KITCHEN PRACTICE 3 — Tasting the Sauce Before and After Reduction
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Chapter: Chinese Cookery 7 — Red Braising (Hong Shao)

TASK
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Taste the braising sauce partway through the covered simmer, and
again after it's been reduced uncovered at the end. Compare
thickness, glossiness, and how well each version clings to the meat.

WHAT TO DO
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1. While making a hong shao braise (Kitchen Practice 1, or a fresh
   batch), carefully spoon out a small amount of the sauce partway
   through the covered simmer — while it's still thin and mostly
   watery-looking.
2. Set this small sample aside to cool slightly.
3. Continue the braise as normal, uncovering it near the end and
   reducing the sauce until thick and glossy, per the chapter's own
   method.
4. Once finished, spoon out a small amount of the reduced sauce and
   compare it directly against your earlier sample.
5. Dip a small piece of meat in each sauce sample and note how well
   each one clings to it.

WHAT TO EXPECT
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- The earlier, unreduced sample should look thin and watery, closer
  to a broth than a sauce, and should run off a piece of meat almost
  immediately when dipped.
- The final, reduced sample should look noticeably thicker and
  glossier, with real body to it, and should coat and cling to a
  piece of meat rather than running straight off.
- The flavour should also taste more concentrated in the reduced
  sample, since the same amount of dissolved flavour is now
  carried in meaningfully less liquid.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This exercise makes the value of the final uncovered reduction step
directly tasteable rather than just described — a covered simmer
alone produces a fully cooked, tender braise, but not yet the
specific, glossy, clinging dish hong shao is supposed to be. Tasting
both stages side by side shows that the last step isn't cosmetic; it
genuinely changes the sauce's own character, concentration, and how
it behaves on the plate.