Tag Archives: slow cooker

A guide to the best barbecue sauce (and beer) for every meat

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ahhh! Barbecue sauce. A hot button culinary topic if there ever was one. 

Fortunately, I’m a meat guy from the home of lobster and clam chowdah, so my loyalties with BBQ sauce aren’t regional and tend to be with whatever will make what I’m cooking taste amazing! 

Here’s a breakdown of some of the fantastic barbecue sauces you can find throughout America. These are best when done following a homemade bbq sauce recipe, hundreds of which are online and you can experiment with. The best bbq sauces avoid high-fructose corn syrup-heavy ingredients for cayenne peppers, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. However, sometimes a little ketchup can be all you need to make the perfect sauce for any meat.

Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

The white barbecue sauce made famous at Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q in Northern Alabama is by far one for the more unique of the American BBQ sauces, but only because our national perception of the perfect sauce for BBQ chicken is shaped by the rows of dark brown Sweet Baby Ray’s bottles lining our grocery stores and the more midwestern and coastal influences of Kansas City, Memphis, and Carolina.

Honestly, mixing mayo and horseradish is phenomenal; Robert Gibson knew what he was doing 96 years ago when he invented the sauce.

Alabama White sauce is best for… 

Grilled chicken or pork chops. Lightly flavored meat, some char from the grill, a creamy tangy sauce to dip into. 

 It is amazing paired with a summer ale, something with a creamy finish and citrus notes.

Memphis BBQ Sauce 

Next, we go to the signature barbecue flavor of Memphis, Tennessee. Traditionally Memphis BBQ is dry rub only and often served with sauce on the side. Memphis sauce features lots of molasses and vinegar, and tomato-based, often by using tomato paste. This is all to say it’s certainly a familiar barbecue flavor but is often much thinner than your average BBQ sauce.


Try Memphis BBQ sauce on… 

Definitely smoked baby back ribs. Memphis BBQ is a great way to serve ribs if you want to avoid the mess of traditionally-sauced ribs. Memphis ribs are dry, the sauce is wet, and your fingers stay clean! Mostly…

The perfect beer for Memphis BBQ is definitely an IPA. With a light and refreshing taste but some bitter hoppy undertones, and IPA can bang heads with the smokey spicy bark on great ribs.

Texas Barbecue Sauce

Now to Texas. The Lone Star State is big, bold, spicy, and tangy; they also have great BBQ sauce. Featuring a tomato sauce base and a combination of garlic, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice, Texas sauce using has some extra heat from cayenne peppers, chipotle peppers, or some other chili pepper.

Seriously, Texas sauce has immense flavor and purposefully so, Texas barbecue is magnificent. 

Texas Barbecue sauce was made for…

Beef brisket. There is no choice but brisket. Beefy, bold, and fatty, the most flavorful of all meats is magical with the richest of all BBQ sauces.

As for a libation to go with the BBQ brisket, I’d go light here, mostly because I want room for more brisket. All the ranchers I’ve met drink Michelob Ultra like water. So judge if need be, but don’t knock it till you try it. 

St. Louis Barbecue Sauce

Rolling into Missouri we have the home of the great St Louis ribs. Good pork tends to be sweet, and the classic St. Louis sauce is sweet to match. Sticky. Sweet. Tomato-based. Unlike most other American barbecue sauces, St. Louis prefers to hold the liquid smoke from their namesake sauce. If you’re gonna sauce your ribs, this is the way to do it. 

Best use for St. Louis sauce…

St Louis ribs of course. But the flavors work great on really any fatty cut of BBQ pork.

And as for beer, the only choice is the St. Louis original, Budweiser, right?

Kansas City BBQ Sauce

Staying in Missouri, we next have the ubiquitous Kansas City style of sauce. This is closest to the universal BBQ sauce experience. Thick, sweet, smokey, and tomato-based, with ketchup as a key ingredient, Kansas City BBQ sauce is pretty much delicious on anything. 

Smother Kansas City sauce on…

The most beefy-tasty meats like sirloin steaks, chuck steaks, the cowboy cuts, or brisket burnt ends. All these cuts have to have enough beefy flavor to marry well with such a rich sauce.

I’d lean towards hops again for a beer to go with St. Louis barbecue ribs. You want something to cut the richness, definitely a hoppy lager. Sam Adams is a personal fave, but maybe I’m biased, having grown up not far from their headquarters in Boston.

South Carolina Barbecue Sauce

Moving into the Carolinas is where flavor and consistency get really interesting. In South Carolina, we leave the tomato-based sauces behind for mustard, vinegar, as well as ground black pepper, garlic, and other spices. This sauce is spicy, super tangy, and has a dash of sweetness. It is amazing on smoked pork matching well with the rich meat with incredible brightness. 

South Carolina sauce should drench…

Pulled pork. It’s how I was taught by a Deep South chef, and goshdarnit, if it ain’t still the best choice on tender, smoked pork.

Beer? Again, let’s match with a craft IPA. I’m looking for citrus, maybe even some tropical notes. Something fruity to add sweetness as a counterpoint the tanginess of the sauce, so a cloudy New England-Style IPA is perfect. I like local favorite Night Shift based in Everett, MA, which has an amazing choice of varieties. 

Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce

Into eastern North Carolina we go, where we encounter perhaps the simplest of all BBQ sauces. Basically, this style is just vinegar and spices like cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes. It’s a sauce that works well with anything grilled or smoked and really lets the meat speak for itself.

Use Eastern NC sauce with…

Pork chops, grilled chicken, dressing for a chicken salad, and any lighter meats that can use a tangy boost. 

Best with a lighter beer, I’d go with a pale lager or pilsner. Make sure it is full-bodied enough to add some richness but light enough not to overwhelm.

Western North Carolina BBQ Sauce

They take BBQ sauce very seriously in the Carolinas. It is, after all, thought to be the birthplace of American BBQ. And so, in western North Carolina we find a second variety. This one is similar to its eastern cousin, but with the addition of some tomato for flavor. 

Good luck arguing which sauce is better with anyone from the Tarheel State. Fortunately for me, I get to pick and choose my loyalties…

I can’t get enough Western Carolina sauce on…

Some of the richer cuts of light meat like chicken thighs, pork sirloin, and country-style ribs The tomato adds a bit of sweet acidity to this sauce that helps those more flavorful cuts.

Pair with a wheat beer — like an Allagash — that adds a bit of muted sweetness with a barely there tanginess. A real compliment to the Lexington Piedmont style sauce.

 

A taco-stuffed sweet potato? Another great recipe from Paleohacks

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The great recipe team at Paleohacks has shared another tasty dish with Roam. This Mexican-inspired recipe features sweet potatoes stuffed with taco meat and topped with homemade guacamole for a single serving meal everyone will love!

Ditch the tortilla and stuff your favorite taco fixings inside tender roasted sweet potatoes for a filling and guilt-free meal.

Tacos are a dinner staple that everyone can agree on. However, when following a Paleo lifestyle, tortillas can be difficult to replace. Traditional tortillas and other grain-filled foods can cause bloating, which is why sweet potatoes are such a great alternative. Plus, they’re big enough to stuff with drool-worthy toppings for a fun twist on taco night.

Grass-fed ground beef carries the smoky taco spices, like cumin, onion powder, and chili powder. A little tomato paste adds to the tangy zip. And as we all know, no taco is complete without a scoop of creamy guacamole. This one is kept simple with chopped onion, cilantro, and jalapeños so you can mash it together while the meat sizzles on the stove.

stuffed sweet potatoes

Get started by greasing the sweet potatoes with avocado oil, which helps to lightly crisp up the skins. Bake for one hour, then let the sweet potatoes cool at room temperature while preparing the other ingredients.

Meanwhile, heat ground beef in a skillet until browned, then stir in dry seasonings, tomato paste, and a little water. Cook about five minutes more.

While the taco meat cooks, make the guacamole by mashing an avocado until just slightly chunky. Add red onion, cilantro, sea salt, and jalapeños.

When everything’s ready, slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise and fill it up with taco meat. Top with a scoop of guacamole and finish with freshly diced tomatoes. Enjoy it while it’s hot!

stuffed sweet potatoes

Other great toppings to include:

  • Pickled jalapeño
  • Diced mango
  • Sliced radishes
  • Chopped bell pepper 

Tip: Try baking up a few additional sweet potatoes so you can have these decadent sweet potato brownies for dessert!

Taco-Stuffed Sweet Potato 

Prep time- 10 minutes

Cook time- 1 hour, 15 minutes

Total time- 1 hour, 25 minutes

Serves- 4 

Tools

Parchment paper

Baking sheet

Skillet

Spatula

Small bowl 

Ingredients

stuffed sweet potatoes

4 sweet potatoes

1 T avocado oil

1 lb ground beef

1 T ground cumin

2 t chili powder

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t onion powder

1/4 t cayenne pepper

2 T tomato paste

1/4 cup water

1 medium ripe avocado

2 T red onion, chopped

1 T cilantro

1 T minced jalapeños

1/4 t sea salt

1/2 cup tomatoes, diced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Grease the outsides of the sweet potatoes with avocado oil and set on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, then let cool.

3. Meanwhile, heat ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, using a spatula to break up the meat. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Stir in dry seasonings, tomato paste, and water until thoroughly combined. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.

5. While the taco meat cooks, prepare the topping: Mash an avocado in a small bowl. Add the chopped red onion, cilantro, jalapeños, and sea salt. Stir well.

6. When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them down the center lengthwise. Stuff with the taco meat, then add a scoop of the guacamole and diced tomatoes and serve.

If you liked this recipe, then you’ll love this sweet potato cheeseburger casserole recipe that you can make with just one pan.

 

Baby back ribs – A smoky, sticky summer treat that you can enjoy anytime

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Baby back ribs are a staple of true barbecue masters’ arsenal — from St. Louis to Memphis, South Carolina to the heart of Texas.

And whether slow cooked for a few hours in a Crock Pot or an entire day in a smoker, baby back ribs are delectable no matter how they are prepared.

The cut comes from the top of a pig’s rib cage, specifically the area just below the loin between the spine and what we know of as the spare ribs. Baby back ribs are distinguishable by their tapered shape and the greater amount of meat — compared to spare ribs — often found on top of and between the rib bones. Usually, a rack of baby back ribs includes between eight to 13 ribs that vary in length from three inches to about six inches.

While any reputable smokehouse or barbecue shop will have baby back ribs, how to cook them — more specifically, how to flavor them — is a source of disagreement among the major barbecue regions of America: Carolina, Texas, Memphis, and Kansas City styles. Although we don’t have to break down which version of BBQ is best at this moment, there is something perfect with having a little sweet and savory flavor added to baby back ribs. 

baby-back-ribs

Baby back ribs are also one of the cuts of heritage-breed pork that ButcherBox Head Chef Yankel Polak loves to experiment with when he cooks.

“Every time I cook baby back ribs, I learn something new,” Chef Yankel says. “They are super flavorful and have just the right amount of fat.”

“And of course anything with a bone attached is just that much better.”

There are many ways to cook baby back ribs. You can check out a few in our recipe pages.

But Chef Yankel has a very specific method to get his ribs just right: “I give them one hour of smoke at 225°F, then two hours in the oven at 250°F, wrapped tightly in foil, bone side down and with a splash of vinegar.”

“To finish,” Chef Yankel explains, “I give them 30 minutes on the grill with about 10 applications of a sweet and sticky BBQ sauce.”

You can check out Chef Yankel preparing his “Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs with Chipotle Pineapple BBQ Sauce” in this video or use the “Sweet and Sour Slow Cooker Ribs” recipe below if you don’t have a smoker but want to slow cook your baby back ribs.

Sweet and Sour Slow Cooker Ribs

Ingredients:

  •  1 pack ButcherBox Baby Back Ribs

The Rub:

  • 1 Tbsp onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 Tbsp ginger powder
  • 1 Tbsp dry mustard powder
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • ½ tsp cayenne
  • 1  tsp black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp kosher salt

The Liquid

  • ¼ c maple syrup
  • ¼ c coconut amino
  • ¼ c sherry vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp liquid smoke

Directions:

      1. Pat dry ribs with a paper towel and peel off membrane on the bone side of ribs. You can also score the membrane with a sharp paring knife in an ‘X’ formation.
      2. Mix all rub ingredients and massage into ribs.
      3. Place all liquid ingredients in slow-cooker, then add ribs. Cook on low setting for 4 hrs.
      4. Let rest in liquid 20 minutes before serving.
      5. For a super quick sauce, remove ribs from slow-cooker, then place all liquid in saucepan, and simmer until thickened.
      6. Pour over ribs and broil for extra crispy texture and real BBQ flavor!

 

 
best-slow-cooker-recipes-for-beef

8 of the best slow cooker recipes for beef, chicken, and pork we’ve found

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When you’ve got many mouths to feed, what cooking method do you turn to?

If you’re looking to impart big, bold flavors with minimal effort, then a slow cooker should be your go-to cooking device. Cooking meat low and slow breaks down muscle fibers and ensures a fork-tender, melt-in-your-mouth meal.

Often, slow cooking is as simple as throwing all the ingredients in the crockpot and letting it go—an ideal situation when you’ve got to prepare everything else for a crowd. Set up your slow cooker in the morning, and enjoy dinner later— a long cook time and no fuss!

These recipes use cuts of meat ideal for the slow cooker: Think pork butt, beef chuck roast, beef shanks, and more. With so many different flavor profiles and cuts of meat, you’ll never get bored of some of the best slow cooker recipes we’ve found, and neither will your guests.

1.   Chef Yankel’s Smoky Coffee-Rubbed Pulled Pork

Want to serve fork-tender, juicy pulled pork rife with a sweet, spicy flavor? You’ll have to give this smoky coffee-rubbed pulled pork a try. When cooked low and slow in a slow cooker, this pork butt falls apart into melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

The trick is dry rubbing the pork butt the night before with coffee grounds, chipotle powder, smoked paprika, ground ginger, mustard powder, coriander, brown sugar, and salt. Refrigerating the butt overnight lets the flavors set in, while the low and slow cooking method further brings them out.

The best part? Use one ButcherBox pork butt, and this meal will serve six people.

2.   Slow Cooker Chuck Roast

A busy family’s best friend, this slow cooker chuck roast recipe delivers a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meal with minimal effort.

You can throw the chuck roast in the slow cooker in the morning while you’re preparing breakfast and have dinner ready to go by nightfall. This roast requires only a few spices for big flavor, including basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and garlic.

Don’t skip the searing step—that’s where you really lock in flavor. Feel free to beef (pun intended) this roast recipe up with veggies like sweet potatoes and carrots for a complete meal.

3.   Slow Cooker Beef Steak Tips

What are steak tips? Rife with robust, meaty flavor, these one-inch hunks of steak come from cuts of beef like the flank steak, tenderloin tip, and sirloin tip.

They’re lean, and delicious cooked as kebabs or in slow-cooked stews, like this slow cooker beef steak tip recipe. Creamy thanks to a combination of cooking sherry, broth, spices, and tapioca starch, these steak tips come together easily in a slow cooker. In fact, the only step is throwing everything into the slow cooker and, well, cooking. Mushrooms round out the meaty flavor of these steak tips. This is literally one of the easiest slow cooker recipes for beef we’ve found.

4.  Asian Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Mix up your typical pot roast recipe with Asian flavors like soy sauce, garlic, and five spice. This slow cooker Asian pot roast is made with a sizeable chuck roast, promising to feed many mouths.

Potatoes and carrots further beef up the meal. It’s also packed with protein thanks to all that chuck roast, so you and your guests are bound to be satiated. Cooking it for 8 to 9 hours on low ensures a sweet-savory flavor that makes it difficult to put the fork down.

“slow-cooker-recipes-for-beef”

5.   Slow Cooker Creamy Southwest Chicken

Need a meal that tastes rich and decadent but is actually healthy?

This slow cooker creamy southwest chicken recipe is the meal to try. Bold flavors abound with spices like chili powder, paprika, cumin, coriander, garlic, cayenne, and fresh lime juice. Coconut cream (or full-fat coconut milk, whatever you have on hand) makes this dish super creamy and indulgent. Feel free to serve this flavor-packed meal on a bed of veggie noodles, potatoes, or rice.

6.   Slow Cooker Beef Shank Osso Buco With Lemon-Parsley Gremolata

Here’s a meal that will truly impress your guests. Beef shanks make for a more affordable option than veal shanks in this osso buco with lemon-parsley gremolata recipe. (If you don’t have a beef shank, this great slow cooker beef recipe a beef chuck roast, beef stew meat, and even short ribs can serve as a substitute for this cut.)

Braised low and slow in the slow cooker, this fork-tender beef meal is richly flavored with vegetables, white wine, balsamic vinegar, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, and cloves. It’s then topped with a lemon-parsley gremolata, which finishes the meal on an irresistibly bright and zesty note.

7.   Fennel and Tomato Italian Pork Shoulder

Pork butt gets rubbed with Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, seared to pack in flavor and build crust, then cooked low and slow in a slow cooker. Add in balsamic vinegar-sautéed fennel and onions, whole peeled tomatoes, and carrots and you’re in for an unbelievable flavor explosion with this fennel and tomato Italian pork shoulder.

8. Crockpot Cajun Pork Butt with Jambalaya Rice

Low and slow, once again, is the preferred cooking method for pork butt in this crockpot Cajun pork butt with jambalaya rice recipe. Cajun spice, paprika and veggies like colorful bell peppers pack in flavor to the jambalaya rice, while a similar seasoning blend flavors the meat.

The pork juices are the ultimate flavor booster, especially when used to plump up the rice.

For more of our favorite recipes from ButcherBox Head Chef Yankel Polak, check out our recipe page and YouTube channel.

“slow-cooker-recipes-for-beef”

ribeye roast

Ribeye roast – For special occasions, Sunday dinner, or anytime

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t miss a special Ribeye Roast recipe from ButcherBox Head Chef Yankel Polak at the bottom of this post.

Here at ButcherBox, we believe the best way to bring friends together is over a delicious cut of grass-fed, grass-finished beef.

Our favorite cut to share with others is the ribeye roast. Perfectly-cooked, the ribeye roast goes well with an array of side dishes, red wine, and good friends.

What exactly is a ribeye roast?

Ribeye roasts — and ribeye steaks — come from the rib section of the cow, as the name implies. Specifically, ribeye roasts come from between the sixth and twelfth rib. It is a well-marbled section of muscle that is comprised of the longissimus dorsi, complexus, and spinalis muscles of a cattle. Ribeyes come in a number of different cuts and go by a few different names.

Most ribeye roasts are large, boneless cuts that have generous marbling and are best cooked over a few hours time. Traditionally the cut was used only on special occasions; a beef ribeye roast would be coated with salt and ground black pepper, spend an entire day in a roasting pan, and then be sliced up and presented as Sunday dinner or the centerpiece of a holiday meal.

Some roasts come with the bones included, and in this form is called standing rib roast and sometimes prime rib. It can also, confusingly, be called prime rib without the bone, and to add a level of complexity can be referred to as a roast beef mainly because it is beef roasted in an oven. (Check out our piece on often confused cuts for some clarification on the difference between prime rib roast and ribeye steak.)

The ribeye can be cut into steaks and cooked on a grill — with or without the bone — and has enough fatty, flavorful marbling that it needs little more than a pinch of sea salt and black pepper to make it a tender, mouthwatering treat.

A section of the ribeye can also be further cut down into a hard to find cut of steak known as the ribeye cap. The cut comes from the most tender part of this large muscle known as the spinalis dorsi that is highly-sought-out by discerning steak aficionados. The cut also goes by other names across the globe, including “Scottish fillet” in its boneless steak roast form.

Enough about the details of the ribeye, let’s get to the important stuff: How to prepare a delicious ribeye roast.

BBClickHere

How to cook a ribeye roast

You can order ribeye steaks from a butcher, or cut up a ribeye into steaks if you don’t want to put effort into roasting the cut. However, putting a little time and effort into the roast will pay off in the form of smooth, rich, well-marbled beef that you can easily slice up and serve to a number of dinner guests.

According to our Head Chef Yankel Polak, our ButcherBox boneless ribeye roast is a “breathtakingly marbled and tender hunk of meat.”

It can be prepared in numerous ways. For example, you can cook a ribeye roast in a slow cooker with some spices like fresh rosemary, minced garlic, and some vegetables. However, ribeye roast can be a bit too expensive to cook in this manner. “Pot roast,” beef usually tenderized by a day spent in a slow cooker is best with tough, less inherently flavorful cuts like chuck roast and shoulder steaks.

Below is ButcherBox Chef Yankel’s “Super Easy Ribeye Roast With Roasted Mushrooms and Eggplant.” This recipe serves eight, takes 20 minutes to prepare, and after two and half hours of cooking time, you’ll have a tender roast. It is quite simple and the perfect way to show off your cooking skills and delicious ButcherBox grass-fed beef.

The key is Chef Yankel’s use of a reverse-searing method, which allows you to sear the ribeye roast and let sit until it needs its final 15 minutes of cooking.

According to Chef Yankel, this will give you a medium-rare roast with a delicious brown crust. Also, he says, “This recipe won’t keep you stuck in the kitchen all night if you have guests.”

Super Easy Ribeye Roast With Roasted Mushrooms and Eggplant

Ingredients:

Beef Rub:

  • 1 ButcherBox Ribeye Roast
  • 3 Tbsp kosher salt  
  • 2 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 2 Tbsp onion powder
  • 2 Tbsp paprika
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil

Roasted Mushrooms and Eggplant

  • 2 lbs mushrooms, assorted variety, cut into similar size pieces
  • 4 Japanese eggplants, halved lengthwise
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 3 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Mix all ribeye rub ingredients and rub all over ribeye roast. Refrigerate on lowest shelf uncovered overnight. Remove from fridge 1 hr before roasting.
  2. Preheat oven to 250°F. Roast ribeye in a roasting pan until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part reads 115°F. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 20 min. The ribeye can sit out up to 2 hrs or be refrigerated until Step 7. If refrigerating, make sure to bring the ribeye back to room temperature before reheating.
  3. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  4. Mix all ingredients for the roasted vegetables except for the vinegar, then spread the vegetables evenly on sheet pans in a single layer.
  5. Roast vegetables in oven until lightly browned. Eggplant should be tender and mushrooms should shrink to half their original size.
  6. Remove vegetables from oven, sprinkle with vinegar and set aside.
  7. Place roast back in the oven and cook for an additional 15 min, until internal temperature is 125°F and the top is browned and crisp.
  8. Let ribeye roast rest for at least 20 min before carving. Happy Eating!

You can also check out Chef Yankel going through the steps of cooking a “Pan Seared Ribeye with Potatoes and Mushrooms”:

 

braised beef braising meat

How to braise beef and why it’s one of the best cooking methods

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whenever I come across braised short ribs on a restaurant menu, I have a hard time passing up the delectable dish. Just thinking about it, I can taste the melt-in-your-mouth, flavorful meat. In all my short rib adventures, I’ve never stopped to wonder how chefs create such divine creations.

The secret, I discovered comes down to braising.

A cooking method mixing high dry heat, low moist heat, and time

Braising is a two-step cooking method that uses both high-heat for a short period and low-heat for a longer period of time. First, it involves browning meat in olive oil, butter, ghee, or some other fat — on high heat — usually by sauteing in a pan. Second, the meat is cooked in a covered dish, in the juices left from the browning and often also with an added liquid such as stock, water, etc.

The second, slow-cooking step is done in a tightly covered pot, like a dutch oven, or, often, in a slow-cooker. This process is also sometimes referred to as “pot roasting.”

Slow-cooking — and, well, the use of a slow-cooker or Crock Pot — helps to add flavor and tenderizes tougher cuts of beef and other meats.

According to The Kitchen Encyclopedia, published in 1911, “Braising is a method much used in France, and is a cross between boiling and baking.” The word itself derives from the French word brasier, which is a form of braise, meaning “live coals.” A brasier or brazier, in French and English, is also another name for a receptacle to burn coal or charcoal. Dutch ovens can also be called brasiers. The origin of the term braising seems to come from a French word for a method using both dry heat and moist heat.

Why braise?

Braising can be done with any meat but is most often done with tough cuts of meat, because tender cuts usually don’t need additional tenderizing or flavor.

Cuts that traditionally have less flavor — say a chuck roast, shoulder steak, chuck pot roast, pork butt, or beef chuck arm — are the best cuts to use and may need richer braising liquids. The best way to add great flavor is with beef broth or chicken stock, as well as spices like rosemary, bay leaves, and other fresh herbs. Moreover, braising done in the style of a pot roast can include aromatic vegetables — carrots, onions, and more — for additional flavor.

How to braise meat

The first step of braising takes about ten minutes, but achieving truly fall-apart-tender meat takes many hours of cooking time. Our in-house ButcherBox Chef Yankel Polak recommends seasoning the meat with salt and black pepper, then searing your meat until you get a nice brown crust. When cooking pork, he likes to use apple cider as a braising liquid that can also help scraping the browned bits of meat left from searing. Chef Yankel also recommends adding tomato paste to your braising liquid for texture and taste. For added flavor and simplicity, he also advises using the same pot to sear and cook, covering the dish after the flavorful liquid and browned meat have simmered.

A long, slow cook is crucial for breaking down the proteins and tenderizing the meat. You’ll need to cook for at least an hour and a half to two hours (depending on the size of your cut of meat) in the oven set to 300 degrees. Cooking on low heat allows the meat to cook slowly as the braising liquid evaporates. It is this process that makes dishes like pulled pork, carnitas, and roasts fork-tender.

Whether cooking pork in the slow cooker or keeping a watchful eye on a roast spending a day in a Dutch oven, meat braising in its juices and spiced-up flavor can turn a simple cut of beef or pork into a truly amazing dish.

You can find some of Chef Yankel’s favorite recipes to braise beef, chicken, or pork here, or watch the video below for more braising techniques.

If you want more from Chef Yankel, check out his recommendations for the best red wine to pair with braised beef and other dishes. 

Our monthly ButcherBox comes often comes with cuts like pork butt and grass-fed beef roasts that are perfect for braising. You can also get these cuts in a custom ButcherBox. If you’re not a member already, you can sign up here.