Korean Home Cooking

[jkim]

nakji // show us a pic.

hiroyuki //

Standard ddok bok ki shouldn't be accompanied with rice. The ddok is a rice product and thus it is very... not nice, when accompanied with rice. There are always variations that are more suited to be rice accompaniments, which call for various meat elements in order to reduce the % of volume that the rice sticks take up. The rice sticks are an alternative to rice, so obviously the amount of rice sticks used would decrease in this instance.

And I would not be eating ddok bok ki that is longer than a day old (reheated a maximum of 1 times, and preferably not even)... leaving it for a week is not recommended. If it is too spicy, try toning down on the chili elements.

Standard accompaniments to ddok bok ki to reduce the heat include non-rice foods such as:

- Udon noodles in clear broth.

- Odeng in clear broth.

- Tempura variants.

- Kim bab / Sushi variants.

I'm sure at-least 3 of the above are very easy to procure in Japan.

In particular, twi gim gim bab (nori tempura) may be something you want to try.

- Roll tiny (about 2 cm diameter) nori rolls: cut a paper in half and roll 2 nori rolls vertically.

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- Filling of nori is by choice but you should not use more than 2 filling elements. Common filling elements include: carrot, zuchini, sausage strips, ham, spam, egg, kim chi (variants), and "jut gal" variants. Other suitable ingredients would include fake crab meat, pre-boiled squid legs, pre-boiled calamari fillet, fish fillet, or really... any other ingredient you can think of that is nice when cooked.

- Cut the small rolls into 3 pieces (or pre cut the paper before rolling).

- Make a very light batter. Dip small pieces into batter. Deep fry.

[SheenaGreena]

I had bossam the other day (yesterday) for dinner. For those who don't know, it's slices of boiled pork that's eaten with salted napa cabbage leaves, marinated radish strips, and raw oysters. Sounds like a strange combination, but they all go extremely well with each other.

Here's the set up: we have homemade daengjang on the lower left hand corner (my mother makes it homemade and adds ground up onion to it to make a smoother more dippable consistency). Above that we have a bowl of sliced korean chiles (home grown) for dipping into the daengjang or adding to the ssam. Above that is saeojutt, which is salted baby shrimp. You add them to the pork if you want some extra saltiness. To the right of the chiles is the marinated or "kimchied" radish that you add to the ssam. Above the radish is just some kimchi.

Here's my plate. We have heavily salted and rinsed napa cabbage, sliced pork (that was cooked with water, onions, garlic, ginger, and daengjang), and some raw oysters. btw sorry for the awful pics, I used my webcam on my macbook. It's hard to use an entire laptop to take pics at the dinner table

here's the setup: cabbage, pork, oyster, radish

Not bossam, but I also ate this lovely combination: soy sauce pickled sesame leaves with pork and daengjang.

Last but not least, you can't have a tasty korean meal without this:

Edited November 7, 2008 by SheenaGreena (log)

[nakji]

Oh how elegant, you put your soju in a kettle! Did you do o-ship o-ship?

Bossam is amaaazing. My Korean friend Mrs. Im used to make the best bossam.

Does your mum care to share her method for marinated radish? I love that stuff.

[Ce'nedra]

SheenaGreena: I've never heard of bossam but I can tell you that I loooove meals served that way, i.e. hands on style.

And yours definately looks mouth watering.

Do you have a recipe/guideline for the entire meal (only if it's not asking for too much)? Thank you!

[Peter Green]

It was a schizo evening.

I'd been smoking (meats and veg, not herbs) the other day, and so I agreed to use up the leftovers in a Thai style salad. For that you'll have to go over to the Thai at home thread.. I'll get the post up soon.

But as I was going through the freezer looking for stuff, I came across a zip-loc of cleaned squid.

My immediate reaction was: "This'd go great, just blanched and eaten with some chojang (vinegar and gochujang)".

But then my mouth started watering as I realized that it'd been ages since we'd had ojingo bokkum.

Soooooo.......after a little wheedling I convinced Yoonhi that she needed to make rice and ojingo if I was going to come across with a smoked chicken and eggplant yam.

The result was quite satisfying, the gochujang leaving a burn on the front of my lips that left me with my tongue dashing out like a lizard. I've gotten too used to the Thai chili, I'd forgotten the Korean.

Note: edited to add the Thai link

Edited November 7, 2008 by Peter Green (log)

[SheenaGreena]

nakji,

my mom shreds the radish, marinates it with gochugaru for an hour to "color" it, add garlic, green onion, salt, and a tiny bit of sugar. Sorry there are no measurements...you know how Korean women are

btw what's oship oship (50 50)? a drinking game?

[SheenaGreena]

SheenaGreena: I've never heard of bossam but I can tell you that I loooove meals served that way, i.e. hands on style.

And yours definately looks mouth watering.

Do you have a recipe/guideline for the entire meal (only if it's not asking for too much)? Thank you!

←

sure, you just take some pork belly and boil it in water flavored with onions, garlic, spoonful of daengjang paste, and some ginger. I would just add each to taste. Boil it until the meat is cooked all the way.

Then take some napa cabbage and salt it overnight or for 12 hours. When you are ready to eat the cabbage you have to make sure to rinse it and wring it out...or it will be too salty.

For the radish, just see my reply to nakji (sorry for the lack of measurements).

Lastly just buy a packet of frozen raw oysters and thaw them out. Rinse them with salt (I don't know what this does, but my mother does it) before eating.

It's pretty darn easy to put all of this together and very tasty to eat.

[jkim]

I think nakji is referring to o-ship-se-ju (오십세주).

50% soju (소주) + 50% baek se ju (백세주).

It's strange... my mum's oysters in 보쌈 were red, not the natural color.

And I wouldn't recommend the frozen oysters ...

When oysters are to be eaten raw, they should be alive and shucked while alive at time of pickling.

Edited November 7, 2008 by jkim (log)

[nakji]

my mom shreds the radish, marinates it with gochugaru for an hour to "color" it, add garlic, green onion, salt, and a tiny bit of sugar. Sorry there are no measurements...you know how Korean women are

Does she salt it when she adds the gochugaru, or after? And does she add any vinegar to the seasoning?

O-ship o-ship is fifty-fifty, right? In a restaurant you can order soju cut with baeksaeju 50/50 - and they always serve that in a brass pot, which is why I asked.

[jkim]

nakji: it's called oship seju, not oship oship.

[nakji]

How quickly my memory fades....good thing I'm going back for a refresher next month! Thanks to you, I won't make a fool of myself trying to order it now.

[Ce'nedra]

SheenaGreena: I've never heard of bossam but I can tell you that I loooove meals served that way, i.e. hands on style.

And yours definately looks mouth watering.

Do you have a recipe/guideline for the entire meal (only if it's not asking for too much)? Thank you!

←

sure, you just take some pork belly and boil it in water flavored with onions, garlic, spoonful of daengjang paste, and some ginger. I would just add each to taste. Boil it until the meat is cooked all the way.

Then take some napa cabbage and salt it overnight or for 12 hours. When you are ready to eat the cabbage you have to make sure to rinse it and wring it out...or it will be too salty.

For the radish, just see my reply to nakji (sorry for the lack of measurements).

Lastly just buy a packet of frozen raw oysters and thaw them out. Rinse them with salt (I don't know what this does, but my mother does it) before eating.

It's pretty darn easy to put all of this together and very tasty to eat.

←

Thanks heaps

I was browsing for bossam on flickr and found this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12670449@N06/2755890395/

Do you know what's the yellow stuff on the right and the circular pancakes (?) in the middle? What are they made of?

Oh yeah, and is it common to eat bossam with tofu? I've seen it served that way here and there.

[nakji]

The circular "pancakes" are actually thin slices of pickled mu (or daikon, if you prefer), which go exceptionally well inside a ssam. They are hands down my favourite pickle. I like to wrap them around balls of rice and eat them straight up.

The yellow stuff - I'm not sure, but isn't it square yellow radish pickle?

[Ce'nedra]

Ahh thank you nakji. I would have NEVER guessed those 'pancakes' were daikon! Those daikins must have been huge (or that photo was a closeup).

[jkim]

pre-packaged mu ssam can be bought from a korean grocer in the refrigerated section.

It is about 5 - 6 cm in diameter.

[nakji]

It sometimes comes green with added wasabi powder, or it's sometimes pink. I'm not sure if the pink is flavoured with anything - but it sure is pretty wrapped around rice.

[jkim]

Hold on, I think I got my geometry wrong. 5 - 6 cm RADIUS is what I'm after... about as big as my palm (grown man)...

And I never wrap rice with that thing. I only use it together with kketnip (perilla leaves), spring onions, misutgaru, chan gi rum (sesame oil) and 1 - 2 types of grilled meat. No rice.

If I'm to have rice in my ssam, I'll use a lettuce leaf, ssam jang, and optionally some spring onions and meat.

[SheenaGreena]

Yeah I'm not a fan of pickled moo or rice with ssam. I prefer pickled radish with fried chicken.

Yeah you can buy live oysters and shuck them yourself, but in our family we are lazy and prefer the frozen oysters. (: It's easier and there is no cleanup

I never heard of mixing baekseju with soju...that sounds kinda gross ): I am not a huge fan of baekseju and much prefer soju because it tastes great with all korean food. We actually mix the soju with lemon juice because we are wusses.

Does she salt it when she adds the gochugaru, or after? And does she add any vinegar to the seasoning?

she salts it when she adds the rest of the seasonings. I dont think she adds any vinegar (at least she said she didn't). I'll ask her again tomorrow after she wakes up

I was browsing for bossam on flickr and found this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12670449@N06/2755890395/

here's a pic thats similar to the bossam that I ate bossam

Edited November 12, 2008 by SheenaGreena (log)

[jkim]

oship seju is a very popular young person's drink... or at least it was when I was at that age...

People in the early/mid 20s play drinking games with it. Not as strong as soju, and sweeter so the girls enjoy, but not as heavily sweet as baekseju for the guys.

You should try mussam with your sam gyup sal / kket nip ssam.

mu ssam tastes a bit different from takuhan or the white radish pickle at fried chicken places.

[nakji]

I'll clarify: For beef, I only put garlic, meat and ssamjang in my ssam. If I'm having samgyeopsal, or other fatty pork, then I add mussam - but I never put rice in my ssam. Too bulky for me. During a meal, after I have a lovely lettuce ssam, I then might take a mussam and wrap some rice in it and eat it that way. Strange, I know, but I'm not Korean, so I had no one to show me how to do it properly.

I'll come right out now and say I don't enjoy kket nip (perilla leaf) ssam. I don't like them raw.

Sheena: You are a wimp for mixing your soju! Shame! But soju cocktails are very trendy, right? In Japan they mix it with oolong tea. We also used to mix it with Sac Sac or Jeju kyul juice. Thanks for the help, when I get the use of my arm back, I'll definitely be making this.

[jkim]

Wow... you don't like kket nip? o_O I love that stuff. I can't have korean bbq without it. I even had kketnip, avocado & asparagus kim bab for lunch today!

I noted the absence of mention of spring onions?

Don't you have pajori with your meat?

Pajori is really easy to make.

I don't know about Japan, but I have noticed a lot of bbq restaurants in Australia omit pajori, or make bad ones in small portions, but it's quite easy and simple to make at home. The absence of either kketnip OR pajori ruins a great k.bbq for me.

important things when making pajori is:

* wash and dry your spring onions before chopping - pref dry in fridge so it's cold. Can add sliced white onion rings to add a bit more variety.

* use little sauce to lots of spring onions... I would usually use about 4 tablespoons of sauce on a big 4L bowl full of spring onions.

* only apply the sauce at the last minute to retain the crispness. I prepare the sauce in a small bowl or bottle about 30 mins before eating, and then mix sauce into the spring onions while cooking the meat.

[Ce'nedra]

Just a Q: is there any difference between Chinese and Korean sesame oil?

[jkim]

Apart from manufacturing quality, not that I know of.

A lot of Koreans use Chinese and/or Japanese sesame oil. Our family prefer to use some japanese brands (white tin can with black and red writing), and then korean ottogi or chungjungwon, and then the various chinese brands, due to mfg quality. If we find a good quality chinese brand that is cheap and that doesn't have concerns about food safety like most chinese foods these days, we will have no problems in using it.

Problem is... there's so many food poisons in various china imports in recent news, that we are very hesitant to use any ingredients at all coming from china.

[nakji]

Wow... you don't like kket nip? o_O I love that stuff. I can't have korean bbq without it. I even had kketnip, avocado & asparagus kim bab for lunch today!

Well, I don't like it raw. But ddalk galbi is just wrong without it, IMO. I love the way it goes all limp when it cooks down. If I made a serious attempt to keep eating it, no doubt I'd come to like it.

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.

Oh boy, I think we need a ssam topic.

[Ce'nedra]

Apart from manufacturing quality, not that I know of.

A lot of Koreans use Chinese and/or Japanese sesame oil. Our family prefer to use some japanese brands (white tin can with black and red writing), and then korean ottogi or chungjungwon, and then the various chinese brands, due to mfg quality.  If we find a good quality chinese brand that is cheap and that doesn't have concerns about food safety like most chinese foods these days, we will have no problems in using it.

Problem is... there's so many food poisons in various china imports in recent news, that we are very hesitant to use any ingredients at all coming from china.

←

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?