157 recipes. Page 3 of 7
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Deodeok, a mountain root with a bitter, faintly resinous aroma, mellows as the soy and rice syrup glaze soaks in, though the inside stays firm and chewy. The roots are lightly pounded and then torn by hand, and those rough surfaces take on a lacquered coat of sauce.
The soy and vinegar brine goes into the jar only after it has cooled completely, because wild chives lose their sharp, garlicky bite quickly when heated. After one day in the fridge the pickle is ready to eat, and by the third day the brine has reached the small bulbs and the flavor turns rounder and deeper. Slices of hot green chili and a scattering of sesame give it an edge, and it is at its best next to grilled meat in spring, when dallae is in season.
Shrimp with a springy bite and soft-flaking salmon are marinated in separate containers of seasoned soy, then brought together on one plate so the two textures alternate. The soy is cut with water infused with apple, radish, garlic, and scallion, and its sweetness comes from pear-flavored soda and mirin rather than sugar. Both seafoods are bought for raw eating, and soy that has touched raw seafood is never reused for a new batch.
In this Indian breakfast dish the flattened rice never boils. A quick rinse in cold water and a short rest soften it enough to press between two fingers, and a brief toss in oil scented with mustard seed and turmeric warms it through. Roasted peanuts go into the yellow flakes, and a squeeze of lemon follows once the heat is off.
A single cheongyang chili, a hot Korean green pepper, goes into this soy-glazed fish cake. The fish cake is cut into long, thin strips and browned over high heat before any sauce goes near it, and the soy seasoning then goes on so briefly that almost none is left in the pan.
Onion rings cut 2 cm thick are pinned through the side with toothpicks, and the layers stay together when turned. Doenjang (fermented soybean paste), gochujang, perilla oil and garlic are loosened with two tablespoons of water into a brushable sauce, which goes on thinly from the first flip onward.
Canned silkworm pupae are drained and rinsed rather than heated in the can liquid, then simmered in fresh water. By the time chili flakes and cheongyang pepper turn the broth red, the pupae's strong smell has mellowed, and the heat depends on how many chili seeds stay in. It goes to the table steaming, as a drinking snack.
In the Gangwon mountain style, onion is grated right along with the potatoes and finely chopped cheongyang chili goes straight into the batter. Makgeolli is the traditional pairing.
Little rounds of brisket fat float on top, and the stew tastes nuttier and heavier than a vegetable-only doenjang jjigae. The sliced cheongyang chili is there because of that fat.
Shallow scores on both sides of the flounder let the chili broth seep in, so even this thin fish is evenly seasoned. When the flesh turns white and flakes easily, it is served with the radish and plenty of the red broth.
Carrot brings its own sweetness to this soy and vinegar pickle, so each bite reads as three clear notes: sweet, salty and sour. Cutting the sticks to an even 0.5 cm keeps every piece pickling at the same speed, which is what gives the jar a uniform crunch. Onion, whole garlic and a halved Cheongyang chili (a hot Korean green pepper) season the brine. The jar is ready after about 24 hours in the fridge and works as a sharp, crunchy foil to fatty grilled meat.
Blood cockles (kkomak) are blanched only until the shells crack open, then tossed in a soy, garlic and Cheongyang chili sauce for just 5 to 6 minutes. Short cooking is the whole point, because these chewy little clams turn rubbery fast.
Chicken gizzards have a springy, chewy bite, and peeling off the silver membrane and any off-smelling bits, then a quick blanch, keeps their flavor clean. They toughen when cooked too long, yet the thickest one still has to reach 74°C at the center, and that reading, not the reduced sauce, decides when to stop.
After the soup soy sauce goes in, the broth is tasted before anything more is added. The clams release salty liquor as they open, which often seasons the pot well enough, and more soy sauce goes in only if it falls short. The chives are added just before the heat is turned off and cook for a minute.
Chopped napa kimchi and grated potato share one batter, yet the kimchi's sour, fermented tang and the potato's mild sweetness stay distinct within the same pancake. Where kimchi juice meets the pan over medium-high heat, the edges darken into a toasty crust.
The whole can of tuna, oil included, is tipped into the pot with water. No stock is made separately, and that oil is what the broth builds on. Some add ramen noodles to stretch it into a full meal.
Gochugaru and fresh cheongyang chili together make the broth properly hot. The radish is already half cooked when the flounder goes on top, and it ends up absorbing the fat that seeps from the fish as well as the seasoning.
As dongchimi ferments, the clear brine around chunks of radish turns cool, tangy and faintly fizzy, with a soft fruitiness from pear and a clean finish from ginger. The radish is cut large, 4 to 5 cm, because small pieces go soft once the kimchi ripens, and a firm, medium-sized radish holds up better than a small one. Keeping every piece under the brine stops stray microbes, and the jar moves to the fridge once small bubbles appear. In winter the chilled broth becomes a base for cold noodles or is ladled alongside rich, fatty meat. Strained, the ripe broth tastes cleaner, and it keeps refrigerated for 2 to 3 weeks.
The name echoes the tang-tang of the knife hitting the board as live octopus is chopped into short, chopstick-sized pieces. An egg yolk sits in the middle to be stirred in just before eating, while the sesame oil and salt dip stays on the side so each bite can be seasoned to taste. Any water left on the octopus after cleaning pools on the plate and keeps the oil from clinging, so it is patted completely dry.
Chicken feet are mostly skin and cartilage, with a sticky, gelatinous chew, and the meat is nibbled off between thin bones. Boiling them first strips the slippery coating so the gochujang and chili flake sauce clings thickly. How hot it gets comes down to the number of cheongyang chilies.
Chamge is a freshwater crab, and the shells and the joints of the legs need a good scrub with a brush if the broth is to taste clean. Halved and simmered in a radish broth with a little doenjang (Korean soybean paste), the crabs give it a deep crab flavor, sharpened with chili flakes and cheongyang peppers.
These coaster-sized kimchi pancakes stand two or three to a cup and are eaten out of hand, the way they might be at a pojangmacha, one of Korea's covered street stalls. The batter is kept thicker than for a regular kimchi pancake, which stops the rounds from slumping inside the cup, and some kimchi brine goes into it as well. Soy sauce or vinegared gochujang comes alongside.
Two cheongyang chilies go into the water whole, uncut, and simmer for eight minutes to make a spicy stock. Before that, the anchovies are toasted for about a minute in a dry pot; the water has to go in as soon as they smell nutty, or bitterness creeps into the broth. Seeding the chilies first takes the heat down.
Giving the potatoes a 5-minute head start in plain water lines up their timing with the beltfish, and the starch they release thickens the sauce. Since beltfish breaks apart if handled often, the broth is ladled over rather than the pieces moved, and the reduced sauce is spooned onto rice with the fish.