Ashkenazi · side

Tzimmes (Carrot, Prune and Honey Braise)

Name: Tzimmes (Carrot, Prune and Honey Braise)
Prep time: 1 h 52 min
Total time: 1 h 52 min
Cuisine: Ashkenazi
Ingredients: carrots — 1000 g; red-skinned sweet potatoes — 400 g; prunes — 200 g; dried apricots — 100 g; chicken fat — 41 g; honey — 120 g; lemon juice — 30 g; zested — 100 g; ground cinnamon — 3 g; ground ginger — 1 g; salt — 5 g; water — 400 g

Tzimmes (Carrot, Prune and Honey Braise) reads sweetness 8.7, fruity 5.4 and richness 5.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Ashkenazi side, about 1 hr 52 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 4.1 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 10.0 / 10
Sour & Bright — 6.1 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.7 / 10
Rich & Fat — 5.3 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 8.7 · Fruity 5.4 · Richness 5.1 · Citrus 4.7 · Sourness 4.6 · Floral 3.9 · Salinity 3.8 · Umami 3.0 · Earthy 2.6 · Warm Spice 1.7 · Bitterness 0.8 · Nutty 0.6

What's in it (12)

carrots — 1000 g
red-skinned sweet potatoes — 400 g
prunes — 200 g
dried apricots — 100 g
chicken fat — 41 g
honey — 120 g
lemon juice — 30 g
zested — 100 g
ground cinnamon — 3 g
ground ginger — 1 g
salt — 5 g
water — 400 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 52 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 88.4 kcal, 1 g protein, 2 g fat, 18.2 g carbs

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

How it's cooked (7 steps)

Melt the schmaltz in a heavy casserole, add the carrot coins, cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, shaking the pan, until they start to soften and take on the fat.
Add the sweet potato, prunes, apricots, honey, lemon juice, orange zest and juice, cinnamon, ginger, salt and the water, 5 minutes of assembly. Stir once so the honey dissolves.
Cover and braise at 160 C for 1 hour 15 minutes, until the carrots are completely soft. Tzimmes is not a dish that wants any bite left in the vegetables; the whole point is a slow collapse into sweetness.
Uncover, raise the oven to 200 C and cook a further 20 minutes to reduce the liquid to a thick syrup and caramelise the exposed edges.
Baste twice during that time, 2 minutes, spooning the syrup back over the top.
Serve hot. It is a Rosh Hashanah dish, sweet for a sweet year, and the carrots are cut in coins because they look like gold pieces. The Yiddish sense of a tzimmes as a great fuss made over something comes from the same word.
Substitutions: 45 g butter for a dairy meal can stand in for the schmaltz; beef stock can stand in for the water.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Naleśniki (Polish Crepes) — Polish
Apple Crumble — British
Candied Yams — Southern
Lokshen Kugel (Sweet Noodle Pudding with Curd and Cinnamon) — Ashkenazi
Gâteau de Savoie — French · Savoy

Keep reading: what sweetness, fruity, richness 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.