"braising" news and stories

• The Cake Boss has an Easter surprise for you. (Hint: It's not cake.)
• Remember Chicago's Charlie Trotter? No? He's trying to change that.
• Meet the man behind the East Village Japanese food scene.
• How to braise meat without browning? That is the question.

Got a tough cut of meat and a few hours? Braising's the way to go.

Parchment paper comes either in sheets or on a roll, and in natural brown or bleached white, but one thing's consistent -- its versatility.

Flanken, not to be confused with Franken, the senator from Minnesota, nor with flank steak, is one of those cuts of beef that you don't hear much about but that you should get to know, especially if you're on a budget. According to Melissa Clark, who wrote a story about flanken for the New York Times, it's "cut from the same part of the cow as the short ribs, but across rather than along the bones." If you don't cook it properly, it'll be tough, but after being marinated or braised (think pot roast), it's tender and delicious.

Boiled and served with a bit of horseradish in Austria, flanken was marinated then grilled in Clark's Asian-inspired recipe, shot by Andrew Scrivani, above. (See Kitchen Daily for another recipe for Asian-style grilled flanken.)

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Photo: norecipes.com.

As a relatively recent convert to all things porcine, I'm positively in awe of this pork shot. Without even having any background info on the dish, one can immediately perceive the succulence of the pork, salivate at its melt-in-your-mouth talents and perhaps -- with a photo this enticing -- even hope for a seasoning that does justice to the tenderness of its vessel.

And norecipe.com's Japanese Chashu -- which indicates merely its component of barbecued or roasted pork -- is worthy of the perfection of its meat. Braised in a combination of soy sauce and miso, it undergoes a rather "unorthodox" approach, as Marc brings his version "full circle back to its Chinese roots, [adding] garlic, ginger, and white pepper, which give the meat some character without overwhelming its porky goodness." Prepared en masse, the pork is equally delicious atop a steamy bowl of ramen, pasta, salads and more.

[Via norecipes.com]