A classic pot roast meets kimchi, sweet potatoes
There's something wonderful about a properly made pot roast that turns a lowly piece of beef into classic comfort food. Take a rather tough chunk of chuck, sear the outside, add flavorful liquids and flavor-enhancing produce to the pot, along with seasonings and let it all gently simmer (braise) on the stovetop for a few hours and voila, a tasty, fall-apart roast ready to be sliced and served. Magic.
There was a time in my life when a packet of onion soup mix played a starring role in my pot roast. Today, sautéed and caramelized fresh onions enhance my usual pot roast's final flavor profile, which is far better than a gritty mix of non-onion ingredients.
Over the years a variety of organic meat and vegetable broths, as well as wine and beer and even just plain spring water have produced many of my most-excellent pot roasts.
Since I can more easily control the temperature, I've switched from stovetop braising to oven braising and even leave the house for a couple of hours as my roast braises happily in my oven, like a crockpot.
I've learned that a pot roast, like stews and chili's, usually tastes even better the next day, especially when the excess hardened fat can easily be removed from the surface when the pot has been chilled. That's part of a braised pot roast's value; wringing out a lot of fat from a fatty piece of meat.
My life partner, Nan, came across a recipe from Washington Post food writer Julie Turshen for a pot roast made with kimchi and sweet potatoes. If you're like me, on the first read that doesn't sound that good.
Kimchi is fermented Napa cabbage mixed with scallion, red pepper, apple, onion, garlic, ginger, hot pepper powder, fish sauce (anchovy, salt, water), salted shrimp and salt; sometimes including a pinch of sugar.
That flavor combination doesn't immediately come to mind when considering a homemade “comfort food” pot roast, does it?
Where can you find kimchi? I got mine from the H Mart (a Korean market) in Schaumburg. If you head over there, make sure you have more than a few minutes to take in what's available, including live fish and shellfish. There's a whole refrigerated section devoted to kimchi; I went with Country Style Sliced Kimchi.
Nutritionally, this kimchi's a calorie bargain delivering only 25 calories from 2/3 cup (about 3½ ounces).
The piece of boneless beef chuck I used was grass-fed, grass-finished. I also tossed in two beef short ribs for the flavor-enhancing value of the bones.
Standard sweet potatoes would have worked well enough and was what Turshen seemed to have in mind. If you've ever had a Japanese sweet potato, you know how sweet it can be. It has a purplish out skin with a creamy white interior. Until you peel it, a Japanese sweet potato looks like a regular sweet potato. I believed that sweetness against the kimchi's heat would make the perfect counterpoint.
Amazingly the short list of Korean/Asian ingredients yields a pot roast with a complex flavor profile. Does the fish flavor from the kimchi come through? Not really.
Putting a Korean spin on pot roast was easy and the aroma filling my kitchen was intoxicating; I could barely wait to taste this dish. The roast sliced beautifully and the sweet potatoes did as I hoped; mellowing-out the kimchi's heat. Success.
Want to make my version of this pot roast. Here's the recipe.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at don@ theleanwizard.com.