Binding Braised Meat

I was just in New Orleans and ate dinner at Balise. It is the second time i have noticed this technique and was wondering if i could do it with Activa. It is a lamb shoulder that is braised and then formed together in a square and seared in fat to have a crunchy exterior but the interior is still the braised meat. Any suggestions as to how this is accomplished?

Thanks,

Alston

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tshewman

You could take the bone out, bind via active+long cook, shape, chill, them sear/ fry.

lockgavin

I'm not too sure if this is what the final outcome is, but it sounds similar to Rick Bayless' plated Carnitas or Joe Beef's pulled pork fish sticks. Where you braise the meat and when still warm you pack it into a mold with some of it's juices (or extra juice) that will solidify as it cools. Then you cut to shape, bread/flour and sear it off. Does that sound like it may work? I say Neville Maguire do it with braised chuck on his television show also.

http://livewellnetwork.com/Mexico-One-Plate-At-A-Time/episodes/State-of-the-Carnitas-Concept/8447574?pid=8447645

Video to Bayless's carnitas there.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I don't know how it's done, but I had a similar dish at Vie in Western Springs, IL. They called it "Beef Epigram", but that's been of precious little help when trying to find out more about the technique. The dish was made with braised beef cheek that they chilled down, formed into discs, breaded, and then fried. I was told that they basically shredded the beef cheeks and combined them with the gelatinous braising liquid, formed it into a log, and set it into a gel with the gelatin... but that seems like it would have oozed out all over the place during the fry. In any event, it was delicious and I've been wondering how it was done ever since.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Although looking at the video Vinlo posted below, it's entirely possible that it was just bound together with pressure, gelatin, and time.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Thanks for the link! I love/hate how smug he is about us "maybe not so much" wanting to make that dish at home.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

I finally got the video to run..and he is pretty smug about a recipe even Camp could make..unless he left something out....

lockgavin

Brandon, this is the exact method David McMillan uses for his "Pulled Pork Fish Sticks". Smoke a shoulder, shred it, add gelatin enriched stock to it, mold it, slice it, panko it, fry it. I have yet to make it though (smoked pulled pork doesn't really sit around too long at my house). If you search google for it, surely a recipe comes up if you don't want to buy the Joe Beef cookbook (altough, it's a pretty good book).

lockgavin

So true. The minute I saw him do that technique I added it to my do to list. I did it with disks of carnitas set on tostada with pickled onions and fixings for an app for christmas.