Why brown meat before braising?
A successful dish isn’t only about the ingredients. There’s a lot of flavour in method too. That’s why, when I braise meat, I always caramelise it on all sides first. By caramelising the meat, browning it all over, you get number one, fabulous flavour and number two, colour. This makes all the difference to the finished sauce. It also removes any excess fat from the meat. Use a good cast iron frying pan. They retain the heat better and if you look after them well, they’ll last a lifetime. The cheap ones will be in the bin in a month. Be patient. Wait until the pan is incredibly hot before adding the meat. This is because you remove the heat from it when you add big chunks of meat to the pan. You should even think in terms of almost overheating it initially. Make sure you have enough oil in the pan. Without sufficient oil, you scorch rather than caramelise the meat. When the pan’s not hot enough, the meat releases water so you’re really just boiling it.
