Finnish · main

Karjalanpaisti (Karelian Hot Pot)

Karjalanpaisti (Karelian Hot Pot) reads umami 7.6, richness 7.3 and salinity 4.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Finnish main, about 4 hr 44 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 8.2 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 2.7 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.9 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.4 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 7.6 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.6 · Richness 7.3 · Salinity 4.1 · Sourness 3.9 · Allium 2.9 · Sweetness 2.4 · Earthy 2.2 · Warm Spice 1.9 · Funk & Ferment 1.4 · Bitterness 1.3 · Fruity 0.9 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Nutty 0.8 · Floral 0.6

What's in it (12)

• boneless beef chuck — 500 g
• pork shoulder roast — 500 g
• lamb shoulder roast — 400 g
• onions — 300 g
• allspice — 2000 g
• salt — 10 g
• water — 500 g
• bay leaf — 1 g
• potatoes — 1000 g
• regular milk — 200 g
• butter — 40 g
• pickles — 200 g

Time & effort: about 4 hr 44 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 191 kcal, 8.8 g protein, 8.6 g fat, 30.8 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. Heat the oven to 150°C. Nothing in this dish is browned first, and that is deliberate: karjalanpaisti is a pale, gentle oven stew, and searing would make it a different, darker dish.
2. Layer the three meats in a deep casserole or a clay pot with the sliced onion between them, scattering the allspice berries, bay leaves and salt through the layers as you go. Three meats is the definition of the dish in Karelia — beef, pork and lamb, sometimes with mutton in place of lamb. Two meats makes a perfectly good stew that is not this one.
3. Pour the water down the side of the pot. It should come about a third of the way up; the meat releases a great deal more as it cooks.
4. Cover and cook 3 hours, then uncover and cook 1 hour more, until the surface has taken a light colour and the meat falls apart at a touch. Do not stir it at any point.
5. In the last half hour, boil the potatoes in salted water for 25 minutes, until tender, then drain them and let them steam dry for 2 minutes.
6. Mash the potatoes with the warm milk and the butter until smooth.
7. Lift out the bay leaves. Serve the meat and its clear, allspice-scented liquor over the mashed potato with pickled cucumber alongside. The allspice berries stay in the pot and are eaten around, not out — like the whole peppercorns in a Nordic brine, they are there to be found.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Chakhchoukha — Algerian
• Skillet Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy — American
• Bangers and Mash — British
• Skillet Beef Stroganoff — American
• Beef Stroganoff with Egg Noodles — American

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.