Fresh green laver is mixed into a thin batter, and the sea smell rises from the pan while it fries. The Cheongyang chili goes in seeds and all, and the finish is sharply hot.
Ground chicken and pressed tofu make a filling with little fat, and against that mild filling the perilla leaf's sharp aroma comes forward. Sliced straight out of the pan, the pieces lose their juices onto the plate. Serve them whole or cut them just before eating.
Fresh shiitake caps are stuffed with pork seasoned with soy sauce, scallion and garlic, mounded slightly, then coated in egg and fried. The easily skipped step is a very light dusting of flour inside each cap, which acts like glue between mushroom and meat.
Butterflied flat along the belly, the shrimp cook evenly and hold a thin flour-and-egg coat better than whole ones would. The trap with saeu-jeon is color: the coating turns pale gold and the surface turns pink well before the thickest shrimp are opaque at the center. Translucent flesh in the middle means more time in the pan, while firm, opaque shrimp should come out right away so they do not toughen. Lemon wedges on the side add a bright finish.
Chopped shiitake, crumbled tofu, carrot and scallion go into one batter, which is spooned into small, flat rounds. Chopping the mushrooms a little coarser gives them more chew. A sauce of soy, vinegar and sesame seeds goes on the side.
Siraegi, dried radish greens that have been boiled and stripped of their tough skins, still show their fibers after frying, a rustic chew unlike softer vegetable pancakes. The batter starts with doenjang (soybean paste) dissolved in cold water, plus some buckwheat flour, which makes it look a little rough; that is how it should look. The paste brings enough salt that none is added.
Four shiitake, finely chopped, go into the ground beef, and the mushroom's grain turns up in every mouthful of meat.
Mugwort pancakes have to be thin for the young spring herb to come through. A thick one traps steam in the middle, goes soggy and dulls the scent. Overloading the batter with mugwort makes it too stiff to spread thin in the first place.
Heat makes crown daisy smell stronger rather than weaker, and its bitter, grassy scent rises straight through the thin batter. A little potato starch in the batter keeps the pancake crisp for a good while after it cools. It is cut into pieces and served with a soy-vinegar dip.
Finely mashed tofu worked into the ground beef keeps these bite-size patties from turning dry. They belong on ancestral rite and holiday tables, and because they taste and feel much the same once cold, they also pack well in a lunch box.
Shredded cabbage and drained tuna are bound with an egg batter and fried as several small, thin rounds instead of one large pancake. Small rounds lose moisture quickly: the rims crisp fast, and they are easier to turn.
The holes of each lotus root slice show through a thin, crisp batter, so every piece comes out looking like lace. Biting in gives a clean crunch first, then a slightly sticky chew from the root. Slices cut 5 to 6 mm thick keep that crunch while still cooking through in the center.
Yukjeon gets only about a minute on each side. The beef round is sliced thin, and any longer toughens it quickly. Besides holidays and ancestral rites, it turns up whenever guests are expected, at a housewarming for instance.
Sweet corn kernels pop between strands of zucchini, giving this light pancake bursts of sweetness. The batter should only film the vegetables, with a little pooling at the bottom of the bowl, so each strand keeps its own texture. A final 30 seconds over medium-high heat, after both sides are cooked, crisps the thin edges.