Braising and Stewing

Braising comes from the French word braise, which means smoldering coals, and is the name given to an interesting process for cooking meats in a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pot called a braisiere. In centuries past and as recently as the early 1900s when people still cooked on the hearth, braising roasts and stewing cubed meats in good stock was done by cooking with fire under, on top of, and all around the pot which, especially designed for this function, had a deep concave lid. The pot was embedded in embers and more embers filled the lid, and coals were banked all around the pot. I remember my great grandmother doing this. The meat rested on several layers of aromatics mixed with raw ham and veal slices called fonds de braise (to be roughly translated as “base of the braise” and the main aromatic taste enhancer).