at Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:19:15 GMT in <1131491955.746197.314100
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, (Karen MacInerney)
wrote :

>Last night, out of sheer laziness, I used a recipe of James Beard's
>that involved browning thick pork loin chops, then braising them in
>broth with some sliced onions for an hour. I've done it before with
>rather dry and jaw-exhausting results. Yesterday was no different:
>great flavor, dry and leathery texture.

How much liquid did you have? If the liquid doesn't fully cover the items
to be braised, the meat will dry and become tough. However, if the liquid
is excessive, so that the chop is more immersed in a soup, then the liquid
will leach all the flavour out and there's still a risk that the meat will
be dry once removed from the liquid. You want just enough liquid to
*barely* cover the meat.

What was the liquid temperature during the process? It should be just
barely at a simmer. Higher temperatures produce toughness. Lower
temperatures and the meat sits there and does little.

I must say that 1 hour sounds very rushed. A couple of nights back I
"rushed" a braised pork chop by doing it for 4 hours and it was sort of at
the limits of acceptibility - not tough but not melt in the mouth either.

Pork loin is pretty lean, too. My favourite chop for braising is the blade
chop. Loin is better for faster methods like grilling or fast frying.

Don't dismiss, also, the possibility that the recipe has issues. If you've
tried the same thing multiple times and it still doesn't produce acceptable
results, you may be looking at a bum recipe. Even great chefs can have
recipes that don't work for whatever reason.

--
Alex Rast

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