Braising cooking recipes for attaining juicy and tender poultry, vegetables & meat is a chef’s secret. So, mastering this technique requires many efforts and an adequate Braiser pan. Braising is the cooking method to absorb maximum flavours and tenderness from tough cuts of meats. It improves the flavour and texture of food and enhances the flavour. From braising to searing and shallow frying, there is simply nothing better than a braiser pan.
A Braiser is a large pan usually coated cast iron, equipped with handles and comes with a lid. It is similar to a Dutch oven; the only difference is a shorter wall and rounded bottom. However, you can use it as a kettle for cooking stews, soups, rice, chilli, pasta and sauces. This unit can be used for frying chicken, donuts, fries and fish fillets. For quick simmering and browning food, it is good to have a Braiser pan. Typically, the braiser pan holds 2 to 4 quarts of contents and the size is 10 to 14 inches in diameter. Let’s discuss its uses, benefits and types.
Definition
Braising is a technique that uses both moist heat cooking and dry heat cooking. In this cooking method, to brown the ingredient, it is scorched at a high temperature and gives it a fine crust.After this, a small amount of liquid is added to it and the temperature is reduced and cooked on low flame. Liquids like broth, beer, cider, or water can be added to it.
The food’s flavor is exaggerated once the initial browning arises. Adding any liquid into the food submerge both of them and offer a flavorful piece of meat or any other food. This method is adding caramelize outside the food and crisping & browning up inside it. Also, makes your food tender and softer.
In simple words, braising is an amalgamation of steaming and roasting. For such type of cooking, a Braiser pan comes in handy. This type of pan is made thoughtfully for braising foods. They are available in different sizes, contain a lid, the pan is round and, has two round handles either both sides. In this open plan, you can sear meats or vegetables quickly & enclose them with a lid to cook gradually in added liquid and allow it to create moisture.
The unit generally comes with a tight-fitting lid so that the liquid does not vanish. Both the pan and cooking method contains the natural flavor juice of the meat or vegetable pieces while also submersing the ingredients. However, the pan has a shallow side and a thick base that is slanted out & up and is rounded. The non-stick surface allows you to maintain the flavors and taste of food items.
Types of Braiser Pan
These pans are one of the most multipurpose units and are known as tilting skillets. Braiser pans are typically bulky and large, but they come in a wide range of sizes and types. Three types of Braiser pans are available in the market. These pans are wall–mounted, floor mounted, and table-mounted. Further, these three models are divided into gas and electric.
Depending on the purposes and needs of food, braising pans are offered by several manufacturers in varieties of gallon sizes.Some operators are buying countertop braising pans ranging in size from12 to16 gallons. Electric Braiser pans come in 12-gallon sizes while 16 to 40-gallon sizes come in either electric or gas.
Floor-mounted models are often available in 15-gallon sizes with limited ventilation hood space. These pans usually feature non-stick coating or stainless steel construction, while cabinet mechanisms may be constructed of other materials. Different finishes are also being offered in these pans for different performances.
A hand ground finish can be easier to clean and too much smoother while a blast finish is designed to prevent food from sticking as it has a dimpled and rougher surface. Braising pans are rectangular and square, but round units are popularly used in professional kitchens and domiciles.
Table-mounted units come with manual tilting, on the other hand, floor-mounted models offer either crank tilting mechanisms or electric. Pans based on gas require natural gas while electric pans utilize 280 to 480 volts. Apart from that, these pans offer various heat delivery settings.
Features and Uses of Braiser Pans
There are various uses of Braiser Pans over Braising, this includes:
- Steaming and roasting meats
- Cooking breakfast food items like bacon, pancakes, sausage and eggs.
- Preparing soup stock
- Cooking rice and stew
- Steaming Vegetables, etc.
However, it can be used as a kettle, oven, fryer, steamers and griddle.
If you’re interested to know about the features of Braiser Pan, let’s quickly look at the mentioned points.
- Gas using braiser pans with aluminium-core surfaces offer consistent energy delivery. You can even choose electric units with aluminium-core heating in pans.
- Another feature includes coved corners, a torrential lip, satin finish, support holder, anti-jam lift mechanisms. Some pans have a stand-up pilot feature for food tasks where power isn’t available.
- Some manufacturers provide a water hookup, sprayers for easier cleaning of pan.
- Operators can choose between spring-assisted lids or hinged for convenient opening and closing. Moreover, power-tilt mechanisms or manual hand-tilt provide different lid options.
- To do accurate measurement, some units come with tilting skillets include interior gallon signs, and while some come with spring-assist covers.
- These pans are also available in closed-base or open legs.
Benefits of Braiser Pans
There are various benefits of having a Braiser pan for a commercial kitchen or a regular kitchen. Some of them are as follow:
- Braiser pan is versatile equipment so that it can reduce the requirement of further units. It can function as a fryer, steamer, kettle, oven or warming unit to cook almost everything.
- This unit can cooker steadily than a griller so that most operator it is a high-temperature. Places like hospitals, prisons and schools used it for preparing large meals. However, a 30-gallon unit can prepare around 251 to 350 meals per hour.
- Another topmost benefit of Braiser Pans it saves your efforts, food preparation time and enhanced batch consistency. Few units provide heat temperature ranges up to150 degrees – 450 degrees.
- Most commonly models are made from heat-resistant cast iron, so it crisps and browns food quickly and thoroughly.
- The wide cooking surface of the pan provides even browning and bulky food for large gatherings, crowds or guests.
- Moreover, it has a shallow wall that enables in-depth liquid evaporation.
- Looped and largely designed handles allow you to carry it with ease while wearing oven gloves.
Conclusion:
Make your regular meal delicious and reduce the requirements of varieties of cooking essentials after buying a Braiser Pan.
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Hi, my name is Ashley Robinson. I’m a food blogger and a part time chef in Food & Drink Junction, Denver. With my blog I’m sharing information & tutorials about different kinds of cooking pans.
