Braising 101: What NOT to do

Using my remaining six brain cells, I decided to braise a roast yesterday in my fabulous new dutch oven. Doesn't braising sound fun and exciting? Well, let me tell ya. I heated up the dutch oven, drizzled a bit of olive oil in there and dropped in the roast. It sizzled nicely and I anticipated flipping it over to see a nice brown crust on the bottom. Instead, I flipped it over to over to find the plastic pad thingy sizzling in my fancy-schmancy new dutch oven. Note to self: do not braise while sleep deprived. At least the plastic appears to be gone from my pan. And the roast was saved too. I scrapped off a little plastic and we were good to go. For what it's worth, braising makes a pretty darn good roast. As long as you take the plastic off first.