What Is Particularly Important When Braising?

Braising describes a particularly gentle method of cooking meat, vegetables, or fish. You can stew the ingredients on the stove – or use a roaster or a casserole. Both allow for stewing in the oven. It is best to use a large pot with a tight-fitting lid made of earthenware, cast iron, but also stainless steel, which you can ideally use on the stovetop and in the oven. When braising, first sear the food on all sides. Dust the stew with a little flour before you deglaze it with a little liquid. In this way, you prevent it from leaching out too much after deglazing and you only get a strong sauce. The temperature is also important when braising. It must be low. Therefore, switch the oven to circulating air at 150 degrees and generate a temperature of between 80 and 100 degrees in the roasting pan for braising on the stove. This lack of heat can extend the cooking process to several hours. Our classic braised beef, on the other hand, only takes around 90 minutes to cook. We also use our expert knowledge to explain how the perfect pot roast succeeds.

Braising in pan and pot: the liquid

Do not add too much water, wine, marinade, or stock to the slow cooker to finish cooking. Otherwise, the food is cooked rather than stewed – and the flavors don’t come out as well. Vegetables just cover you with liquid, while meat just lies in some liquid. The lid must always remain closed tightly during cooking so that no flavors or nutrients can escape. The question of whether you stew with or without a lid is answered accordingly. In the end, you not only have a delicious stew, for example particularly tender meat that almost falls apart but also a nice stock. You can process this into a tasty sauce. If you want to stew meat, you can use beef, pork, lamb, or poultry. Only the breast of chicken and turkey is not suitable. Always use streaky meat, for beef and pork, for example from the neck, thigh, hind leg, or comb. Such variants become more tender.