Braising and Boiling

Braising is an important part of Chinese cooking. It’s particularly ideal for the home cook preparing a shared table — you can make a braise well in advance and simply reheat it when you’re ready to serve. That way you’ll already have one of your dishes ready, so if you just add a salad, a stir-fry and something steamed, you’ll have a great shared table without too much last-minute preparation. I have also added poaching or boiling to this selection of recipes; master-stock and white-cut chicken are important as they can be used as they are, or can form part of the preparation of a stir-fry or deep-fry recipe. I love the notion of multi-cooking that the Chinese do so well.