The Beef Stew That Couldn’t Pick a Cuisine

 

This beef stew was not supposed to be anything complicated.

Actually, it wasn’t supposed to be anything in particular.

I had vegetables in the fridge that needed to be used, and they had reached that stage where I could either make something with them now or continue opening the refrigerator and pretending I had more time.

And I wanted to cook something and leave it for a long time while I worked in the atelier. 

So: beef stew.

Simple enough.

Except somewhere along the way, my regular beef stew wandered into Korea.

I started with the familiar things: beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and the vegetables I needed to rescue from the fridge.

Then I started adding flavors that made sense to me in the moment.

A little Korean influence crept in. Then some of my usual beef stew instincts came back. I tasted it, adjusted something, tasted it again.

At some point I realized I had created a strange Korean-meets-regular-beef-stew hybrid that probably shouldn’t be asked to produce identification papers.

But it smelled good.

And then I tasted it.

Oh.

This was good.

The broth had become dark, savory and slightly sweet, soaking into the potatoes while the beef cooked in all those flavors. The vegetables that had started this entire operation as a fridge-clearing mission suddenly seemed as though they’d been invited deliberately.

I scattered sesame seeds over the top because apparently we had committed to this direction now. Why not, right? Plus I love sesame seeds. So, yeah. A good dump. 

And that was dinner.

No carefully planned recipe. No attempt at authenticity. No culinary thesis.

Just me trying not to waste the vegetables in my refrigerator and following the flavor wherever it went.

And perhaps that is one of my favorite ways to cook.

I know what I like. I know roughly what different ingredients will do. And taste.  So sometimes I stop worrying about what a dish is supposed to be and simply keep tasting until I like what’s in front of me.

Which brings us to the second photo.

That was what remained.

I think we can consider the experiment successful. 😆

—

I’ll set the table again soon.

Lady E

Founder, Lady E Eats
Where food becomes story, and every table holds a moment