I’ve made hundreds of basic pot roasts. You know the old recipe card kind. You salt and flour the meat, fry it in the pan, then add wine, stock and tomato paste, carrots, celery and potato, some thyme or rosemary, and slide it in the oven for an afternoon. But lately, I’ve been looking for new things to do with that old chuck roast cut. My favorite new preparation: a warming, sweet recipe that makes use of gochujang, a bright red, not-all-that-spicy Korean fermented pepper paste that you can get at any grocery store in Anchorage. Inspired by recipes trending on social media, I would say I don’t think this is a traditional Korean dish, though it does remind me and my Korean friends of galbi-jjim, sweet soy-braised short ribs.
Because you cut the meat into chunks before cooking, it tends to braise a little faster than a regular pot roast. You can do this recipe in a slow cooker, transferring it from the pot to the cooker and going for 6 hours on high. The only trick, really, is getting the right gochujang. I like the kind made by O’Food that comes in a box with a gold lid, which you can for sure get at Sagaya and New Central Market. Whatever you get, make sure you don’t get the kind that says “spicy,” “medium hot” or “very hot.” Those might be good, if you like a kick, but won’t give you the warm, savory sweetness that comes with regular gochujang and makes this recipe totally fine for diners at your table who don’t like spicy food.
It’s also basically essential to serve this roast with kimchi, which adds a lovely acidic punch that perfectly complements the sweet, soft, braised beef. I also like to serve with fluffy white rice. If you’re not a kimchi person, go for pickled Korean vegetables, called banchan, that you can buy deli-style at New Central Market or order from most Korean restaurants. I like to do both.
Gochujang Pot Roast
Ingredients:
1 approximately 5-pound chuck roast, cut into six chunks
1 tablespoon neutral oil
1 shallot, sliced
1 yellow onion, sliced
4 large cloves of garlic, grated
1 1/2 tablespoons ginger, grated
2 1/2 tablespoons gochujang paste — the regular, not the “spicy” variety
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cups beef stock
Chopped scallions, cilantro, warm rice and kimchi to serve.
Method: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, working in batches if necessary. Remove the browned meat from the pan and set aside. Turn the heat down to medium, add the shallot and onion, and saute until soft, about five minutes. Add grated garlic, ginger, gochujang, fry for a minute or two. Add brown sugar, soy sauce and beef stock. Return the meat to the pot, put the lid on and place in the oven. Cook for two hours, flipping the meat over halfway through. Once the meat is tender, remove it from the liquid. Skim the fat from the liquid and then put the pan over medium heat to simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes. Serve with warm short-grain white rice and kimchi, and garnish with thin-sliced scallions and cilantro.