But if your days are somewhat less leisurely than that, if they're spent bouncing from home to work to soccer practice, then braising is still for you. That's because the beauty of this cooking method is that low heat and the passage of time do most of the work, leaving you free for other things.
What, exactly, is braising?
Very simply, braising is partially immersing food in a liquid and cooking it, tightly covered, over low heat for a longish period of time, until the food is tender and the flavors of liquid and food combine, mellow and resonate.
Braising is tailor-made for tough cuts of meat like short ribs, stew meat and brisket. We braise beef to make pot roast, chicken to make Brunswick stew, pork to make choucroute garni.
It's just as good for vegetables. As the days grow shorter, and the Farmer's Market feels as remote as August's freshly-picked basil, cold-climate cooks are confronted with large, horsey carrots and parsnips and peculiar, gnarled root vegetables like celery root. All these are good candidates for braising.
There are two kinds of braises. In a brown braise, the food is seared before the cooking liquid is added. It's brought to a boil, the heat is lowered, and the food is simmered until it is fork-tender and the sauce has turned sweet and deep-flavored from the preliminary browning. Pot roast is a brown braise; so is osso buco.
In a white braise, there is no searing or browning. The food is simply gently heated in a covered pan with a small amount of liquid. Chicken fricassee and blanquette de veau, the classic French veal stew, are both white braises.
In either case, using an acid such as wine, vinegar, tomato or lemon juice for part of the braising liquid will help tenderize the food. And you can add flavor to the sauce by using a combination of onions, carrots and celery, the diced aromatic vegetables that the French call "mirepoix" and the Italians, "battuto".
Busy people will find another bonus to braising: Cooks who plan ahead know that braised dishes not only reheat well but also taste better when reheated. Make braised pork chops on Sunday, refrigerate them, and reheat them on Monday. Make chicken fricassee on Saturday, freeze it, and defrost it a week later, when you get home late, tired, cold and hungry for something warm and flavorful.
