Poach is a medieval word from the French for the “pouch” of gently cooked egg white that forms around the yolk The original 16th-century form of simmer was simper, an affected, conceited facial expression, the connection possibly being the coy blinking of the bubbles as they begin to break at the surface Braise and stew are both 18th-century borrowings from the French, the first coming from a word for “coal,” and referring to the practice of putting coals under and atop the cooking pot, the second from étuve, meaning stove or heated room and so a hot enclosure Tough and Large Cuts: Slower Means Moister Meats with a significant amount of tough connective tissue must be cooked to a minimum of 160–180ºF/70–80ºC to dissolve their collagen into gelatin, but that temperature range is well above the 140– 150ºF/60–65ºC at which the muscle fibers lose their juices So it’s a challenge to make tough meats succulent The key is to cook slowly, at or just above the collagen-dissolving minimum, to minimize the drying-out of the fibers The meat should be checked regularly and taken off the heat as soon as its fibers are easily pushed apart (“fork tender”) The connective tissue itself can help, because once dissolved, its gelatin holds onto some of the juice squeezed from the muscle fibers and thus imparts a kind of succulence to the meat The shanks, shoulders, and cheeks of young animals are rich in collagen and so make fairly forgiving, gelatin-thickened braises One useful ingredient in long-cooked braises and stews can be a prolonged time — an hour or two — during which the cook carefully manages the meat’s temperature rise up to the simmer The time that the meat spends below 120ºF/50ºC amounts to a period of accelerated aging that weakens the connective tissue and reduces the time needed at fiber-drying temperatures One sign that ...meats succulent The key is to cook slowly, at or just above the collagen-dissolving minimum, to minimize the drying-out of the fibers The meat should be checked regularly and taken off the heat as soon as its fibers are... easily pushed apart (? ??fork tender”) The connective tissue itself can help, because once dissolved, its gelatin holds onto some of the juice squeezed from the muscle fibers and thus imparts a kind of succulence to the meat... thus imparts a kind of succulence to the meat The shanks, shoulders, and cheeks of young animals are rich in collagen and so make fairly forgiving, gelatin-thickened braises One useful ingredient in long-cooked braises and stews can be a prolonged time —