Ingredients
Meat
- 500 gpork shoulder
- 500 gbeef chuck
- 500 glamb shoulder
- all in 4 cm cubes
Pot
- 3onions, in thick wedges
- 2carrots, in chunks
- 20whole allspice berries
- 3bay leaves
- 2 tspsalt
- water
Optional
- 1 piecepork kidney or liver
- 1swede, in chunks
To serve
- boiled potatoes or mashed potato
- pickled beetroot
- rye bread
Directions
- Three meats is the definition of the dish. Pork for fat, beef for depth, lamb for flavour, and dropping one leaves you with an ordinary stew.
- Cut everything into large cubes and do not brown any of it.
- There is no browning and no frying at any stage. This is a pot dish from a wood oven that was cooling overnight, and the pale, clean-tasting broth is the whole character of it.
- Layer the meat, onion and carrot in a heavy casserole with the allspice, bay and salt.
- Use whole allspice berries and use plenty of them, twenty or more.
- Whole allspice is the signature of karjalanpaisti and it is the only real seasoning in the pot. Ground allspice muddies it and tastes dusty.
- Add cold water to come about two thirds of the way up the meat, no more.
- Do not cover the meat. It releases a great deal of its own liquid, and a flooded pot gives you a thin soup instead of a stew.
- Cover with a tight lid, sealing the rim with foil first if the lid does not sit flush.
- Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 3 to 4 hours, without stirring and without lifting the lid.
- Leave it alone completely. There is nothing to stir, nothing to check, and every time the lid comes off you lose the steam that is doing the work.
- It is done when the meat falls apart under a spoon and the broth is clear and golden.
- Taste for salt only at the end.
- Serve with boiled or mashed potato, pickled beetroot and rye bread.
- It is Karelian, cooked overnight in the residual heat of a masonry oven, and it is Christmas and Sunday food across Finland.
Technique
- It looks unpromising going into the oven and that is normal; the transformation happens entirely in the last hour.
- Adding a piece of kidney or liver is traditional and deepens it considerably.
- It is better reheated the next day and it freezes well.
Substitutions
- Two meats instead of three, at some cost.
- Reindeer or elk in place of the lamb, in the north.
Variations
- With swede and more root vegetables.
- With a piece of pork kidney in the pot.
- Cooked in a slow cooker overnight, which suits it well.
History
A Karelian oven stew left overnight in a cooling wood oven; evacuation from Karelia in the 1940s carried it across the whole country.
Frequently asked questions
What is Karjalanpaisti?
Karjalanpaisti is a main from Finland: pork, beef and lamb slow-baked with allspice and root vegetables. A Karelian oven stew left overnight in a cooling wood oven; evacuation from Karelia in the 1940s carried it across the whole country.
How long does Karjalanpaisti take to make?
Karjalanpaisti takes 20 min of preparation and 3 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Karjalanpaisti?
Yes, within limits. Two meats instead of three, at some cost. Reindeer or elk in place of the lamb, in the north.
What is the most important thing to get right in Karjalanpaisti?
There is no browning and no frying at any stage. This is a pot dish from a wood oven that was cooling overnight, and the pale, clean-tasting broth is the whole character of it.
