11 slow-cooked winter dishes to prepare the day before

When the days are cold, the wind is freezing and the temperatures are too low to set foot outside, there is only one solution: rely on comforting dishes. In this game, simmered dishes are all good. Often prepared with meat, vegetables, and herbs, they are simmered for a long time to give the ingredients time to cook but also to become tender as desired. The other point of a simmered dish – apart from the meat which sometimes needs long hours of cooking – is the sauce. In this type of recipe, the sauce made from broth, white or brown stock, spices, bouquet garni, herbs, or even vegetables, needs time to develop its aromas.

Why do we say that a slow-cooked dish is better the next day?

It’s mostly about the consistency of the sauce. If you serve the dish immediately after cooking, the sauce – even if it has reduced – will be more or less “liquid”. After several hours of waiting and cooling, it will thicken and take on consistency. Same principle with meat. It is always advisable to let any piece of meat rest after cooking to give time for the juice to distribute into the flesh, whereas if you cut the meat just at the end of cooking, the liquid contained “at the end” ‘interior’ flows. The result will therefore be less tender, which would be a shame. This operation is said to be “letting the meat draw”. Finally, the last piece of advice of the greatest importance, prefer long cooking at a low simmer, rather than rapid cooking over high heat, the meat will be even softer.

To follow, 11 gourmet recipes perfect for winter.