nakji

Red bean jam! my nemesis~! When I first came to Korea, I noticed vendors on the strret selling waffles filled with what looked like chocolate. Of course, I bought one, bit into it, only to find red bean instead! I'm ashamed to admit it's fooled me many times into thinking it's chocolate - it lurks everywhere - in bakeries, at street vendors.... I don't mind it now, especially when I'm expecting it. It's nice, but it's not chocolate filling. In Korea, street vendors fill fish shaped waffles with this. They're only sold in the winter, and they're called "fish bread" (bungeo-bbang), and I've quite acquired a taste for them. Anything similar in Japan?

Chains like TGI Fridays, Outback and Bennigan's are huge here in Korea. Unfortunately, most of my Korean friends assume that North Americans eat like this every day! I had never eaten at a chain before coming to Seoul, as my hometown only had fast food chains when I was growing up - to this day, there are only two Starbucks, and they're confined to a national chain of bookstores. That meant there were some great independent coffee shops, and tons of small local eateries. I never appreciated that before I left. I think the main reasons for this was the small population and relative isolation, combined with our university crowd (four universities in town) - kept things quirky and cheap. I remember when a TGI Fridays finally opened up, when I was 25 or so, thinking, $13 for a hamburger? You've got to be kidding! And I never went, preferring to get my grease hit elsewhere. I can't say I was impressed when I finally tried it in here in Seoul, jonesing for a decent hamburger. But I figured it was due to a lack of appropriate ingredients. One bonus, however, is that they will serve it raw and cold in the middle. Whether you want it this way or not!

Well, Shawner from Korealife has moved to China, and Fatman Seoul is no longer blogging, so I thought I'd add some of my experiences from dining in Seoul. I've lived in Incheon for the past three years, and I'm by no means any expert on Korean food. I'm not nearly as adventurous as I should be, for someone who lives in a foreign country! But Korea often gets overlooked when people come to Asia, and I thought putting some pictures up might inspire some to give it a second thought! My parents visited me here last year and had a great time. They had me helping them in restaurants, though. It can be tricky if you don't speak Korean. Also, when I first got here, I had no idea what kind of restaurants served what - it's a real help if you can read hanguel and know what a few food words look like. A lot of restaurants put a helpful picture on their signs, though - so if you see a picture of a happy pig - it's probably a pork restaurant. One of the most popular foods is bibimbap, which I saw was even a subject of a cook-off here on eGullets. This is a dolsot version prepared at my local gimbap house. The adjumma always cooks the egg runny in the middle...just the way I like it! I like the egg best raw - but not a lot of places do that anymore. The side dishes in the background are deonjang soup, black beans in soy sauce, kkadukki (radish pickle - apologies for hanguel to English translations), some sort of veg in pepper sauce - it may have been burdock, and a kelp salad. All lip-smacking, and a steal at roughly $4 for the lot. This sort of place serves a selection of things, and you'd be hard pressed to find something for more than around $5 US. Doncasse (tonkatsu), Ramyeon - instant noodles, Mandu (steamed pork dumplings - usually the frozen kind, sadly), and of course gimbap are yummy choices. Gimbap is a Korean style rice and laver roll (I'm struggling not to use Japanese terms here, as I know it annoys a lot of my Korean friends - but think maki rolls). These are filled with yellow pickle, imitation crab, spinach, carrot, cucumber, spam and sometimes odeng (fish paste strips). My favourite kind is chamchi gimbap, which also includes canned tuna and mayonnaise. These are a great lunch or snack, and cost about a dollar for the plain kind, and two dollars for the tuna kind. You can get yachae gimbap (vegetable), kimchi gimbap, chiju gimbap (american cheese) and some places even serve so-gogi gimbap (with minced beef). Here's a picture of a typical gimbap store - they rarely have English writing on them, but they're just the place you want to stop into for lunch. For some reason, they're always orange. Two popular gimbap chains are Gimbap Nara (Gimbap Country) and Gimbap Cheonguk (Gimbap Heaven). If you like spicy food, I recommend you try a local favourite - Kimchi jigae (Kimchi stew), which can be made with either canned tuna (Chamchi Kimchi jigae) or pork. I prefer the pork kind. It'll come with a side of rice and panchan (side dishes) as well. Deonjang-jigae, (Spicy bean curd soup) is also fabulous. Just remember when you eat your jigae, take a spoon full of rice and dip it into the soup. It mellows the spice, and cools it down, too, as it always comes bubbling hot. edited to add: note to self: Do NOT post thumbnails. Post regular photos. Duh.

A bit late to post this now, but I have. I though it was good - but not very hands on. The food was delicious. I went on a Wednesday, so the menu was lawar, Balinese satay, corn fritters (very yummy), gado gado, beans in coconut milk (my favourite, I think), and yellow rice. We also made a kind of fruit salad with a yummy sauce incorporating shrimp paste at the beginning. The chef talked a little about Balinese food and culture in the beginning, and the restaurant staff demo'd everything in front of us. The class was full, maybe ten or twelve people. We had the opportunity to learn how to use a Balinese mortar to pound the spice mixes, which was fun, but most of the actual prep was done by the staff. I can imagine, with large groups, that they must do this to keep everything running smoothly and on time. I find I don't learn much myself unless I actually make it from start to finish myself. It didn't compare favourably with a course I took in Thailand for the same price - the chef brought me to the market, we went through the recipes together, to decide what I was going to cook, and then I prepared three courses by myself! It was definitely worth the experience, though, as you get a great meal at the end! If I ever figure out how to post pictures, I'll put one up from the class. Torakris, I hope you had a great trip! We ate at the Kafe Batan Waru a couple of times, and it was delicious. I was underwhelmed by the Lotus Cafe - great view, but I didn't enjoy the food as much - maybe I got them on a bad night? (We also stayed at Oka Wati - isn't that funny?) Ubud was a very enjoyable place..... ...edited for typos..

Yes, this is true...I was privileged to attend my boss's Seolnal (Lunar New Year) celebration last year. They had a large table laid out with all manner of Korean delicacies. Large rice cakes, cooked beef, fried pancakes, the big yellow pears - they call them bae, maybe they're called nashi in Japan? Apples, too. Fruit is a big part of the offering, and every year the newspaper details what apple and pear prices will be like, and assures everyone the government will be on the lookout for price gouging. Cooking the offering seems to be considered a big hassle by all the housewives I talk to here - "We do all the work and the men just sit and play gostop!" I always tell them it's very similar at a western Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I don't think they believe me. Anyway, the table was laid out, with photos of my boss's wife's deceased parents. Normally it would be his parents, but he's a younger son, which means his older brother was having the proper celebration for his family the next day. His wife, however, only has a younger brother, so they decided to have her family's celebration at their place, as they have a bigger apartment! Against tradition, but the convenience was appreciated by all. We all participated in the ceremony, where we bowed to the table, and then rice wine was offered by various family members - at one point by the eldest child of the eldest son- who was a girl! This wouldn't have been done at all in the past, we were told, but these days things are changing. Then we all left the room for a few minutes, so the ancestors could take what they wanted, and then we went back in the room, and the wives cleared the table, and set up tables for us to eat it all, along with big bowls of ddeok-guk (rice cake soup). The prep for this is considered so bothersome, I'm told, that a girl, even these days, will think twice about seriously dating an eldest son. If she marries him, she knows the work will fall to her! Helen, it's great to read about your life in Japan. Every time you mention the mikan, I'm sent running for my pile of fresh Jeju kyul! I can't wait to read more.

I remember the first time I had lamb, I hated it. I was ten years old, and visiting my grandmother in England. She cooked it until it was gray, and served it with the standard mint jelly. I also hated the gamey taste, with was pretty par for the course for me in those days, as my mother always had to struggle to get me to eat the deer and rabbit my father brought home from hunting. I didn't try it again for years, as most of my family didn't like it - no wonder, based on my grandmother's cooking! But then my husband I were were visiting his old university friend in Toronto on Easter weekend a few years ago, and his family roasted a whole lamb on a spit. It was spectacular! I was wary of trying it, based on past experience, and the fact that the roommate's father decided it would be funny to put the sheep's head in the middle of the plate - eyes, tongue and all. However, I was always taught it was rude not to eat what's offered. I didn't regret it! Crispy skin, sweet tender meat... But then I moved to Korea, and it's pretty thin on the ground here, so I don't really eat it often. I was with friends in Beijing about two years ago, though, and we ordered some mutton there - also sublime! It was perhaps braised, with lots of cumin and a thick rich brown gravy, and served (I think) masses of cilantro leaves. I never would have ordered it myself; I consider my friends much more adventurous eaters - whenever I see mutton on a menu, I default to my first experience. (They also ordered a camphor smoked duck at the same meal - now I never travel without these guys!) I'd love to try a leg or a chop done properly in a British or European style, though.

Now I want to search this out just to smell it. Does that make me sick? I'll eat almost anything, but caraway, in my opinion, ruins everything it touches. I used to hate cilantro, but I love it now - unfortunately, I now live in a place where it's almost impossible to find! My mother hates cumin. She says it reminds her of sweaty heads and dirty hats.

I had my first ever taste of Indian food here. I was visiting a friend in the city, and he took us to Khyber Pass, somewhere in the Mansions. It was incredible! I've had lots of curries since, but nothing compares to what I had there. (Granted, I've never been to India, so....grain of salt)The funniest part, however, was when we were all seated, the waiter suggested their specialty - Lamb Rogan Josh. The table - full of New Zealanders - shouted, "No Lamb!" It's great to see all the pictures of the food..I must admit, I'm always overwhelmed with the choice of restaurants, and can never get up the nerve just to wander into some place. I'll definitely take your recommendations the next time I go.

I bow down before the heavenly deliciousness of (as we say here in Korea) Don-casse! On New Year's Day at roughly 3 am, I rang in the new year and soaked up the soju with a Family Mart egg salad and curry-casse sandwich. It was exactly the right balance of horrible and delicious that I expect from all of my Family Mart snacks. Family Mart also has taken to stuffing gimbap (Korean maki-type rolls) with cold strips of this. When you get doncasse at a gimbap restaurant here, it's usually served in a whole piece, swimming in a hot (temperature) and much more ketchuppy sauce, and you're expected to eat it with a fork and knife. Also, the cabbage comes dressed in ketchupaise (mayochup?), and, if you're really lucky, cold canned corn. This is a favourite post drinking snack for me. If you go to a Doncasse specialist, you can get Hire-cass, and the salad is usually much more upscale - a citrus dressing on the cabbage and halved cherry tomatoes. Is the cabbage like this in Japan? And if so, any idea on what goes into the dressing? As mentioned upthread, these places often serve cheese-casse, chicken-casse, and fish-casse. My husband loves cheese-casse, but I think it's too much of a good thing.

Here in Korea, I'm hoping to wrangle an invite to my boss's place. Along with the requisite kimchi, there will be ddeok-guk (beef or fish soup with thick rice cake slices in it - my boss's wife always uses ddeok flavoured with squash, spinach, or sometimes red bean, to make it really colourful), buchingae (?) (various fried pancake thingies, such as pajeon and kimchi jeon) and loads of homemade mandu (steamed pork and tofu dumplings). Last year I went over to his house for an epic mandu-making session with the whole extended family and gorged myself. Nothing like a dumpling fresh out of the steamer! Maybe this year I'll convince them to teach me how to play gostop. As for foods to be avoided - I'm not sure, but I'll ask some of my students. I'm always looking for fun cultural questions for my free talking classes.

Ah yes...well, I thought there may have been an alternative use for the starch, that's all. Did the one you try taste like...potato jelly? I wasn't sure if was the Rappie pie itself that was strange, or if I was eating a poorly executed one. Perhaps ours was straight out of the oven...everything improves when it's fried in butter.

I live in fear of encountering a meal I've served described here! Okay, first post, and I hate to make it complaining about other cooks, but I must make an offering to everyone else who shared their stories. Names and situations have been changed to protect the innocent.....not really. One of the most disturbing things I've ever been served was Rappie Pie, an Acadian specialty. I'm sure it was cooked correctly, but the look and texture were unlike anything I'd ever encountered previously. My best friend from university is a great cook - especially comfort foods like meatloaf, meatballs, etc. So I was happy when he invited me over to try a family tradition- Rappie Pie. This pie is made by taking mashed potato and squeezing the starch out (only God and my friend know how), mixing with various "meats", in this case, salt pork (in strips, uncooked) chicken, and (I think) cod. All of this was suspended? pressed? into a pan, covered with margarine, and baked. Is this an authentic version of Rappie pie? I know not. I just remember the queer, gelatinous taste of the potato in my mouth. My friend offered ketchup as a suggested condiment, but all the Heinz in the world couldn't make this go down. Why would it ever occur to anyone to do this to potato? What did they do with the starch that came out? Was it needed for anything else? I've always wondered this - any Acadian food historians out there? It was with more trepidation that I approached a Christmas Dinner cooked by my brother's (then) girlfriend. Since she seemed to survive off of boiled eggs and cigarettes, I wasn't optimistic about what was to come. Sure enough, when we got there, all that was on the stove was a giant pot (what we'd use to boil lobsters in - I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but it was the size of a small garbage can). Inside? A whole picnic ham, potatoes for 10 people, and - wait for it - a whole head of cabbage, bobbing listlessly in brown greasy water. The cabbage looked like a brain. She'd put it on to cook the night before, and left it boiling all night. All colour and flavour had fled the original ingredients, and they had to be lifted out of the pot with a slotted spoon. The water may have had some flavour, but the massive amounts of salt from the ham obscured everything else. Just....dire. In her defense, I don't think she had any malicious intent, and her side of the family seemed to enjoy it a lot.