Asian Pot Roast with Vegetables

January 27, 2009  •  Meat & Poultry, Technique

I discovered an old Ming Tsai recipe for an Asian type of pot roast yesterday, so I did my own version of this for dinner last night. Before I detail that recipe, let me explain the garlic clove in this picture. The center sprout in garlic – which is sometimes white and sometimes is turning green and beginning to push its way out the end – is called the germ. It can cause some bitterness in the garlic flavor and some claim it’s responsible for any garlic digestion difficulties. Fortunately, you can easily remove it by slicing the garlic clove lengthwise and pulling the germ out of the two halves. You’ll be left with cloves that look like this:For the roast I prepared 4 cloves, first removing the germ, then thinly slicing them (a rough chop would do also.) Next I sliced about 2 cups of leeks, using only the white and light green parts. Leeks can be full of sand, so make sure to slice them first, then rinse them out. Here’s the roast – this is a bone in rump roast from Sun Prairie Beef and part of the reason I wanted to do a slow cooking preparation on this is because of the limited fat marbling throughout the roast. A slow braise would help tenderize it.Instead of the usual salt and pepper, I put together an Asian spice rub blend including ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and pepper. I gave the meat a good coating of the rub before searing it. I also threw any extra into the pot to cook with the meat. If you don’t have a Dutch oven, add it to your wish list. There really isn’t a good substitute for it, as the heavy cast iron holds heat incredibly well, the heavy lid helps keep all the moisture inside during a long braise, and the enameled inside makes for easy cleanup. I seared the roast on all sides until I achieved this gorgeous caramelized brown color. It adds flavor as well as sealing in juices. While the roast was searing, I prepared the other ingredients to add to the pot – red wine, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, and chili sauce. It all went into the pot, along with the leeks and garlic and a cup of diced tomatoes. I brought the whole thing to a boil (covered) and then put it in a 325 degree oven for 3 hours. During the last half hour I removed the meat and strained the cooking liquid (discarding the solids). I sliced the meat and returned it to the pot along with some sliced carrots, red pepper, and green onion. After another 20 minutes everything was perfectly cooked and I quickly thickened the sauce before serving. I know I’ve talked about my love of this long grain wild rice – just thought I’d show you how lovely it looks when it’s cooked. This was a perfect bed for the Asian roast and vegetables.