Okay, I'll be honest. I know about braising and for some unknown reason, had always imagined it would make the meat mushy.
Roast meat then cook for a long time in liquid >> mush.
See, it's not much of a leap.
But I'd been reading a cookbook and it's one of those where EVERYTHING is homegrown and EVERYTHING tastes better and I was getting just a little bit annoyed because I can't even find berries that have any taste...
But I digress.
Anyway, since I don't raise my own chickens, cows, lambs, pigs, bees for honey, lemon trees, make my own sourdough, etc, etc, etc (spoken like the King of Siam), I opted to try ONE recipe before returning it to the library. I had Publix Greenwise chicken thighs in the freezer and went with the braised chicken thigh recipe.
4 HOURS LATER, I was a changed person. I now love braising. I will braise chicken thighs the next time I have company and my guests will be amazed at how the meat falls off the bones and YET is still moist. I will research other braised meat recipes.
I'm posting the recipe directly from the book, so I don't make any mistakes. Because this time I actually followed the direction precisely as written. The only deviation was the preserved lemons, which she has in her pantry (of course) and I do not. So I just cut up some chunks of lemon and went with that.
I will be making her preserved lemons next, just so I have them for the next time I make this recipe. Also, the leeks were damned expensive ($5 for 3!) so I'll be boosting the veggie portion. At first I thought carrots but think they will make it too sweet, so it's going to be rutabaga, my new favorite vegetable (thank you, monj!)
PS: Ever the anal retentive engineer, I actually got my Thermapen digital thermometer and checked the thigh internal temperature before I ate it. It had been pan roasted, then baked for 2 hours and 50 minutes and then broiled for 5 minutes.
And the internal temperature was only 172 degrees...which is just a smidgen over traditionally suggested 165 degrees. Amazing!
Roast meat then cook for a long time in liquid >> mush.
See, it's not much of a leap.
But I'd been reading a cookbook and it's one of those where EVERYTHING is homegrown and EVERYTHING tastes better and I was getting just a little bit annoyed because I can't even find berries that have any taste...
But I digress.
Anyway, since I don't raise my own chickens, cows, lambs, pigs, bees for honey, lemon trees, make my own sourdough, etc, etc, etc (spoken like the King of Siam), I opted to try ONE recipe before returning it to the library. I had Publix Greenwise chicken thighs in the freezer and went with the braised chicken thigh recipe.
4 HOURS LATER, I was a changed person. I now love braising. I will braise chicken thighs the next time I have company and my guests will be amazed at how the meat falls off the bones and YET is still moist. I will research other braised meat recipes.
I'm posting the recipe directly from the book, so I don't make any mistakes. Because this time I actually followed the direction precisely as written. The only deviation was the preserved lemons, which she has in her pantry (of course) and I do not. So I just cut up some chunks of lemon and went with that.
I will be making her preserved lemons next, just so I have them for the next time I make this recipe. Also, the leeks were damned expensive ($5 for 3!) so I'll be boosting the veggie portion. At first I thought carrots but think they will make it too sweet, so it's going to be rutabaga, my new favorite vegetable (thank you, monj!)
PS: Ever the anal retentive engineer, I actually got my Thermapen digital thermometer and checked the thigh internal temperature before I ate it. It had been pan roasted, then baked for 2 hours and 50 minutes and then broiled for 5 minutes.
And the internal temperature was only 172 degrees...which is just a smidgen over traditionally suggested 165 degrees. Amazing!
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