This delicious sweet side dish is ready in just 15 minutes.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Come Sit At My Table | 2023-08-02 22:28:14 |  73,130 Views |
Come Sit at My Table – Easy Honey Glazed Carrots
Glazed carrots are a classic vegetable side dish that utilizes a very French technique called glaçage in which vegetables are quickly cooked with stock butter and a sweetener such as sugar or honey until they are tender and the liquid has reduced to a glossy emulsified sauce. Stirring during cooking along with swirling and stirring the pan the vegetables are cooking in provides the mechanical action necessary to form a stable emulsion for the glaze (much like you would do for a silky pan sauce or a well-finished pasta dish). Inspired by Korea’s sweet soy sauce-glazed potato banchan this version of glazed carrots combines Bugs Bunny’s vegetable with an assertively spicy glaze made with gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) and burnt honey that strikes the perfect balance of savory sweet and spicy.
A recurring problem with glazed carrots (and other root vegetables) is that the dish can easily become too sweet making them more of an appetizer than a savory side dish. Carrots are already high in natural sugars: to survive cold conditions carrots convert starches into sugar acting as a natural form of antifreeze. Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns is known for growing “high-Brix” (read: super sweet) carrots by leaving them in the ground to freeze multiple times before harvesting pushing the vegetable’s sugar content to the max. So it’s no surprise that combining a naturally sweet vegetable with an added sweetener like honey or sugar in a glaze can make for an overly sweet dish.
For these glazed carrots we combat this problem by first deliberately burning the honey in a pan until it darkens to a molasses color of dark brown. This imparts a subtle bitterness that balances the natural sweetness of the honey. Gochugaru is then added along with the carrots minced ginger and garlic. The floral heat of the Korean pepper flakes and fresh ginger complements and tempers the sweetness of the carrots and honey. Stock butter soy sauce and fish sauce are then added to the mixture and brought to a boil.
