[2 - 2] oh they're just falling apart oh my gosh
[5 - 11] i'm 100 okay with that oh gosh yes 100
[13 - 13] at atk some of our most frequently used
[13 - 15] cookware are dutch ovens and skillets
[15 - 19] but when you combine the two you get
[21 - 23] razors here with me today is our braising
[23 - 25] here with me today is our braising expert and my teammate ridley i am so
[25 - 27] happy to be here lisa like you said a
[27 - 29] brazer is like a cross between a dutch
[29 - 31] oven and a skillet and they're really
[31 - 33] cool because not only can they braise
[33 - 36] but they can sear simmer and roast yeah
[36 - 37] we're going to take a look at all those
[37 - 39] functions and we're going to compare our
[39 - 41] winning and best buy brazer dutch ovens
[48 - 48] traditionally braising is a wet heat
[48 - 50] cooking method used to turn tough cuts
[50 - 52] of meat tender so meat is seared and
[52 - 54] browned first and then liquid is added
[54 - 56] and it's finished cooking low and slow
[56 - 58] either on the stove top or in the oven
[58 - 60] at atk we've always braised in a dutch
[60 - 62] oven this is our winner by la cruz it's
[62 - 64] seven and a quarter quarts and it's
[64 - 66] enameled cast iron our winning brazer
[66 - 68] also by la cruz a this is three and a
[68 - 70] half quarts let's talk about how they
[70 - 72] differ well as you can probably see the
[72 - 74] dutch oven is quite a bit larger it has
[74 - 76] really high sides a large capacity which
[76 - 78] means it's perfect for accommodating
[78 - 80] really large cuts of meat
[80 - 83] and vegetables even but a bracer is also
[83 - 85] great because while its walls are
[85 - 87] smaller it has a really large cooking
[87 - 89] surface yeah so it can kind of
[89 - 91] accommodate a lot of browning here and
[91 - 92] it's spread out more a little i mean
[92 - 94] when you look at end to end here versus
[94 - 98] here this is lower and wider than your
[98 - 99] dutch oven so you're really going to get
[100 - 102] more surface area exposure which helps
[102 - 104] things evaporate and concentrate the
[104 - 106] flavor so let's see these braziers in
[106 - 108] action we can start making our pork
[108 - 110] lemon and fennel ragu which is something
[110 - 113] that you used in testing right yeah this
[113 - 115] recipe really has all the components
[115 - 117] that i wanted to test out in the razor
[117 - 120] it's browning it's simmering it goes in
[120 - 123] the oven for a while so it was ideal for
[125 - 127] put in our water right in there this is
[127 - 130] some chopped pancetta we're just gonna
[131 - 133] until the water evaporates and the fat
[133 - 136] and the chedda starts to render out and
[136 - 138] it gets all brown and crispy
[138 - 142] so we did test five razors and the
[142 - 144] lakers day ended up being our favorite
[144 - 146] for a variety of reasons including the
[146 - 149] fact it has really large looped handles
[149 - 151] which make it easy to lift in and out of
[151 - 153] the oven and maneuver around the stove
[153 - 156] top it has a light colored cast iron
[156 - 159] enameled interior which is great for
[159 - 161] monitoring browning i think we're ready
[161 - 163] for the fennel and onion okay here's the
[163 - 165] onions we're just gonna build flavor for
[165 - 167] this amazing sauce
[169 - 172] which made some beautiful brown font and
[172 - 174] now we're adding our aromatic vegetables
[174 - 176] and they're going to contribute their
[177 - 178] flavors one of the other ones that you tested is
[178 - 181] one of the other ones that you tested is the straw we really liked this pan but
[181 - 183] one of the things that we had a problem
[183 - 185] with is that this interior
[188 - 190] and you know you can't see the contrast of
[190 - 193] you know you can't see the contrast of browning and we really like to monitor
[193 - 194] exactly how brown it's going to get
[194 - 195] because that really is going to
[195 - 197] determine your flavor
[197 - 200] so this one by traumatina yeah this is
[200 - 203] your best buy right that is that is my
[204 - 208] it worked wonderfully it cooked pretty
[208 - 210] similarly to the lake crusade it's
[210 - 213] slightly bigger it's four quarts instead
[213 - 214] of three and a half quarts the chief
[214 - 217] difference between these two was the
[217 - 219] handles here you can see that they're
[219 - 221] they're much smaller they're not large
[221 - 223] and looped and they're just not as
[223 - 225] comfortable as lake crusade but at a
[225 - 227] fraction of the price it's still a
[227 - 229] fantastic pan what about this one the
[231 - 234] so this was the one ceramic razor we
[234 - 235] tested the rest of the models that we
[236 - 238] tested were made from enameled cast iron
[238 - 241] and we had some problems with it from
[241 - 243] the get-go we know that ceramic is not
[243 - 246] as good of a heat retainer and it
[246 - 248] doesn't distribute heat as evenly as
[248 - 250] enameled cast iron and that really
[250 - 253] showed in our testing so definitely a no
[253 - 256] for ceramic razors yeah and i think
[256 - 258] we're ready for that next step okay so
[258 - 260] we're gonna add some garlic
[260 - 263] now salt and pepper
[263 - 266] thyme yes and now we're ready for the
[266 - 268] second part of the braise
[268 - 270] we have our water
[271 - 274] and some heavy cream
[274 - 276] some heavy cream now we add the meat
[276 - 279] this is just pork butt and it does not
[279 - 280] have to be submerged this is actually a
[280 - 283] key part it just sits partway in the
[283 - 284] liquid this part is going to be exposed
[284 - 287] to the oven's heat the liquid will just
[287 - 289] you know keep that heat nice and moist
[289 - 290] and this will get more and more tender
[290 - 293] we're going to bring it back to a boil
[293 - 295] on the surface here and then we're going
[295 - 296] to transfer it to the oven and it'll
[296 - 298] cook for about an hour and a half that
[298 - 301] pork is going to be brown and tender
[302 - 303] are you ready for this
[307 - 310] wow that is gorgeous it smells great it
[310 - 312] looks great there's a ton of browning
[312 - 313] happening here
[313 - 315] oh my gosh it's hard to pick them up
[315 - 317] they're so tender this is perfect look
[317 - 320] at that beautiful moist falling apart
[320 - 322] flavorful and the sauce is going to be
[322 - 325] amazing so we've made this delicious
[325 - 327] pork fennel and lemon ragu in the
[327 - 330] braiser this thing performed beautifully
[330 - 331] same as it does in a dutch oven but
[331 - 333] there are some things that you can't do
[333 - 335] in this that you can do in a dutch oven
[335 - 337] and vice versa for a roast this size a
[337 - 339] brazer works perfectly but it can't
[339 - 340] replace the dutch oven for doing a
[340 - 342] larger roast especially if you throw
[342 - 344] vegetables into the mix like a pot rose
[344 - 346] it's just not big enough but
[346 - 347] for smaller roasts things that
[348 - 349] accommodate about four people a breezer
[349 - 351] works perfectly so now we've compared
[351 - 353] razors to dutch ovens let's look at the
[353 - 354] other side how do they compare to
[355 - 357] skillets [Music]
[357 - 360] [Music] so we are going to be shallow frying
[360 - 361] some chicken cutlets in our braiser the
[361 - 363] difference between shallow frying and
[363 - 365] deep frying is obviously the oil is
[365 - 367] shallow it's something we normally do in
[367 - 369] a skillet it's nice to have that access
[369 - 371] to the ingredients you would never deep
[371 - 374] fry in a freezer the oil would just
[374 - 378] completely overflow
[381 - 381] wow gorgeous golden brown the cast iron
[381 - 382] brazer is really great just like a
[382 - 384] caster and skillet in the sense that the
[384 - 386] heavy cast iron is going to maintain the
[386 - 389] heat when you add food to hot oil it
[389 - 391] cools down the oil and you're not going
[391 - 392] to get that beautiful crispness that you
[392 - 394] want yeah and
[394 - 396] when you have a little bit of leftover
[396 - 398] oil at the end i love that it has two
[398 - 401] handles it just makes it so easy to just
[401 - 403] pour it into a little wall and drain it
[403 - 404] out versus having to kind of like
[404 - 407] struggle with you know one handled
[407 - 408] skillet and whatnot
[408 - 411] okay so we shallow fried our breaded
[411 - 413] chicken cutlets in our winner the la
[413 - 415] crosse beautiful just as good as the
[415 - 418] skillet we're gonna steam 14 cups of
[418 - 420] kale in our braiser this is something
[420 - 422] that you know you might want to do in a
[422 - 424] skillet but skillets you can get covers
[424 - 425] for them but are usually open vessels
[426 - 428] this has really got a lid it will hold
[428 - 431] down all that kale so we've brought the
[431 - 432] broth and the oil to a boil we're going
[432 - 435] to add this kale and these raisins and
[435 - 436] we're going to suppress it with the lid
[436 - 439] until it collapses down because the
[439 - 441] brazer's sides are
[441 - 443] less sloped outward and they're more
[443 - 445] straight up and they're also a bit
[445 - 447] higher for something that has a large
[447 - 448] amount like this
[448 - 450] steam kale recipe the braiser is
[450 - 453] actually a better choice than a skillet
[453 - 456] okay oh my goodness that smells amazing
[456 - 457] looks good and now we take it off the
[459 - 461] heat and we're going to add lemon juice for a
[461 - 464] and we're going to add lemon juice for a little okay lovely
[464 - 466] acidity and some beautiful slivered
[466 - 468] almonds that we toasted we are ready to
[468 - 470] go to the table work just as well as the
[470 - 473] skillet so let's try one more thing in
[473 - 475] brazers we're going to roast a whole
[485 - 485] wow look at that it looks gorgeous it's
[485 - 487] perfect this is our recipe for weeknight
[487 - 489] roast chicken it's super easy you just
[489 - 491] preheat the pan drop this chicken in and
[492 - 493] that gets the dark meat cooking at the
[493 - 495] same rate as the light meat and it's
[495 - 497] done so fast it's like an hour and it's
[497 - 500] also pretty beautiful so that means they
[500 - 501] can put it right on the table or after
[501 - 503] it's cooled down a bit of course and
[503 - 505] they have less dishes to do which is a
[505 - 507] win-win for me on a weeknight yep i
[508 - 509] probably use my braiser like five out of
[509 - 512] seven days of the week and i don't just
[512 - 514] braise in it i do a lot of roast chicken
[514 - 517] and it works great because the low sides
[517 - 519] leave ample room for browning around the
[519 - 522] bird and i get a perfect one every time
[522 - 524] we did really like braziers we found
[524 - 526] them to be versatile in their own right
[526 - 528] almost like a swiss army knife of
[528 - 531] cookware a brazer won't totally replace
[531 - 532] a dutch heaven or a skillet but we do
[532 - 534] think it makes a worthy addition to your
[534 - 536] cookware roster for more information on
[536 - 538] our winning brazer our best buy brazer
[538 - 540] and all the brazers we tested check out
[540 - 542] the links below don't forget to leave
[542 - 543] your razor questions in the comments and
[543 - 549] hit that subscribe button