Slicing a pot roast after chilling overnight gives you
uniform, tatter-free slices.Constant Heat Versus Constant Temperature
You may wonder why many braised recipes call for cooking
in the oven instead of simmering on the stovetop. Here’s the
deal: a stovetop maintains a constant heat output, while an
oven maintains a constant temperature. This means that on
the stovetop, the same amount of heat energy is being
transferred to the pot no matter how much stuff is inside it,
and no matter how hot that stuff already is. A pot of stew
that’s barely simmering at the start of cooking over medium-
low heat might be at a rapid boil toward the end of cooking,
when some of the liquid has evaporated and the volume of
the stew has diminished. In an oven, no matter how much or
how little food there is in the pot, the temperature of the
food remains the same. Moreover, an oven heats gently
from all sides, while a burner focuses the heat on the bottom