Korean Home Cooking

[nakji]

I've heard that in Korea, the food is best in the far North (not sure about that these days) and the far South. Jeolla provinces are supposed to be especially good, while Pyongyang is famous for its noodles.

Certain cities are famous for particular dishes. For example: Chuncheon for ddalk galbi, Jeonju for Jeonju style bibimbap, Busan for raw fish, Andong for soju and jim ddalk, Suwon for galbi...

[jkim]

Uuuh - pajori is the shredded spring onion with chili? I'm indifferent on it, I think. It's nice to have, but I can enjoy my ssam in its absence. Garlic and sesame oil are key. Everything else, including ssamjang, is window dressing for me.

I'm not sure you've ever had good pajori then.

Good pajori can replace the sesame oil completely; and also the ssamjang as well. Just meat, a slice of raw garlic, and 4 - 6 strands of what can be referred to simply as spring onion salad in a perilla leaf, and voila... heaven in a wrap.

As I've said before, I don't know about japan, but the pajori at the restaurants in Australia are terrible. Actually, all Korean restaurants in Melbourne are terrible (as are many of the Korean restaurants in Sydney).

In that case, I think I may stick to Japanese brands.

Much talk in other threads has been focused on reigional foods so how does that apply to Korean cuisine? Is there a clear distinction between North Korea and South Korea? And then within those cuisines, what are the smaller regional differences? How can you tell?

Yea, sticking to Japanese brands are a safe bet I reckon.

As for regions, there are dishes with region names in the dish name. (i.e. chun cheon gim bab, an dong jjim dalk, pyong yang neng myun, etc) Other than that, I couldn't tell you. I've never been to the north, and know very little about their post-war culture.

I know that certain dish names have different meaning in the north and south though...

For example, shik hye... (south) refers to a desert drink of rice and sugar; (north) the rice drink in question is referred to as dan sool, and the north shik hye is a raw ray(?) + veges + spices dish.

[SheenaGreena]

my favorite thing to do with kkaenip is to stir the whole leaves into hot maeuntang (spicy fish soup). They are also good wrapped around flounder sashimi with chogojuchang.

I am not a fan of sesame oil when it comes to ssam. I much prefer daengjang. I like to use these weird leaves (don't know what the name is) that taste kind of bitter and look like pumpkin leaves to wrap around grilled samgyupsal. I also love that green onion salad and grilled garlic.

I'm so happy that i'm part Korean <3

[nakji]

As I've said before, I don't know about japan, but the pajori at the restaurants in Australia are terrible. Actually, all Korean restaurants in Melbourne are terrible (as are many of the Korean restaurants in Sydney).

I don't know about Japan either - all of the pajori I've ever eaten was in Korea, and I wasn't too fussed on it there. I avoid eating Korean food in Japan, since it pains me to pay for tiny little plates of kimchi.

I like to use these weird leaves (don't know what the name is) that taste kind of bitter and look like pumpkin leaves to wrap around grilled samgyupsal

I like to cook kimchi along the bottom of the samgyeopsal plate in the pork fat that runs down, then wrap it around the pork and eat it like that. Does that count as ssam?

[jkim]

I like to cook kimchi along the bottom of the samgyeopsal plate in the pork fat that runs down, then wrap it around the pork and eat it like that. Does that count as ssam?

No. I don't think so. I think it would be a variant on kim chi bok keum, although it's not uncommon to see Koreans doing the exact thing you're describing.

And kim chi bok keum has almost the same flavours as the bbq favourite of many koreans that you describe: stirfry onion, garlic, ginger and pork... add kim chi when pork fat has melted... serve with almost raw (poached for 2 seconds in boiling salt water) tofu as du bu kim chi.

[SheenaGreena]

I love cooking kimchi with pork on the bbq grill. It's very popular at this chain of restaurants here in the states called "Honey Pig". They even cook the pork with butter and it is so unbelievably bad for you.

Sometimes I will put tofu on the grill with the kimchi and the pork, unfortunately it looks kinda unappetizing and my mother tends to call it "dog food" ):

[Soup]

I love cooking kimchi with pork on the bbq grill.  It's very popular at this chain of restaurants here in the states called "Honey Pig".  They even cook the pork with butter and it is so unbelievably bad for you.

Sometimes I will put tofu on the grill with the kimchi and the pork, unfortunately it looks kinda unappetizing and my mother tends to call it "dog food" ):

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I didn't realize Gul DaeGee (honey pig) was a chain. They open near my house few months ago and just got a great right up by the post. It will now be busier than it already is.

[jrcrunch]

hi

has anyone posted a galbi jim aka korean beef stew recipe? its one of my fave comfort food

[Batard]

hi

has anyone posted a galbi jim aka korean beef stew recipe? its one of my fave comfort food

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You can find a recipe for Galbi jjim here.

[nakji]

Last night I made invited some friends over, and we made ddalk galbi, which was fantastic, as ever. I even put shiso in, hoping to get that ganeep flavour, but it's a pale comparison.

I like my version - gochujang thinned with soju and sesame oil and with a few tablespoons of gochu garu; a tablespoon or so of sugar, soy, and about half a head of crushed garlic; a wee bit of grated ginger. However, for me, the gold standard of seasoning is the Chuncheon ddalk galbi chain, but I can never get my sauce to taste like theirs. I feel like it has more complex spicing, but I can't figure out what they might be putting in.

Any guesses on how they make the sauce?

[Peter Green]

Kelp, I need somebody......

Miyokguk yesterday, not that it's anyone's birthday. They started early in the day, boiling down the oxtail (but sister-in-law uses clam...we can't get clams), and then soaking in the miyok (kelp). We keep boxes of the dried stuff around. A bit of roasted sesame, garlic, sesame oil, chopped spring onion...the usual stuff.

As you can tell, I've kept my pagan ways and continue to put my rice in my soup.

We've also been making a lot of pa kim chi lately. The spring onion is good right now.

[SheenaGreena]

Nothing wrong with adding rice to soup...unless its a communal chigae. If you drop even one grain of rice in it then all hell will break loose!

mmm I love pa kimchi. My mother makes a fantastic rendition that uses copious amounts of vietnamese fish sauce

[Ce'nedra]

Has anybody tried making milssam 밀쌈 or gujeolpan 구절판?

I have both recipes in my "Authentic Recipes from Korea" cookbook (btw, this series is fantastic!) but am trying to figure out how thick the 'pancakes' for both milssam and gujeolpan are supposed to be. Can anybody help?

Also, is milssam derived from gujeolpan?

Anyway, the book certainly left my with a deep craving. Never tried them before but I love just about any wraps (and wrap dinner parties are just my kinda thing).

[Ce'nedra]

Just found this image of gujeolpan pancakes getting made with a spoon:

http://www.82cook.com/zb41/data/recipe/76.jpg

They're so small -I wonder you can possibly fit all the ingredients for rolling up?!

Also, are the milssam pancakes supposed to be larger? It appears that way in my cookbook.

[OnigiriFB]

I made a lovely clean out the fridge chigae yesterday and it' almost hit the spot. The only thing I thought would have made it better was if it were spicier. I have a cold and spicy broth seems to help loads. Anyway even with heaping spoonful of gochujang it just wasn't spicy. A lovely red but eh on the spicy level. I ended up adding sirarcha even if that wasn't authentic. So how do you get chigae to turn out burning your lips spicy? What was I missing?

[nakji]

Has anybody tried making milssam 밀쌈 or gujeolpan 구절판?

I have both recipes in my "Authentic Recipes from Korea" cookbook (btw, this series is fantastic!) but am trying to figure out how thick the 'pancakes' for both milssam and gujeolpan are supposed to be. Can anybody help?

Also, is milssam derived from gujeolpan?

Anyway, the book certainly left my with a deep craving. Never tried them before but I love just about any wraps (and wrap dinner parties are just my kinda thing).

When my parents visited me in Korea, my Korean friends had them over for dinner. Mrs. Im, esteemed cook and wife of my boss, made a whole platter of milssam, which were just too beautiful to be believed. They were quite small - the wrap itself could have been no larger than my hand, and the ingredients inside were cut in exquisitely small and precise matchsticks. It was wrapped and tied with a green onion string. My mother could barely bring herself to eat one, they were so beautiful, and so small.

Milssam are prepared ahead of time, aren't they, and gujeolpan are wrapped at the table? The recipe I have for milssam wraps calls for them to be fried in a pan with a 15cm (6 inch) diameter, using two tablespoons of batter to coat the bottom, like you would make a crepe. This would yield a very thin crepe, to my mind. The recipe uses 2 cups rice flour, 2 cups water, and one tsp of salt. It also, intriguingly, suggests that you may like to colour your pancakes, using lettuce or carrot juice in place of some of the water.

For the gujeolpan recipe I have, the pancakes use wheat flour, eggs, and oil. Then, it doesn't specify how thin the pancake should be, but it does say use a large skillet, and make a thin pancake. When the pancakes are finished, cut them all into 8 cm (3 inch) circles.

[SheenaGreena]

I made a lovely clean out the fridge chigae yesterday and it' almost hit the spot. The only thing I thought would have made it better was if it were spicier. I have a cold and spicy broth seems to help loads. Anyway even with heaping spoonful of gochujang it just wasn't spicy. A lovely red but eh on the spicy level. I ended up adding sirarcha even if that wasn't authentic. So how do you get chigae to turn out burning your lips spicy? What was I missing?

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I dont know if you have access to this, but freshly ground gochugaru is WORLDS hotter than the bagged stuff at the store. Also if it's not hot enough then add sliced red and/or green chiles. Nothing is worse than a lack luster (in the spice department) chigae

[OnigiriFB]

I made a lovely clean out the fridge chigae yesterday and it' almost hit the spot. The only thing I thought would have made it better was if it were spicier. I have a cold and spicy broth seems to help loads. Anyway even with heaping spoonful of gochujang it just wasn't spicy. A lovely red but eh on the spicy level. I ended up adding sirarcha even if that wasn't authentic. So how do you get chigae to turn out burning your lips spicy? What was I missing?

←

I dont know if you have access to this, but freshly ground gochugaru is WORLDS hotter than the bagged stuff at the store. Also if it's not hot enough then add sliced red and/or green chiles. Nothing is worse than a lack luster (in the spice department) chigae

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Agreed. I knew there was something i was missing. Is gochugaru the powdered red chili? I only have seen the ground stuff and it was very weak in the spice department. What kind of fresh chiles do Koreans use mostly? I'm assuming not thai bird chili since they don't have that at my korean/japanese market normally. I've seen some frozen red ones but I prefer fresh. My local grocery has serrano and jalepenos and neither look like the ones frozen at the asian market.

[Domestic Goddess]

Onigiri - the gochukaroo is indeed powdered red chili powder. I can't tell you what kind of pepper they used, I'm not familiar with the varieties. I live in Janghowon, famous for its red chili peppers that have a thick fleshy wall. I believe that translates into a richer, red powder. During the summer, when they're drying the peppers on the roads/street, you can smell the spiciness in the air.

I can mail you a package of Janghowon gochukaroo if you want but dunno if customs would allow spicy powder through the mail.

[melonpan]

cooked this tonight and wrote down the steps. adapted from a korean cookbook 찌개와 전골. (no isbn. its old, from 1985. a lot of these books dont have isbns...)

nakji jeon-gol

korean baby octopi stew

1 onion

4 korean mild chiles (aka putgochu)

100 g chrysanthemum greens (aka ssukgat, aka shungiku)

50 g water dropwort (aka minari)

4 stalks green onions

4 fresh cleaned baby octopi (aka nakji) or 12 oz frozen packet, thawed in cold water

100 g beef

2 tbsp gochuggaru (korean chile powder)

2 tbsp gochujang (korean chile paste)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1.5 tbsp sugar

3 tsp sesame seeds

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

pepper

prepare vegetables:

slice onions, set aside. wash korean mild chiles, destem, slice in half, deseed, then slice into thin diagonals; set aside with onions. wash and rinse chrysanthemum greens and water dropwart, shake dry and chop into 3 inch pieces; set aside with other vegetables. take two stalks of green onions and chop into 3 inch pieces; set aside together with onions, chiles and greens.

finely chop the remaining two stalks of green onions. divide the chopped onions between two medium bowls.

prepare nakji:

rinse baby octopi and drain. separate heads from tentacles. slice heads into quarters. chop tentacles into 2 inch pieces. boil small pot of salted water on the stove. when the water is boiling add the chopped octopi and heat for a minute or two. drain and place parboiled octopi into one of the medium bowls with the chopped scallions.

prepare beef:

thinly slice the beef and add to the other bowl of chopped scallions.

spice the meats:

to the octopi bowl add the following items and mix well:

2 tbsp gochuggaru

2 tbsp gochujang

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

to the beef bowl add the following and mix well:

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

pinch of pepper

heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in a medium stewpot on medium high. add onions and beef and stir fry for a few minutes until the beef starts to color. add the octopi, all the vegetables and stir fry everything until the beef has cooked through. if necessary, add up to 1/4 cup water.

[melonpan]

the leftovers are pretty good eaten at room temperature as a banchan. no need to heat. just take it out of the fridge and serve. reheating would just ruin the ssuk and the minari but the cold does temper the spiciness down a couple notches.

[SheenaGreena]

I didn't know that dropwort was minari. My mother grows it outside near the pond and calls it watercress. We added some to some spicy maeuntang the other day. Of course its not as good reheated the next day.

So speaking of korean greens, can you add injulmi to this soup? I like it in rice cake - of course and in daengjang, but I'm trying to think of other applications I can add it to.

[melonpan]

injeolmi is a kind of chapssalddeok that is usually coated with kong ggaru. im wondering what green youre thinking of. are you thinking about ssuk? there is ssuk injeolmi...

[SheenaGreena]

I have no idea ): I googled "ssuk" and couldn't find a pic. Is there any way you can type up the hangul for me? (:

[melonpan]

sure! ssuk-gat: 쑥갓.

injeolmi: 인절미