The Braise

It wouldn’t be a comfort food diner if there wasn’t a braise on the menu at all times. Although you can braise vegetables (braised cabbage for instance is fantastic), braising usually refers to cooking meat, in particular tough cuts of meat. The method involves first searing the meat at a high heat, then adding a cooking liquid and a few veggies such as onions and carrots and parsnips, and slowly simmering the concoction for a long time with the lid on. I recommend All About Braising by Molly Stevens as an excellent book on the subject.

My single favourite braise involves short ribs of beef and beer. It doesn’t get much simpler. Brown the short ribs with a little oil in your Dutch oven. Add enough beer to almost but not quite cover the short ribs.  Chop up an onion and a couple carrots and one potato and add them. Add a little Worcestershire Sauce, some dried thyme and basil, a pinch of hot chile flakes, and a little salt. Stir it about. Put the lid on, and put the pot in your oven at about 300F. Drink the rest of the beer, and perhaps crack open another for good measure.

In about an hour and a half, take the pot out of the oven and have a look, just to reassure yourself that you’re on the right track. Put it back in and go have another beer.  After about three hours, take the meat and veggies out of the pot and reduce the remaining liquid on the stove (if required) to make a fantastically concentrated sauce. Serve it up with big chunks of fresh crusty bread. To really jazz it up, sautee some wild mushrooms in butter and spoon the mushrooms over the short ribs when you serve.