Question: What is the difference between braising and boiling? Boiling seems pretty simple; is braising more complex? – R.B., West Palm Beach
Answer: Both methods are recognized techniques of cooking and are basically the same – cooking and tenderizing ingredients in some liquid. The main differences lie in the amount of liquid used and the intensity of the heat applied. The method you want to use will often be dictated by the ingredients.
Boiling, as used in common parlance, is a pretty straightforward moist-cooking method – you bring a potful of water to boil, perhaps with some salt, and cook the ingredients until done. But when you look at it more closely, a slew of possibilities open up.
Should the water be, and stay, at a rolling boil, a gentle boil or just a bare simmer? Should the liquid cover the food entirely or just part way? Should the pot be covered or not?
When boiling, you also have to adjust several factors to suit the ingredients; otherwise the result will not be pleasing. The method won’t be the same for pasta as for a thin piece of fish.
The amount of liquid used is generally a lot, covering the food at least half way up, and in some cases way above, as for pasta and the lots-of-water rice-cooking. The pot is often left uncovered, especially when cooking at higher heat. Ingredients are generally not browned in oil first, before water and other liquids are added.
For braising, on the other hand, the ingredient is first browned in a small amount of oil; then some form of liquid – generally a flavorful broth – is added to cover the food about one-third way up or less. The pot is gently simmered over lower heat, tightly covered, for a fairly long period. And since the pot is covered, the process also utilizes the trapped steam to speed up cooking.
Benefiting as it does from both moist-heat and dry-heat cooking, braising is eminently suited for tenderizing a tougher cut of meat, turning its chewy sinews to melt-in-the mouth gelatin. (The so-called New England Boiled Dinner should really be called a braised dinner, since that is the method really used.) Once braising is complete, the flavorful residual liquid is used to make a sauce or gravy. Braising can be used for other relatively tough ingredients besides meat.
A related technique, initiated by French chefs, is known as “sweating.” It is generally used for vegetables, which are uniformly cut and placed in a frying pan with a small amount of fat. The pan is covered and cooked over low heat until the veggies release their juices and become tender. Flavorings may be added before covering the pan or when serving.
My wife Kaisari cooks cut-up green beans this way, but also adds a tablespoon or two of water or broth with the extra virgin olive oil. She covers the pan and cooks over low heat until the beans are crisp-tender. They retain their color surprisingly well.
When I am near the stove, I sneak in a small pat of butter at the end to add some extra flavor.
Q. How long can I hold a ham bone in the refrigerator? I bought the bone to make soup, and it has been there for 10 days or maybe more. Is it still safe? – Don J., West Palm Beach
A. I would throw it away pronto. When you cook it in a soup for a pretty long time and on fairly high heat, the pathogens that must have grown rampant on it may all be dead and sanitized, but many of these germs also put out toxins that no amount of normal heat will neutralize. It would be foolish to risk your health for just a cheap part of the pig.
NOTES FROM OUR KITCHEN
I consider a sharp, serrated bread knife an important tool in the kitchen. No other knife can cut slices as clean and straight out of a fresh loaf of bread as that one can. You can have the bakery slice it for you, but often oven-fresh bread is difficult to slice until it cools down, the reason they often come in finely perforated plastic bags. I couldn’t resist buying a good bread knife recently from Tuesday Morning, although I have an expensive old one that’s getting a bit worn around the teeth.
