248—Braising of White Meats

The braising of white meats as it is now effected in modern cookery is, strictly speaking, not braising at all, inasmuch as the cooking is stopped at the close of the first of the two phases which I mentioned when discussing brown braisings. True, old cookery did not understand braising in the way that the modern school does, and under the ancient régime large pieces, especially of veal, were frequently cooked until they could almost be scooped with a spoon. This practice has been generally, though mistakenly, eschewed, but its name survives.

White braisings are made with the neck, the saddle, the loin, the fillets, the fricandeaus, and the sweet-bread of veal, young turkeys and fat pullets, and sometimes, though less frequently, relevés of lamb, hindquarters or saddle. The procedure is the same for all these meats; the time of cooking alone varies in accordance with their size. The aromatics are the same as those of the brown braisings, but the frying of them is optional.

The moistening liquor is brown veal stock (No. 9, Brown Veal Stock).

Mode of Procedure.—Except for the veal sweet-bread, which is always No. 273, Blanchings before being braised, the meats or poultry to be treated may always be slightly stiffened and browned in butter, on all sides. This is not essential in all cases, but I think that when they do undergo something of the kind they dry less quickly. Now place them in a utensil just large enough to hold them and deep enough to keep the lid from touching them. Place the aromatics under them and moisten with a little veal stock; set to boil on a moderate fire, and reduce the veal stock with the lid on. When this stock has assumed the consistence of a glaze, add a further similar quantity of fresh stock, and reduce as before. The third time moisten the veal until it is half covered, and push the pan into a moderate oven.

The meat needs constant basting while it cooks, in order to avoid its drying; and, as the stock is very gelatinous, it forms a coating on the surface which resists the evaporation of the contained juices; for these, being insufficiently constrained by the slight frying the meat has undergone, tend to vaporise under the influence of the heat.

It is for this reason that the stock must be reduced to a glaze before finally moistening. If the moistening were all done at once, the liquor would not be sufficiently dense to form the coating mentioned above, and the meat would consequently dry on being set to cook.

Braised white meat is known to be cooked when, after having deeply pricked it with a braiding needle, it exudes an absolutely colourless liquid. This liquid denotes that the piece is cooked to the centre, and as a result thereof the blood has decomposed.

There lies the great difference between brown braisings and white-meat braisings. The latter are practically roasts, and they should not be made with any but young poultry or meats, very fat and tender, for they cannot go beyond their correct time of cooking, which equals that of roasts, without immediately losing all their quality. A quarter of an hour too much in the cooking of a kernel of veal weighing about six lbs. is enough to make the meat dry and unpalatable, and to thoroughly spoil it, whereas a brown braising cannot be over-cooked, provided it do not burn.

White braised meats are generally glazed, and this process is especially recommended for larded pieces, which, though less common nowadays than formerly, can still claim many votaries.