Braising

Combination cooking methods, such as braising (includes sate and stewing). Combination cooking uses both dry- and moist-heat methods.

- braising works well for portion-size pieces of foods but not for smaller pieces as they can break apart if handled too much
- once a food is browned, a small amount of a flavorful liquid is added to continue cooking
- braising liquid should come to 1/2 to 2/3 the height of the product being braised
- braising liquid is often thickened or puréed to form part of the sauce
- the braise should rest for 30 minutes or so after cooking so it can continue to develop flavor and cook
- braising ingredients should fit snugly in the pot, and the lid must be tight fitting
- in general, braised or combination cooked foods are done once fork tender.

Note: You can achieve results similar to braising by roasting food in a flavorful liquid in the oven until it softens and develops external color. In this case, the portion of food exposed to the dry air of the oven will gain coloration while the portion under the liquid will soften.

The speed at which a liquid thickens is relative to the amount of sugar and starch in the liquid. The higher the sugar and starch, the faster it will reduce. For example, liquids with fruit pastes, purees, tomato products and tomato pastes will tend to reduce more quickly.

If you’d like a thicker consistency, add a slurry of cornstarch and water or arrowroot and water. This will change the reduction into a glaze. Another way to produce a thicker sauce is to blend the reduction with an immersion blender.