third methods are where things get a little bit more interesting the second way is to use meat tenderizers in the form of specific enzymes that actually dissolve and break down the collagen so an example of this is bromelain in pineapple or papaya in fresh papaya and this is kind of a whole other can of worms maybe i'll do a video on those at some point but the third way is actually transforming collagen into gelatin which is what braising does through the addition of heat and water and this gelatin leads to some very unique benefits so exactly how does this transformation work well collagen in a piece of meat is a triple helix like fiber however when heated with enough moisture these protein chains begin to unwind and melt at 160 degrees fahrenheit all the way up to 205 degrees fahrenheit but it has to spend enough time at this temperature to fully transform all the collagen into gelatin so if you're like me you may be thinking how the hell does meat cooked to that high of a temperature still stay so moist and juicy because if i cooked this steak in this pan to like 165 or 170 it's going to be dry as the sahara desert and this is where the magic of gelatin shines so as noted in the thermoblog these individual strands of gelatin are able to absorb 10 times their weight in water so the moisture that is repelled from the protein as it cooks is actually absorbed into the gelatin helping that meat stay moist again back to my steak example these must be cooked to much lower internal temperatures because if i'm searing this all the way up to say 200 degrees fahrenheit all of that moisture is going to be expelled out into my pan where it's going to evaporate off and we lose it forever now on the other hand since brazing is done inside of a moist environment over a much slower time that collagen will turn into the gelatin and actually allow us to trap some of that moisture that we are cooking our piece of meat in this gelatin is also another reason why leftover braised dishes are just as good or arguably better the next day because they are able to hold on to that moisture now i should note before moving on to the mistakes and how to solve them that this section was primarily focused on meats but you can braise vegetables or fish to great effect though it's not really about turning the collagen into gelatin but instead slowly cooking them and concentrating those flavors so in conclusion on this section why do we braise well first to turn tough cuts of meat into tender delicious ones and second to reduce and concentrate flavors over a longer period of time and then three in my opinion it's a great hands-off cooking method that is great for a crowd so brazing in general is a very forgiving technique but there are a couple of common mistakes that can be made and after going through this section you'll see just how easy they are to solve so mistake number one is choosing the wrong cut of meat if you have ever had a braised dish that ended up falling apart but it was pretty dry or maybe didn't fall apart and it ended up pretty tough that's likely because it wasn't an optimal cut for brazing now at the end of the day you can braise anything that you want you know i could braise these steaks but depending on the characteristics of the cut some are going to be more optimal for braising than other ones so what exactly do we look for well hopefully you guys can guess this but first we want a cut that is going to be high in collagen and also high in fat obviously we just talked about the importance of collagen but the fat is of utmost importance too as this is what leads to the unctuous mouth feel of that braised meat specifically as noted in on food and cooking fat contributes to the apparent tenderness of meat in three ways first the fat cells interrupt and weaken the sheet of connective tissue and the mass of the muscle fibers second the fat melts when heated rather than drying out and stiffening as the fibers do and third it lubricates the tissue helping to separate fiber from fiber without much fat otherwise tender meat becomes compacted dry and tough so which cuts are high in both collagen and fat well we just have to look at the animal so in general cuts from weight-bearing and higher activity muscles are gonna have more collagen so think your chicken thighs or legs over the breast beef chuck roast over a lean flank steak and your pork shoulder over the pork tenderloin also i gotta give a shout out to the pork tenderloin we've to stop throwing those things in crock pots and dutch ovens and using them for pulled pork they have almost no fat and no connective tissue and they're already super tender so by just braising them for a long time we essentially are just drying them out and then you need to dowse them with a bunch of like barbecue sauce or liquid instead this is a cut that's much better to say roast to 145 and then slice it into chunks or thinly slice it for sandwiches now if you are looking to get some more guidance on specific cuts to use for brazing let me thank today's sponsor porter road so i did a whole video on every cut of beef with james where we talked about characteristics and uses for each cut such as the ones from the shoulder versus the hind quarter now if you check out their website to order some goodies this holiday season they're literally going to tell you what the best cooking methods are for each cut so for example the chuck roast is from the shoulder so low and slow is going to be the name of the game here to let that connective tissue break down whereas something like the top roast which is from the hindquarter of the cow it does have connective tissue but it's going to be much much leaner so this is something we want to roast to say 120 or 130 and then use our knife to slice that into pieces for eating such as a roast beef so porter road has a ton of variety in their cuts the pork neck is another very interesting brazing piece and if you want to use the link below porter road is offering 15 off your first order um would be a pretty sick early christmas present at least if you ask me but with that being said mistake number two is not brazing for long enough so even if you have chosen an optimal cut for brazing you popped it in your dutch oven or your crock pot you come back several hours later and you're ready for dinner you pull it out and that meat is not tender what's going on here well it's simple the collagen hasn't fully turned into gelatin again like i mentioned collagen breaks down starting at 160 degrees fahrenheit all the way up to 205 degrees fahrenheit but it needs to spend enough time at these temperatures to fully transform so this kind of chuck roast i pulled out after two hours of brazing it's not even close to shreddable even though the temperature is at the high end of that melting range but it hasn't spent enough time at those temperatures for the collagen to fully turn into that gelatin now this is literally the same chuck roast just several hours later completely shreddable super moist and mouthwateringly good and this is where you're going to have to go based on the touch and feel of your meat rather than just a time or a temperature you know i can give you a range or say hey this may take around four hours but you may get back after four hours and be like ah it still needs some more time and in that case you just gotta set your doubt aside let it go for another hour or two now this mistake is very closely tied with the next one which is trying to braise and eat on the same day so this is a mistake that i still make from time to time but let me paint a quick picture for you so imagine you were bracing something for family or friends at a dinner party to start at 7 p.m the beginning of the day you're like i got plenty of time then you get busy with something and you end up starting the brace chuck roast around 3 p.m still should be plenty of time no problem then 7pm rolls around that piece of meat is not perfectly tender yet it's still tough so either you either have to serve it tough or let it braise for another hour or two while your guests wait around neither are very fun options so to avoid this situation entirely brazing is actually one of the best make ahead methods so i showcased this in my short ribs video but you can just let the braised meat and that sauce cool and then bust it out the next day the flavors are only going to deepen after sitting you know leftover cook steak is not great because those juices are lost and they just end up at the bottom of the container and you can't really get them back but braised meat again because it has that gelatin is able to absorb some of that moisture and maintain it so when it heats up it's really good the next day so if you are in charge of a braised dish next time around try making it a day or two ahead of time and you'll have a lot more fun and much less stress mistake number four is not using enough braising liquid again this is the key component in the bracing technique it is needed to help create that moist environment which is needed for collagen to fully transform into that gelatin additionally the brazing liquid helps us control the temperature because again water cannot get above 212 degrees fahrenheit so in general you're going to want to come up about three-fourths of the way up the piece of meat which should give you plenty of liquid to use now if you are running low on liquid after several hours that likely means the stove was either too hot or the oven was too hot and in this case you can just add some more braising liquid if you do want to make a sauce out of those juices mistake number five is under salting now you could put this on any cooking list but for braising i really do recommend doing a dry brine which is going to help internally season the meat it's going to help the meat hold on to more moisture and it's going to dry out the surface area for better searing even if you have an insanely flavorful aromatic base and spices those can't actually penetrate further than about 1 8 of an inch into the meat so by taking out those short ribs or the chuck roast and salting it a day or several hours ahead of time we'll also help you get that internally seasoned meat and get you an insane sear which only adds to the depth of flavor of your braise mistake number six is not experimenting with the flavor profile so i personally have helped permeate this steak red wine braised short ribs american style pot roast beef burgundy these things have all been done countless countless times but the beauty about braising in general is that it truly can be a blank canvas for you to experiment on take a look at all the steps again all these highlighted areas are where you can control the flavor profile for example you could season the meat with spices from mexico india or china you could choose a bracing cut from pig lamb chicken or beef you can use an aromatic base to match your spice blend and lastly you can experiment with stalks salsa sodas or just about any liquid you can probably braise in it for me i decided to do a chuck roast that i dry brined then spread a rub of cumin seed chili powder garlic powder paprika and oregano before searing that off in this case i used an aromatic base of poblano peppers onions and a bunch of garlic then i made an ancho chili puree that i mixed with beef stock as my braising liquid then you stick it in the oven and you let it go and i served that over some potatoes for kind of a mexican inspired pot roast which the leftovers also made some killer tacos the next day all right everyone so let me know down in the comments below what are some of your favorite braised dishes and also if you have some ideas on more topics for me to cover in kind of this format of video let me know as well i've got a bunch of ideas but always always enjoy some more so that's going to wrap it up for me in this one i will catch you all in the next one you remember you guys can get 15 below on porter road using that link but i will catch you all in the next one peace out

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 753,753

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, braising meat, braising cooking method, braising mistakes most beginners make, how to braise, braising 101, braising, braised meat, how to braise meat, braised short ribs, braised chuck roast, braising cuts, braised meat recipes

Id: qt_rPBkdtQc

Length: 14min 27sec (867 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 08 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/creamersrealm]

I really liked the breakdown in this video, it helped me understand it at it's core.