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Home › Cooking Chicken › Brining ChickenLet’s talk about brining chicken. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I love chicken. Fried, roasted or grilled, hot or cold, it’s always good. And it’s pretty easy to cook and get good results.

But what if you’re looking for great results? Well, brining chicken is a good start.

It actually took me a while to start brining chicken. I knew about brining, but I kept telling myself that it probably wouldn’t make that much of a difference, and that it was just too much of a bother.

Boy, was I wrong. Even just trying it out for the first time, the results were amazing. Not only is it surprisingly easy to do, but the chicken I roasted was hands down the best tasting roast chicken I ever made or had.

If you haven’t tried brining chicken yet, read on. It’s absolutely worth a try!

In this article, I’ll tell you all about brining chicken. First, I’ll go over exactly how brining improves your chicken — the reasons why you want to use a chicken brine! Next, I’ll talk about how it works: the science behind the brine. Finally, I’ll go over how to actually do it in a easy to follow guide on brining chicken.

Here we go!

 

Why Brine Chicken?

First things first: the motivation. There has to be some reason to add an extra step to making dinner, right? Well, there are a few good reasons to brine chicken:

• Brining chicken not only adds moisture to the chicken, making it nice and plump, it also helps prevent it from drying out when you cook it. The result is a delicious, moist and juicy chicken.
• Brining not only affects the texture and juiciness of your chicken, it also affects the taste. A few hours in a brine will let salt penetrate deep into the chicken meat, enhancing its natural flavor.

Of course, there is one disadvantage. All the extra water that ends up in the chicken can make it harder to get a crispy skin. Luckily, that’s easy to fix.

If you’re going for crispy skin, just let the chicken air dry in the refrigerator for an hour or so. I’ll go over that in a bit more detail in the last section of this article, how to brine chicken.

Notes

Now, a word of warning. Personally, I find brining chicken makes a huge difference in the taste. But everyone is different, and not everyone tastes things the same way.

For example, papaya tastes like nothing to me. I’ll be sitting there with my family as they rave about how delicious it is, and I’ll try a piece and… nothing. It’s strange, but there it is.

Most people like the taste of brined chicken, but there’s always a chance that’s it’s just not right for you.

So here’s my advice. Try brining chicken a few times. But if you don’t taste the difference, or don’t care for it, then don’t bother! Cooking is all about enjoying the meal, and that should be your goal.

How Brining Works

Brining is a neat little bit of science at work. In this section, I’ll talk about what goes on when you brine chicken. If you understand what’s going on, it’s easier to modify the technique a little bit to suit your taste, or apply it to a new situation.

There are two major processes at work during brining:

• Diffusion. This is when particles move from a region of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. For example, when you’re brining chicken, the brine has a lot more salt in it that the chicken. To balance things out, the salt gets absorbed by the chicken — not just on the surface, but all through the meat (although it does take a bit of time).
• Osmosis. This is when water (or another liquid) moves through a membrane from one region that has more water to another region that has less water. When you brine chicken, you’re creating just that situation: the brine has a lot more water than the chicken, so the water moves through the chicken cells, from the brine to the chicken. The result? Moister chicken!

It’s all about keeping things in balance!

On top of diffusion and osmosis, there’s another neat thing that happens when you brine chicken. When the salt gets inside the chicken flesh, it makes some of the proteins molecules unravel. Then, when you cook the meat, the unraveled proteins interact and create a kind of shield that holds the moisture in.

Notes

You can also add some other seasonings to your chicken brine, and they’ll work the same way and diffuse into the chicken.

But salt is the most important ingredient when brining chicken. Not only does it help keep the moisture in the chicken, but salt is special. It doesn’t just add saltiness — it enhances the chicken’s natural flavor.

How To Brine Chicken

Brining chicken is really easy. Here’s what you need:

• One container large enough to hold all your chicken and the brine. It should be made of a non-reactive material like glass or stainless steel.
• Cold water. Depending on the shape of your container, you’ll need more or less water, but you can probably count on using at least half a quart of water (half a liter) per pound of meat.
• Salt. You can use either kosher salt or table salt to brine chicken.

  

  • Kosher salt: use about 1/4 of a cup salt per quart (liter) of water.
  • Table salt: use only 1/8 of a cup per quart (liter) of water — you can fit a lot more table salt than kosher salt into a measuring cup!
  • If you don’t have a whole lot of time, you can add more salt to the chicken brine. It’ll help the brining go faster, but the results won’t be as great: the outer part of the chicken might be too salty.
• Sugar. Sugar is a pretty common ingredient in a chicken brine. It can help moderate how salty the brine tastes, and it also helps the meat caramelize, which will give you a nicely browned chicken.
  • Use at most 1/8 of a cup per quart (liter) of water. You can use less, but any more and it’ll probably be too sweet.
  • If you’re planning on cooking your chicken quickly at high heat, use less (or no) sugar. It tends to make the chicken burn more easily.
  • If you’re planning on roasting the chicken, sugar will make the drippings sweeter, and you’ll end up with a sweeter gravy. It’s up to you whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but you should be aware of it.
• Other seasonings. You can add anything you like to your chicken brine! Garlic cloves, coarsely chopped to release their flavor, sprigs of rosemary, thyme, sage, slices of lemons or oranges, coriander or fennel seeds, bay leaves… the list goes on and on.

  There’s no right amount for these. Just use whatever tastes good to you. But if you add extra seasonings, you’ll probably have to use the boiled brine method, otherwise it won’t flavor the meat much.

Now that you have all your ingredients and equipment for making your chicken brine, it’s time to put it all together. I’ll go over two ways of making the brine: a cold brine and a boiled brine.

Cold Brine

This is the method to use if you’re planning on brining chicken using only cold water, salt, and sugar. Here’s what you do:

1. Mix the water, salt and sugar (optional) until the salt and sugar have dissolved.
2. Add the chicken to the brine so that it’s completely submerged. If you need to, place something heavy over it to keep it from floating to the surface.
3. Soak the chicken in the brine for about an hour per pound of meat. The chicken should soak for at least an hour, but not much more than 12 hours.
   • If you have several smaller pieces of chicken, the weight of each piece determines how long it should soak for. So, a 2lb chicken would soak for 2 hours. 4 2lb chickens would also soak for two hours, but a 4lb chicken should soak for 4 hours.
   • Keep the chicken cold while you brine it! It should be in the fridge or in a cooler, or at the very least in a tub of cold water. You can add ice to the water to make sure it stays cold.
4. Remove the chicken from the brine. Rinse it thoroughly, then pat it dry.
5. (Optional) Let the chicken air dry in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about an hour. This will help the skin get crispy when you cook it.

Boiled Brine

If you’re planning on using extra seasonings in your chicken brine, you’re going to need to boil it. Otherwise, the flavors just won’t penetrate the chicken.

Why? Well, imagine that you’re making tea. If you’re making it with hot water, the tea comes out beautifully. As soon as you add the water, the flavor from the tea leaves goes into the water. If you try making it with cold water, well… not a whole lot happens. You need the heat to leech the flavor out of your seasonings.

So, if you have extra seasonings to add to your chicken brine, here’s how you do it:

1. In a large pot that goes on the stove, mix the water, salt and sugar (optional) until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Add the extra seasonings.
2. Over high heat, bring the brine to a boil. Continue to boil for about a minute. Remove the brine from the heat.
3. Allow the chicken brine to cool completely. Never try to brine chicken in warm water or you will create a bacteria farm that could make you sick. Here are a few ways to cool the brine:
   • Let it cool off to room temperature and then place it in the refrigerator until it’s cold.
   • Add ice cubes to the brine until it’s cold.
   • Instead of boiling the whole amount of water, you can boil only a small amount (maybe a quarter of it), and then add the rest of the cold water after it’s boiled. You still get all the flavor out of your seasonings, but it won’t be as hot.
4. Soak the chicken in the brine for about an hour per pound of meat. The chicken should soak for at least an hour, but not much more than 12 hours.
   • If you have several smaller pieces of chicken, the weight of each piece determines how long it should soak for. So, a 2lb chicken would soak for 2 hours. 4 2lb chickens would also soak for two hours, but a 4lb chicken should soak for 4 hours.
   • Keep the chicken cold while you brine it! It should be in the fridge or in a cooler, or at the very least in a tub of cold water. You can add ice to the water to make sure it stays cold.
5. Remove the chicken from the brine. Rinse it thoroughly, then pat it dry.
6. (Optional) Let the chicken air dry in the refrigerator, uncovered, for about an hour. This will help the skin get crispy when you cook it.

A Few Final Notes

• Once you’re done with the chicken brine, throw it out. Don’t keep it to reuse it for anything. It had raw chicken floating in it and it’s not safe to use.
• Always keep the brine cool when brining chicken. If you can’t keep it in the refrigerator, it should at least be kept cold by adding ice cubes, and possibly keeping it in a cooler.
• The proportions and times I gave should give you good results, but everyone has different tastes. The main point of brining isn’t to make the chicken salty – it’s to enhance the chicken’s flavor. If it tastes too salty, just soak the chicken for less time, or add less salt to the brine.

Well, that’s all about brining chicken. It may seem like a lot, but it’s one of those things that’s much easier to do than to write about! You can make your chicken brine in less time than it took you to read this page.

Enjoy!

Home › Bridal Shower MenuHow important is a great bridal shower menu? Well, for a lot of women, it’s not a wedding without a bridal shower. And I say that it’s not a bridal shower without awesome bridal shower food.

A bridal shower is all about having fun and celebrating — after all, getting married is one of the biggest moments of anyone’s life, and deserves to be celebrated!

So what makes a good bridal shower? Well, it can be kind of tricky.

A lot of the time, a bridal shower includes women from different circles of friends and different generations. It’s a mix of friends and family who don’t necessarily agree on what an appropriate party is.

One thing that can help bring all these girls together is a few good bridal shower games. They’re a ton of fun, and they help everyone get to know each other and the bride just a little bit better. Diva Girls Parties and Stuff has an awesome selection of fun bridal shower games to make your bridal shower perfect.

Of course, games aren’t the only thing that’ll get the bridal shower guests to bond. Food is one of the best ways to bring people together, and a great bridal shower menu can make all the difference.

There are so many great options out there for bridal shower food. But if you want the best party, there are a few little things to consider when you’re picking your bridal shower menu, to make sure that the food is the best possible for the party you have planned.

So read on: you’ll find out all about the three Ts of planning a bridal shower brunch: the theme, the tastes, and the type of food. And, of course, you’ll find a few great ideas and recipes to add to your bridal shower menu.

 

Is There A Theme?

There are plenty of ways of making a bridal shower awesome and special, but one of the ones I want to talk about is themes. Because the theme you pick can affect the bridal shower menu!

There are all kinds of themes. They can be a bit elaborate, like a Hawaiian luau-style party, but they can also be super simple — a color scheme is so easy, but it’s a theme, too.

If you’re looking for some great theme ideas, check out Wedding Flowers And Receptions Ideas’ page on bridal shower themes.

And if you do decide on a theme, keep in mind that having a bridal shower menu to match the theme will make the party outstanding!

Here are a few tips:

• If you’re going for a color theme, try and pick foods that match that color.
  • If you were going for sunny colors, you could have a veggie tray that included yellow, orange and red bell peppers.
  • For some colors, it might be a bit harder to find foods that match, like blue. But there’s always a way. A fruit salad with some blueberries in it will match the theme. Or sugar cookies can have any color icing on them.
• You don’t have to match all the food to the theme. But a few dishes here and there will really stand out.
• No matter what the theme, icing and frosting are your friend! If you bake a cake, or cupcakes, you can have them match any theme by just making up a few batches of colored frosting.
• A lot of themes almost have a built-in menu that go along with them.
  • If you’re having a luau, you can include some tropical fruits, like pineapple and papaya. Or decorate an ordinary sandwich platter with a few bright, tropical flowers.
  • French breads like baguette would be great for a Parisian themed bridal shower, along with some good cheeses — and a few good wines!
• A lot of times, you don’t really have to make a whole new bridal shower menu to match your theme — but maybe just put a little twist on each dish to make it fit.

Peoples’ Tastes Are Important

One of the most important things to consider when you’re planning a bridal shower menu is definitely peoples’ tastes. There’s no point making a menu that no one will like.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re thinking about what bridal shower food to pick:

• If there’s one person who needs to have a great time at a bridal shower, it’s the bride! And it’s important that she like the food, too… Unless, of course, you think she’ll be too nervous to eat!
  • Consider the bride’s tastes first – if you know she can’t stand fish, an “under the sea” theme with lots of seafood may not be the best plan.
  • If you’re having a mixed party and the groom is attending, make sure he likes the food, too!
• Try to cater to the crowd. Sometimes it can be tough, especially if you don’t really know all the people who’ll be attending very well. But if you know that most of the guests love deviled eggs, then that’s a great choice for your bridal shower menu.
• Try to have a variety of foods available, especially if you’re going with finger food. It’s not too hard to have a few different types of sandwiches or desserts. That way, odds are that everyone will find a little something they like.
• If you know that some of the guests have serious allergies, it may be something you want to consider when you’re making your food choices.
  • Sometimes, it’s just not possible to cater to everyone, especially if it’s going to be a very big bridal shower. But if you know someone is allergic to onions, it’s not a bad idea to have a few onion free dishes.

A bridal shower is a great opportunity to make fancy dishes and complicated or exotic appetizers… it can add a lot of class to the party.

But don’t forget that peoples’ tastes come first. If you think that the bride and the guests would prefer a simple meal, then that‘s the perfect bridal shower menu.

Types Of Menus

When you’re planning a bridal shower menu, one of the first choices you have to make is the type of food you’re going to serve: finger food, or a meal.

Finger Food

I think that finger food is one of the best choices for bridal shower food. And there are lots of good reasons!

• It’s easy to have more options with finger food. It’s not always easy to make two or three main courses for a regular sit-down meal, but having a few tasty, filling options like mini quiches, deviled eggs, meatballs, or sushi is no problem at all.
• No matter what setting you’re in, finger food is easy to eat. If people aren’t going to be sitting or won’t be sitting at a table, you don’t want to serve something that’ll be tough to manage.
• Finger food is great because you can enjoy it for the whole duration of the party. It’s out, and people can go up and get a little plate whenever it suits them, and jump right back into the fun and games.
• I say finger food, but you can really include anything that’s easy to eat with just a plate and a fork, like potato salad or cake. As long as it’s comfortable to eat while standing, or without a table!
• Finger food is actually really versatile. You can go either super casual or super elegant or anything in between.

A Meal

Another option is to have a proper, sit-down dinner, with entrees, main courses, salad, and dessert, where everyone sits down together and shares the moment.

• I don’t think anything really compares to how elegant a beautifully set table can be. Silverware, specially folded napkins, pretty glasses, it all just gives a really refined look.
• If you want something formal and elegant, a sit-down dinner is the way to go.
• When you plan on having everyone sitting down at a table, you suddenly have a whole lot more meal options — steak, a delicately braised fish, sauteed chicken breast — because you have the right setting for it.

Notes

No matter which type of food you go with, just remember:

• The bride (and groom, if he’ll be there) should like the type of meal.
• All the guests should be comfortable eating.
• Be sure that you have a bit of everything — vegetables, main course (meat, fish, tofu, whatever), snacks and desserts. Everyone should feel like they’ve had a good meal, even if you’re serving finger foods.
• Be sure to have enough food for everyone! You don’t want the guests going hungry.
• Don’t forget drinks!
  • It’s a good idea to have some non-alcoholic options like coffee, tea, soda, juice or iced tea.
  • Some alcoholic drinks can be fun too. Wine is always good, and punch or sangria can make a very pretty addition to any table.

Menu Ideas And Recipes

A great bridal shower menu has a little bit of everything: appetizers, vegetables and salads, a main course, desserts, and of course, drinks! It doesn’t matter if you’re serving finger food or a sit-down meal, you need some of everything if you want your guests to feel satisfied.

Here are a few ideas for some great bridal shower food!

Appetizers

• Chips and dip may not sound like the classiest food, but that’s not necessarily true. There are plenty of tasty, interesting options out there. And besides, they taste great!
  • Hummus is a tasty chick pea puree that’s great with vegetables, but it’s especially good with pita bread or pita chips. And with this easy hummus recipe, you can make a whole bunch in no time at all.
  • Pita chips are a great alternative to regular old potato or corn chips. And they’re healthier, too! This baked pita chips recipe is great choice to go with dip.
  • Guacamole is another dip that’s easy to make, and it’s so delicious and good for you. It goes great with tortilla chips or with fresh cut vegetables. Find out how to make it in this article on making guacamole dip.
  • Salsa
• Vegetable Tray and Dip
  • French Onion Dip
  • Ranch Dip

Vegetables And Salads

• Pasta Salad
• Potato salad is just as good for a casual buffet as it is for a fancier one. That makes it perfect for any bridal shower menu. And you’ll want the best potato salad recipe for your bridal shower!
• Tomato-Mozzarella kebabs

Main Courses

• A cheese fondue works great for either a sit-down dinner or a buffet. Just keep the fondue warm, and have some vegetables and bread available for dipping! I prefer a milder fondue, and my favorite is this Cheddar cheese fondue recipe.
• Deviled Eggs
• Meatballs
• Mini-quiches
• Sandwiches
• Sushi

Desserts

• Brownies
• It’s not a bridal shower without cake!
  • Presentation is super important for a bridal shower. After all, it’s a special day, and you want a special cake to mark the occasion. These bridal shower cake ideas will help you make the perfect cake!
  • Once you’ve picked a bridal shower cake design, you need a cake recipe! Well, nothing beats chocolate cake, and nothing beats the best chocolate cake recipe!
  • And of course, no cake is complete without a bit of frosting. This chocolate frosting recipe will help you put on the delicious finishing touches.
• Cupcakes
• Chocolate-coated strawberries are a sweet, delicious treat. They’re perfect for a bridal shower menu! And the first thing you need to know to make them is how to temper chocolate to get a nice, hard, shiny chocolate coating. Once you have that down, you can make your own chocolate strawberries.
• Chocolate Fondue
• Sugar cookies are a great idea for a bridal shower menu because you can decorate them any way you like. You can have food that fits perfectly with your party. Panty shaped cookies can be a huge hit!
  • Try out my favorite of all easy sugar cookie recipes. It’s a cookie cutter recipe, so you can shape them any way you like!
  • Once you have sugar cookies that are just the right shape, it’s time to decorate them! This sugar cookie icing recipe will let you decorate your cookies anyway you like – and they’ll come out looking like a pro made them.
• Fruit Salad

Drinks

I hope this helps you pick out a great bridal shower menu. And don’t forget to have a ton of fun!

Home › Bridal Shower Menu › Bridal Shower CakesIf you’re planning a bridal shower, you’re probably thinking about food. Well, these bridal shower cake ideas can help you with at least one part of the menu: dessert.

There are lots of dessert choices out there, but I think that cake is special. After all, big, important events like birthdays and weddings almost always have cake to make them even more special.

But cake comes in a lot of different shapes and forms. Some bridal shower cake ideas are really simple looking, but stand out because of how delicious they are. And other bridal shower cake ideas are decorated so that looking at them is almost as good as eating them!

So what kind of cake do you get for a dear friend who’s getting married? The answer is whatever you think she’ll like best — and if you want to go for something specially themed for a bridal shower, here are a few fun bridal shower cake ideas:

 

Bride and Groom Cakes

Nothing says “wedding” quite like a bride and groom. After all, the wedding is all about them! And that’s why bride and groom cakes are such perfect bridal shower cake ideas.

It’s also a great way to include the groom, especially if the men are invited to the party, too — sometimes the poor men get overshadowed by us girls at a wedding!

Here are a few good bridal shower cake ideas that follow the bride and groom theme.

Bride and Groom Initials Cake

If you’re looking for a bridal shower cake idea that’s simple and elegant, then the bride and groom initials cake is a great idea for you. It’s just any kind of cake, with any kind of icing. But on the top of the cake, you write the bride and groom’s initials in frosting, using a pretty script.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Bake a cake that’s the right size for the number of guests you plan to have.
2. Frost the cake anyway you like.
   • If you’re a beginner, you’ll probably want to leave the surface of the cake flat so that it’s easier to getting the frosting letters on there.
   • Something that’s simple but looks good is to frost the cake one color, like white. Then pick another color, like a soft blue, and make little rosettes around the top and bottom of the cake.
3. Write the initials on the cake in frosting.
   • To make it easier, you can trace out the letters you want to write with a toothpick or knife so that you have an outline to follow.
   • You can also do a first layer of script using the same color frosting as the top of the cake. It’ll give you an outline to follow, and it’ll blend back into the cake if you make a mistake. Then just follow the outline with a different colored frosting for a neat layered effect.
   • If you want to use a nice, fancy script, but aren’t really sure how, here’s a trick. Open a word processor like Word, Word Perfect or OpenOffice, and just try out different fonts with the letters you want to write. When you find something you like, you can even print it out the size you want, to use as a guide!

Bride and Groom Name Cakes

The bride and groom name bridal shower cake idea is really similar to the initials cake. But instead of one big cake with the bride and groom’s initials on it, you make two cakes: one for the bride, with her name, and one for the groom, with his name.

How do you do it? The exact same way as you would the initials cake. But instead, you bake two matching cakes.

Tuxedo and Dress Cakes

If you like the idea of the bride and groom theme, but want bridal shower cake ideas that are even more unique, then try out the tuxedo and dress cakes. Just like for the name cakes, you have one cake for the groom, and one for the bride.

But you don’t write their names on there. Instead, you frost the cakes so that they look like a tuxedo and wedding dress!

Here’s how you do it:

1. Bake two matching cakes.
2. For the groom cake, cover most of it in chocolate frosting, leaving a small triangle for white frosting for the shirt underneath. Then pipe on buttons, a bow tie, and lapels. That’s it!
3. The bride cake can be mostly colored in white frosting, with some embellishment like rosettes or filigree patterns.

Bride and Bridesmaids Dresses

If you’re having a bridal shower where it’s just the girls, then bride and bridesmaids dress cakes are one of the coolest bridal shower cake ideas out there.

What are they? Cakes shaped like a bride or bridesmaid standing upright in her dress! It takes a special cake mold, like one of Wilton’s wonder mold kits.

Depending on how many people you have coming to the party, you can have one bride dress, or you can include the whole bridal party.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Bake a cake in a wonder mold.
2. Frost the skirt in white or whatever color you want the dress to be.
3. Insert a doll pick on the top, and you’re done!

Engagement Ring Boxes

Here’s an idea that works for any bridal shower, whether you’re looking for bridal shower cake ideas that are classy, fun, or a bit of both: engagement ring box cakes.

And it’s really versatile, too. You can have one big cake like a 2 or 3-layer 9 inch square cake. Or, if you prefer something closer to the actual size of a ring box, you can make cupcakes or cut up a square or rectangle cake into lots of little ring boxes.

But no matter which type of cake you go for, here’s how you do it:

1. Frost the top of the cake in one color — this is the cushion that the ring sits on. You can even trace out a little slit in the frosting for the ring to go in.
2. Frost the sides of the cake in another color — you’re making the outside of the box, so chocolate is a great option for frosting. It looks like a classic dark ring box.
3. Overlap the sides a bit on the top of the cake, creating a raised edge. This way it looks like the little ring pillow is inside the box!
4. Place a ring in the center of the cake.
   • If you make little cakes like cupcakes, you can buy a whole bunch of fake engagement rings at a crafts store or even a dollar store.
   • If you make one big cake, you’ll want a bigger ring! Try slicing off a section of a round cake to make the ring, or even using half a doughnut. Frost it, and place it on the ring pillow. For a diamond, you can find a big fake gem at a crafts’ store.

Intertwined Rings

Before my wedding, one of my favorite ways to indulge that “I’m getting married!!!” feeling was to stare at my husband and my wedding bands. They were so shiny and perfect and I couldn’t wait to wear mine.

And that’s why the intertwined ring cake is one of my favorite bridal shower cake ideas. I find it’s just such a wonderful symbol, and it reminds me of all the times I opened that ring box to have a peek.

And even though it’s really a great, special looking cake, it’s not at all hard to do. Here’s how:

1. Bake 2 round cakes and let them cool down.
2. Now you want the two circles to overlap. On one of the cakes, trim off the part of the cake that would overlap, and push the two cakes together.
3. Frost the cake any way you like.
   • One idea is to have the top frosted in white, with yellow-gold sides. Then you can pipe on the rings with a wide, flat tip, or make the rings out of rosettes, or anything else you like.
4. If you like, you can also write something on the cake inside the rings.

Tiered Cakes

Of all the bridal shower cake ideas, nothing is quite as elegant as a tiered cake.

It’s the classic style for a wedding cake, but it works just as well for plenty of other events, including a bridal shower — the decoration is what’ll make it stand out for the occasion.

You do need some special equipment this bridal shower cake idea.

• The most important is cake pans. The tiered cake can be made from circle cakes, squares, rectangles or even hearts. But no matter what shape you pick, you need a few different pan sizes.
  • Ideally, you should have pan sizes that give you at least a 2 inch step between each layer, so that you have room for decorations. So for a round cake, you could have 6 inch, 10 inch and 14 inch pans — 2 inches on each side.
• Tiered cakes can get pretty heavy. If you want to be sure that one tier doesn’t sink down into the next, you need some support.
  • First, cut out a piece of cake cardboard the size of each layer except the bottom one.
  • Next, place some pegs into each layer to hold up the cake board. That’ll provide a solid base for your cake, without crushing the layer below.

Once you have all the equipment, making the cake isn’t so hard.

1. Bake all the cakes.
   • When you buy the cake pans, it’s a good idea to check the packaging to see if it tells you how much each tier of cake will serve. It can be a pretty big surprise to find out that one tier of cake will serve 50! So be sure not to bake too much or too little cake!
2. Frost each layer of cake with an initial thin coat of frosting.
3. Place the support pegs and boards, and stack the cake — it might be a little bit messy, but that’s part of the fun!
4. Add any extra decorations you want — frosting bows, flowers, ribbons, rosettes or other designs, or fresh flowers, or anything else the bride-to-be will love.

Cake Trios

If you’re looking for bridal shower cake ideas that’ll look great, but that aren’t quite as complicated as a tiered cake, you can make a cake trio.

It’s simple: just make three cakes, and decorate them alike. They can be the same size, or you can have different sizes like a tiered cake.

Either way, there’s just something about having matching cakes that’ll make the whole presentation look much more impressive. It’s a case of 1+1+1=5 stars!

As for how to decorate, well, for this bridal shower cake idea, the possibilities are endless.

For different sized cakes, you can just decorate them the same way — the size difference will give some variety. If you have matching cakes, you can make each one follow a theme but still be unique. Here are a few examples:

• One cake could have the bride’s name, the other the groom’s, and the third the wedding date.
• You can have the same design but with different colors of icing.
• You can use the same colors to decorate each cake, but with a different design each time.

Gift Box Cakes

If you’re looking for bridal shower cake ideas that are all about a super fun presentation, then one great option is to go with gift box cakes.

The idea is really simple — either one big square cake or a whole bunch of little square cakes, decorated like wrapped gifts. A whole plate of cute little packages with frosting ribbons and bows — perfect for a fun party with friends and family, and gifts!

Here’s how you do it:

1. Bake the cakes.
   • If you’re making one big square cake, you’ll want 2 or 3 layers to it, so that it makes a cube.
   • If you’re making little packages, you can either bake one big rectangular cake and cut it up into little squares once it’s cooled down, or you can get a special square cupcake baking pan.
2. Make a few different colors of frosting. It doesn’t matter which colors, as long as they go well together and they’re something the bride will like.
3. For each cake, pick a color and frost the sides and top. Then pick another color, and pipe ribbons on with a wide, flat tip. You can make a bow with the piping set, or you can decorate the package with little flowers or bells or other trinkets from a crafts’ or dollar store.

Heart-Shaped Cakes

A heart-shaped cake is just about the simplest of bridal shower cake ideas out there. Simple, but elegant, and it really sends the perfect message. It’s all about love!

Unlike some of the other bridal shower cake ideas on this page, the cake’s shape is really the only thing that matters here. How you decorate it is up to you! The simple heart shape is what makes it special.

The easiest way to make a heart-shaped cake is to have a heart-shaped cake pan. You can buy them in a lot of cooking and baking supplies stores. But if you’re in a bind, you can always use some more standard cake pans. Here how:

1. Bake one square 8 inch cake, and one round 8 inch cake. You can make them bigger, but the square cake and round cake need to be the same size.
2. Cut the round cake in half. Place one half against the square cake, the cut edge lined up with the side of the square. Do the same thing with the other half on an adjacent side. And there you go! A beautiful heart.

Underwear Cake

Depending on who the bridal shower is for, and who’s invited to the party, you may want some more risqué bridal shower cake ideas. And an underwear cake is a super fun way to spice up the bridal shower!

And really, it’s a party where women might very well give the bride cute underwear for her honeymoon. It’s part of the theme!

So how do you make underwear cake?

1. First, bake a large sheet cake. Let it cool down, and trim it so that it looks like woman’s upper body wearing some sexy lingerie — a nightie, panties, whatever.
   • If you like, you can bake a couple of wonder mold cakes for the bust. Depending on the crowd, it might be a little too risqué, or no problem at all.
2. Frost the cake so it looks like lingerie. Lacy or frilly, red or white, whatever you like.

Alternatively, you can just leave the sheet cake as is, and decorate it so that it looks like a box that has some lingerie in it. It’s just a touch tamer.

The underwear cake is a really fun idea, but be sure that it won’t embarrass the bride or offend anyone. You never know, and it all depends on the guest list.

Truffle Topped Cake

A lot of the cakes that we’ve seen so far have really worked the bridal shower theme. But there are some great bridal shower cake ideas out there that are just plain awesome, delicious cakes, no matter what the occasion. A truffle topped cake is a great example.

I won’t say that everyone loves chocolate. But really, if you offer someone a chocolate truffle, odds are their eyes will light up and they’ll love it! So why not combine cake and truffles into one delicious super-dessert?

The idea is super simple. Basically, you just bake a cake and decorated it with frosting and truffles.

• It can be a border of truffles along the bottom of the cake.
• Or, you can have a little pile of truffles in the middle of the cake, and decorate around that. The truffles can be directly on the cake, or on a little plate or even in a cute chocolate bowl.
• Shaved chocolate on top of the cake can continue the truffly chocolatey theme.
• You can use a bunch of different truffles to give some variety. Some rolled in nuts, some covered in powdered sugar, some just plain… they’ll look great together!

Fresh Flower Cake

In some ways, the fresh flower cake idea is really similar to the truffle decorated cake idea. Both are great bridal shower cake ideas because they’re beautiful, elegant and special cakes — not because they follow a bridal shower specific theme.

And just like a truffle decorated cake, the possibilities are endless.

• You can stud little flowers around the borders of the cake.
• You can add a few larger flower in the center of the cake. My own wedding cake had some fresh lilies in the middle, and I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I may be a bit biased, though!
• If you have a tiered cake, you can cover each step in pretty, colorful flowers.
• Remember, if you want fresh flowers on the cake, they’ll have to be placed on the cake right before serving it or presenting it. If they’re out too long, they’ll wilt. So be sure that you order fresh flowers for the day of the bridal shower.

There’s really no rule. Fresh flowers will add a simple, natural beauty and elegance to your cake, no matter how you do it.

Trinket in a Cake

Are you looking for more than just bridal shower cake ideas? Maybe you’re interested in a cake that’s not just dessert, but also a game! A trinket in a cake is just the thing.

Bridal shower games can really make the party a lot of fun. Some games help you get to know each other, and some games are just there for the fun of it, and some are good opportunities to give out prizes.

An easy way to turn a cake into a game is to stir a little trinket into the batter. Once the cake is baked, you won’t know where it is. Whoever gets the piece with the trinket wins a prize!

• It has to be something non-toxic that will not melt, like a tiny ceramic figurine.
• If you do bake a trinket into the cake, you really have to warn the guests. If people aren’t aware or aren’t careful, it can be choking hazard, or someone could chip a tooth. And that wouldn’t be a lot of fun!

Well, that’s it for bridal shower cake ideas. With these different ideas, you can make anything from a super simple cake to an extremely fancy one — depending on what you need for your particular bridal shower, and how much experience you have decorating cakes.

I hope you liked these bridal shower cake ideas, and have an awesome bridal shower!

Home › Cooking Chicken › Breading Chicken, Part IIGo To Chicken Breading Guide – Part I: Dredging and Soaking

In Part I of the breading chicken guide, I went over two techniques: dredging and soaking. In this part of the guide, I’m going to show you how to put those two techniques together to make fantastic breaded chicken.

There’s more than one way to make breaded chicken. You have a bunch of ingredients to choose from when picking your breading or your liquid base. That makes a lot of different ways of breading chicken.

But that’s not all there is to it! You can also combine the dredging and soaking steps in a few different ways. And each of these ways changes how your chicken turns out. Here are three ways to put it all together:

Remember, there’s no right way to make breaded chicken. The best way is the one that you and whoever you’re cooking for likes best! So try them all out, and see what works for you.

Here we go!

 

The 1-2-3 Method

It’s easy to guess. This process has three steps!

1. Dredge the chicken in flour — you can season the flour any way you like.
2. Quickly soak your chicken in the liquid of your choice. Since you’re just doing a quick dip, it’s not really worth putting a whole lot of seasoning in the liquid.
3. Dredge the chicken in the breading of your choice. Season the breading any way you like it.

This is the method I prefer. The flour base helps the liquid stick to the chicken, and you end up with a great coating on the chicken that turns out really crispy once you cook it.

It’s also nice because it works so well even if you start planning your meal 30 minutes before you make it. No marinating time required!

Tips

This method can get a little messy. Your hands can end up coated in flour, breading, and whatever liquid mixture you’re using. You can minimize the mess by using one hand as your dry hand, and the other as your wet hand. The dry hand takes care of step 1, dredging the chicken in flour. The wet hand takes care of steps 2 and 3, soaking and breading chicken pieces. This makes the chicken a lot easier to handle, and keeps your flour clean.

The 1-2 Method

This one is a two-step process.

1. Soak your chicken in the liquid of your choice. You can marinate it for several hours if you want. If you do, it’s worth seasoning your liquid.
2. Dredge the chicken in the breading of your choice. Season the breading any way you like it.

This method is the best one to pick if you plan on marinating your chicken. You can add lots of seasonings to your liquid, giving you an extra juicy, tender, and flavorful breaded chicken

If you’re not planning on marinating the chicken, I’d go with the 1-2-3 Method. That extra flour coating really helps get a better breading.

Tips

The 1-2 Method is a great opportunity to use fresh seasonings. Fresh herbs in the breading change its texture and can give weird results. But if you put them in the liquid mixture and marinate, the flavors have plenty of time to infuse the chicken. Then they’re tossed out with the mixture and don’t interfere with your breading!

The 1 Method

This is really the simplest method of all for breading chicken.

1. Dredge your chicken in flour, seasoned any way you like.

You can also use another type of breading, but without a liquid base, it won’t stick as well as flour.

The 1 Method is the traditional way of making fried chicken. Lightly breaded chicken, pan fried in half an inch to an inch of oil.

Tips

If you’re going for the 1 Method, I’d recommend brining the chicken beforehand. Brining helps keep the chicken moist and makes it more flavorful. This is important. With the 1 Method, you have a much thinner breading on your chicken. That means less crisp, and less protection from drying out.

Well, now you know how to bread chicken. The next step is to cook it! I’ve got an article on how to fry chicken. Or, if you prefer something healthier, check out our oven fried chicken article.

Enjoy!

Home › Cooking Beef › Braising BeefTo me, braising beef is a great way to make one of those wonderful winter meals. The kind where the house smells amazing for hours. And then, when you finally get to eat it, it’s so tender you can pull it apart with a fork. It’s hot, comforting and delicious.

Now, apart from the fact that it’s so good, there are a few reasons that braising is such a great way to cook beef.

First of all, it’s really easy. If you have the right cooking gear (a dutch oven works really well), you can make it all in one dish. And once it’s in the oven, you hardly need to worry about it. When dinnertime comes around, you only need to take care of some side dishes. No last minute mad-scramble!

Braising is also a wonderful way to cook tougher meats. Braising beef can turn even the toughest cut of beef into a meal that will melt in your mouth. The tougher cuts are usually a lot less expensive, so it’s a thrifty way to satisfy a beef craving!

So, what is braised beef? Just read on. In this article I’ll start by explaining what braising is. After that, I’ll go through the process of cooking braised beef, step by step:

Here we go!

 

So What Is Braising?

Braising is a cooking technique where you slow cook a tough cut of meat in just enough liquid to cover the meat half way. The main reason to use this cooking method is to tenderize the meat.

Tougher cuts of beef are full of connective tissues like collagen. It’s these tissues that make the meat so tough. So, if you want to turn your tough beef cut into something a bit more tender, you need to get rid of those tissues. And that’s where braising beef comes in!

You get rid of collagen by melting it. When it melts, collagen turns into gelatin. That makes the beef more tender and moist!

Unfortunately, collagen needs to be very hot for a very long time before it’ll melt… If you just put the beef in the oven to roast, it’ll burn long before the collagen melts.

How does braising help? Well, the key is the liquid. When you start cooking your beef, some of that liquid evaporates. But with a tight lid on the pot, it can’t escape, and so you get an environment full of moisture for your beef to cook in. And when something is moist, it’s much harder to burn!

All that moisture lets you get your beef hotter for longer, so the heat can penetrate deep down into the piece of beef and melt all that tough collagen.

But braising beef isn’t just about tenderizing. It’s also about flavoring! The beef cooks for so long that whatever liquid you use will have plenty of time to infuse the beef with flavor. You can use all sorts of different liquids to give your braised beef a unique, delicious flavor.

Well, that’s what braising is. Now, let’s find out how do it!

Braising Beef – Step By Step

Step 1: Selecting a Cut of Beef

A tough cut of beef is the best choice if you’re planning on making braised beef. The whole point of braising beef is to cook it hot and long enough to melt all the collagen.

A tender piece of meat, like a t-bone steak, doesn’t have any collagen in it. There’s no reason to braise it. Instead, you can grill it, broil it, or use some other dry heat technique to cook it.

So what are the best cuts for braising beef? Try

• Any cut from the chuck, including short ribs. Check the package at the grocery store. The word “chuck” should be on there somewhere.
• Any cut from the shank. These come from the animal’s hard working leg muscles, so they’re full of tough connective tissue. Perfect for braising!
• Cuts from the brisket.
• Certain cuts from the round. Try cuts from the bottom round or the eye of round, or rump roasts.
• Flank steaks can be a bit tough, and are great for braising.

Step 2: Browning the Beef (optional)

Now that you’ve selected a tough cut of beef to braise, we can get started.

The next step is to brown the beef. Why do we want to do this? Well, first of all, a nicely browned piece of meat is a lot more appetizing.

But it’s not just about presentation. When you sear beef, it forms a very flavorful brown crust. This makes it even more delicious, and adds a little something to the meal.

To brown the beef, first pat it dry and dredge it in flour. Shake off any excess flour. A thin coating of flour will help the beef brown more evenly, and will help prevent it from burning or sticking to the pan.

Next, heat a bit of oil in a pan over medium high. Cook each side of your piece of beef until it has a nice brown color. Remove the beef from the pan, pour out the fat, and… you’re done step 2!

Tips

• If you’re planning on braising beef in a pot on the stove, use that same pot to brown your beef. Or, if you have a dish that can go both on the stove and in the oven, you can brown your beef on the stove, then place the dish in the oven. Fewer dishes to do… that’s always a good thing!
• There’s a rumor floating around that searing the beef helps keep the moisture in. That’s not actually true. Luckily you don’t have to worry about that for braised beef! There’s so much moisture in the air in the pot that your beef won’t get dry at all. The real reason you want to sear the meat is for that extra bit of flavor, and how it looks.

Step 3: Aromatic Vegetables and Herbs (optional)

This step is where a lot of the dish’s flavor comes from.

First, chop up some aromatic vegetables. An aromatic vegetable is a vegetable that gives rich flavors and aromas when you cook it. Onions, carrots and celery are three great aromatic vegetables.

Next, select some herbs. Pick whatever you want to flavor your roast with. Rosemary and thyme are some examples, but any herb you like works.

In the same pan you browned the beef, sauté the vegetables and herbs over medium heat for about a minute to release their flavors.

Tips

• Wondering how finely or coarsely to chop up your vegetables? Well, that’s up to you. But here are some guidelines. When you’re done braising the beef, you’ll be left with quite a bit of liquid in your dish. You can use this to make a flavorful sauce. At this point, you can either leave the veggies in there as is, or puree them into the sauce.
• If you want to leave your vegetables as is, chop them finely. It’ll look much better in the sauce than big chunks.
• If you’re going to puree the veggies, you can chop them more coarsely. They’ll be soft enough to puree easily by the time you’re done. Just remember, you sauté the veggies in this step, so they shouldn’t be too big!
• Since braised beef cooks for so long, you could even skip the sautéing step. Just toss some big chunks of veggies in there after adding the liquid. They’ll have plenty of time to add flavor and get soft.
• As I mentioned, this step is optional. The only essential part to braising beef is the liquid (Step 4) and the slow cooking (Step 5). But this step really enhances the flavor of your braised beef. It’s definitely worth chopping up a few veggies, if you have the time.

Step 4: The liquid

Finally, it’s time for the all-important liquid. This is what makes it braised beef.

You have a lot of different options here. Remember, braising beef means cooking the meat in liquid for a long time, so it’s a great opportunity to pick something that’ll add lots of flavor. Some good choices for your liquid are:

First, add a little bit of liquid to the pan where you seared the beef and sautéed the vegetables. Be sure to deglaze the pan – scrape up any brown bits left in the pan and stir them into the sauce. They’re full of flavor!

Next, place the meat back in the pan. Add enough liquid so that it reaches about half way up the beef. Don’t let it cover the beef completely! If you do that, you don’t have braised beef anymore, you have a stew.

Tips

This is a good time to add some extra seasonings to the liquid. Spices like star anise go great with beef, and the long cooking time will really bring out the flavor.

Step 5: Cooking

Now it’s time to cook the beef! Whether you’re braising beef on the stove or in the oven, here are the guidelines you need to follow:

• You need to have a tight lid on your pot or dish. You don’t want any moisture escaping – it’s there to keep your meat from burning, and to allow it to get hot enough to melt the collagen.
• When braising beef, the liquid should be kept at a simmer. If it’s boiling, reduce the heat. For the stove, you can usually leave the burner on low to keep it at a simmer. For the oven, anywhere between 250F and 350F works. Just remember, the lower the temperature, the longer the beef needs to cook.
• To test whether the beef is done, try pulling it apart with a fork. It should fall apart. Of course, the only way to really be sure that the meat is cooked is with a meat thermometer. It should have reached a temperature of about 160F.

Step 6: Making the Sauce

Alright, the beef is cooked and ready. The next step in braising beef is to make a delicious sauce to go along with it.

The first step is to take the beef out of the pot and set is aside. Be sure to cover it so that it stays warm.

Now, we make a sauce from the liquid left in the pot. First, skim any fat from the surface. You can actually just use the liquid as is, but here are some ways to dress it up a little:

• If you want something a bit thicker, you can add a bit of flour or cornstarch to the mix and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. You can make a roux rather than adding the flour directly to the sauce. It’ll help prevent clumping.
• If you don’t want the chunks of vegetables in there, you can either strain the sauce to remove them, or puree them into the sauce. A hand blender works wonders for that.
• You can also add some seasonings to the sauce. Just taste, and add whatever you feel it needs… salt, pepper, garlic, or anything else you like.

Step 7: Serve and Enjoy!

All that’s left is to serve the meal.

Be sure to let the beef stand 10 to 20 minutes before you carve it. That way, the juices have time to distribute evenly through the meat. You can cover it to keep it warm.

Once it’s had a bit of time to rest, slice the braised beef or cut it into chunks, and serve them with some of the sauce and whatever side dishes you like.

And now that you know all about braising beef… enjoy!

Home › Cooking Vegetables › Braised VegetablesBraised vegetables are a great way to enjoy delicious vegetable side dishes. By cooking the vegetables in just a bit of stock, wine, or juice, you end up with delicious veggies, and you can even make a tasty sauce full of complex flavors.

And it’s really hard to go wrong making braised vegetables. A quick sauté over high heat will help get a nicely caramelized exterior, and once that’s done, it’s as easy as adding a bit of liquid, and letting the vegetables cook slowly.

Braising is all about the great blend of flavors. The caramelization is awesome, but you also get to add a lot of flavors in the sauce. That makes braised vegetables different from any other type of cooked vegetable.

In this article, I’ll go over everything you know about braising vegetables. First, I’ll go over what braising is. Then, I’ll talk about what ingredients to pick and how to prepare them. Then, I’ll show how to braise the vegetables. Finally, I’ll go over how to make a delicious sauce from the cooking liquid.

Here we go!

 

What Is Braising?

Braising is a cooking technique where you cook food by partially submerging it in simmering water, in a tightly covered pot. You can also sauté or sear the food beforehand. It’s not necessary, but browning the exterior quickly over high heat can add an extra dimension of flavor to your braised dish.

Braising is especially useful for tough cuts of meat, because the long, slow cooking time helps break down tough fibers so that you end up with a nice tender meal. But it’s also a great cooking technique for vegetables, because of the wonderful flavors you can add, and because it can really help soften tough, starchy veggies.

It might sound very similar to boiling, but there’s a key difference: the amount of liquid used. When you boil vegetables, they’re completely submerged in the water: the water is what cooks them. When you braise, only part of the vegetable is in the water: both the liquid and the steam contribute to cooking the vegetable.

Because you use less liquid, you get less nutrient and flavor loss, so that your veggies taste better. But using less liquid also allows you to use something other than water, without being wasteful. Vegetable or chicken stock can add a lot more flavor to vegetables than water!

And the best part is, once you’re done cooking the vegetables, you have the perfect amount of liquid to make an amazing sauce with. A bit of wine, stock, and citrus can turn ordinary vegetables into amazing ones!

Preparing The Ingredients

When you’re making braised vegetables, there are a few things to prepare. You need to pick and prepare your vegetables and seasonings, and you need to pick a liquid to braise them in.

The Vegetables

There are lots of different vegetables that are great braised. Tough roots, like carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips and beets are wonderful, but you can also braise asparagus, green beans, squashes, leeks, cabbage, onions, broccoli, or any other vegetable you like. You can even braise fruit, too. Pineapple, pears and apples can add a sweet touch to your meal.

Once you’ve decided which vegetable to braise, you need to prepare itproperly. That means washing it and trimming it first, and then cutting it up. And how you cut the vegetable is pretty important. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• The smaller the pieces, the faster they’ll cook. It’s all about how long heat will take to penetrate to the center of the vegetable chunk. So a long, flat piece will cook faster that a largish cube.
• Cut the vegetables into even-sized pieces. If some are much smaller than others, they’ll cook faster and be overdone by the time the rest are ready.
• Try cutting the pieces so that they have at least one flat surface to rest against the bottom of the pot or pan. That way, if you want to brown them first, you have lots of surface area to caramelize.

Once your vegetables are all cut up, you can think about seasoning them.

Seasonings

Braised vegetables are even better with a little bit of seasoning. You can use herbs, spices or aromatics to add a ton of extra flavor and make outstanding dishes.

• Aromatics like onion, garlic, chives, or shallots are great chopped up finely and sautéed when you sear the vegetables. Or for a prettier look, you can use pearl onions and leave them whole.
• Herbs and spices can be used three ways.
  • For extra flavor, add them to the hot pan while you’re searing the vegetables – the heat will help release even more of their flavor. You can leave them in after adding the cooking liquid.
  • For a milder flavor, just add them to the simmering liquid.
  • You can also sprinkle some fresh chopped herbs on the braised vegetables once they’re done cooking.
• You can also use any other seasoning you like. Citrus zest is a good example that goes great with broccoli.

The Cooking Liquid

The cooking broth is one of the things that sets braised vegetables apart from other types of cooked vegetable side dishes.

Because you need so little liquid – just enough to reach about halfway up the vegetables – you can use something a bit more interesting than just water. It’ll add extra nutrition and flavor to your braised vegetables, without being wasteful.

Here are a few liquids you can use when you’re making braised vegetables.

• Water
• Broth or stock – chicken, vegetable and beef are all good
• Wine
• Juice

Those are just a few examples. If you think a liquid will taste great with your vegetables, don’t be afraid to try it! And you can also combine different liquids and make a delicious blend of flavors.

Another neat thing about the cooking liquid is that you can use it to make a tasty sauce to go with your veggies. And that means there’s absolutely no waste. You get to keep the liquid you used, and any nutrients that were leeched out of the vegetables as they cooked. Different cooking liquids will give you a different tasting sauce.

There are so many possibilities, you’ll never get tired of braised vegetables!

Braised Vegetables

Once you’ve picked and prepped your vegetables, seasonings and cooking liquid, you’re ready to make braised vegetables! It’s so easy. Just follow these instructions and you’ll have a tasty vegetable side dish you’ll love!

Here’s how you do it.

1. Heat some oil or butter in a pan over medium high heat.
   • The pan (or pot) should be big enough to hold all the vegetables in a single layer, if possible. That way, each veggie piece touches the broth without being submerged.
   • The pan should have a fitted lid. You don’t want to let any moisture escape when you braise!
   • If you’re going to make a sauce from the leftover broth, butter will give a nicer flavor than oil.
2. Sear the vegetables in the pan. You can let them brown as much as you like. At this point, you can also add any aromatics or herbs, if you want to intensify flavors.
   • If you like, you don’t have to sear the vegetables at all. Searing adds a certain flavor to braised vegetables, but if you don’t like it, just skip it!
   • The vegetables will sear more quickly if you don’t move them around too much. This way, the outside will brown without the inside cooking – so that it can cook by braising instead.
3. Add the cooking liquid and any other seasonings, and bring to a boil.
4. Place the lid on the pan, and reduce the heat. You want the liquid inside to simmer gently.
5. Let the vegetables cook until they’re as tender as you like them.
   • You can test them by sticking a knife in them to see how soft they are, or just by eating a piece every so often.
   • Check the level of the cooking liquid, and add a bit more if it gets too low. You pan should never be dry.
   • Vegetables don’t take too long to braise. For dense, hard vegetables like turnips or beets it might take 30 minutes or more, but most vegetables will be done under 15 minutes.
6. Serve, and enjoy!

That’s really all there is to braised vegetables. The real magic comes in when you pick different vegetables, seasonings and cooking liquids. And experimentation is the best way to find a meal you’ll love!

Notes

• If you prefer, you can also braise the vegetables in the oven. Once they’re seared, just place them in an oven safe dish, add the cooking liquid, and place them in an oven preheated to 300F. This method is nice if you have a dish that can go on the stove-top and in the oven, to minimize cleanup.

Making A Sauce

Once you’re done braising the vegetables, you’ll notice you have some cooking liquid left over. And although you could throw it out, you’d be throwing out delicious flavors from the broth, and all the nutrients it leeched from the vegetables.

If you like, you can save the broth, and use it in a soup later. But you can also make a delicious sauce to accompany your braised vegetables. It’s really easy to do.

Here how to make a sauce to go with your braised vegetables.

1. Taste the cooking liquid. If it’s not tasty, don’t use it. If it’s a little bland, you can add some extra liquid for flavor at this point. Juice or wine make a nice addition to a sauce, but you could also use soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or anything you like.
2. Add some seasonings, as needed. You might just need a bit of salt, but you can also add herbs like rosemary, or some aromatics like garlic, or even other seasonings like Dijon mustard. Just try out different combinations with different vegetables, and you’ll get a feel for what tastes great.
   • Remember that if you boil down the sauce, it’ll get more concentrated in flavor, so go easy on the seasonings!
3. Bring the liquid to a boil, and let it boil uncovered until it starts to thicken.
   • You can also use flour or cornstarch to thicken the sauce. You don’t need a lot, maybe half a teaspoon. It’s especially helpful when your sauce just refuses to thicken – sometimes it just works out that way.
   • Reducing the sauce and thickening by boiling rather than with flour has an advantage: concentration of flavor. As water evaporates from the sauce, the sauce gets more and more flavorful.
4. Spoon the sauce over the braised vegetables, or toss the veggies in the sauce to coat them.
5. Serve and enjoy!

And that’s how you make braised vegetables, and a delicious sauce to go along with them. It’s so easy, you can do it every night!