The Main Dish - Winter is For Braising
When it's cold outside, reach for your Dutch Oven
If you want your entire house to smell like delicious food, then you need to start braising this winter! The word “braise” is derived from an 18th century French word (also “braise”), meaning live coals, which would serve to heat a large pot of food. A modern braise describes a dish in which meat, vegetables, or both are cooked in a small amount of liquid over low heat for a long time. I would be a bit loose with this definition though because of how ubiquitous pressure cooking has become, and you can certainly make a good “braise-like” dish using a pressure cooker.
Traditional braising takes time. So why go to the trouble? Well, as I mentioned, it’s a great way to make your house smell great, and keep it warm if you are using the oven. In my opinion, braises are also the quintessential one pot meal. Think of a pot roast. You have the beef. You have the potatoes. You have the carrots and onion. Maybe even some bay leaves or thyme swimming around in there. Protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients…all in the same pot. It’s easy, which is one reason why I love braises so much. Braising is a great way to save time on kitchen cleanup.
Some of the most flavorful dishes I have ever cooked have been braises. It turns out that when you have an amalgamation of different ingredients all cooking together for a long time, it’s a great way to let flavors mingle and develop. There are lots of thoughts as to why braises are so delicious and pack in that extra flavor. Firstly, if you are using meat and brown it before the braise, this creates flavor through the Maillard reaction (protein reacting with sugars), which can deepen during the braising process. The long cooking time also means that a greater number of chemical reactions can take place during cooking, which could allow for development of a more complex flavor profile of the final dish. The proteins in meat can also degrade during the cooking process (such as collagen breaking down into gelatin). This not only creates more tender meat, but could result in more free glutamate present in the final dish, which could constitute a more “savory” flavor. Finally, some of the liquid may evaporate during the braising process, which means that flavor of the final dish will be concentrated as time goes on.
So I mentioned that some of the most flavorful dishes I have ever made were braises. I wanted to share a few of my favorites here. If you are inspired to cook up a braise in the next week or two, I would highly recommend any of these:
Chicken Paprikash (Hungary) - This is a delicious and beginner friendly dish to cook. It’s also one of my all-time favorite dishes. If braising white and dark meat chicken in a rich sauce flavored with onions, paprika, and sour cream sounds delicious, then this one is for you. This dish is traditionally eaten with nokedli (a type of Hungarian dumpling) but I usually serve it with rice and a green vegetable on the side.
Chicken Dopiaza (South Asia) - Dopiaza is derived from a Persian word “دوپیازه” meaning “double onions”. This is because onions are typically added while cooking to become part of the sauce and after cooking as a topping. Did I mention that this dish is all about onions? A very generous amount of onion is what constitutes the primary flavor of the sauce. Ginger, garlic, and fenugreek are also often notable flavors in this dish. Serve with basmati rice. I have made this before with chicken, but other meat is commonly used as well.
Braised Beef Oxtail (Jamaica) - There are many ways to make braised oxtail. All of them are delicious but I wanted to give a shoutout to the Jamaican version because I have a funny story to tell. Braised oxtail takes a long time to cook, so keep in mind that you may need to keep this one on the stove longer than your recipe indicates to end up with mouthwatering tender oxtail rather than big bones with some meat that won’t come off. One of the key ingredients in Jamaican braised oxtail is the scotch bonnet chile. Ranked similarly to habanero peppers on the Scoville scale of heat, these are VERY SPICY chiles! One time when I made this dish, I added a whole scotch bonnet on top of the braise so it was mostly submerged in the liquid. I thought this would be a great way to transfer the flavor of the chile without all of the heat…but then I forgot about the dish for a while while it was on the stove top. Please learn from my mistake…when you add the chile, watch it closely, otherwise it will dissolve into your braise, which you DO NOT WANT to happen! In case you are wondering, that particular braise turned out good, but was so spicy that it would probably be inedible for someone even mildly aversive to spicy foods.
If you are looking for a good braise to make this month, you can’t go wrong with anything above. Of course, there are countless other options out there and I would certainly encourage exploration to find something that resonates with the type of food you want to cook. Stay warm and happy braising.