1421 recipes. Page 23 of 60
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Steamed eggplant, cooled and torn along the grain, comes apart in silky, slippery strands. They are dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili flakes and kept cold, and the more dressing you use, the closer it gets to a chilled salad.
Mung beans soaked for 30 minutes alongside the rice break down with it in kelp stock, making this abalone porridge far thicker and creamier than the rice-only kind.
Perilla oil goes in twice, once to heat the pan and again after the heat is off, so its nutty smell sits on top of the slightly bitter chwinamul, a wild aster green. The boiled greens are squeezed only until they stop dripping, and whatever water is left cooks off in the pan with the soy sauce.
Chicken hearts turn chewy and springy on the skewer, and their flavor builds the longer you chew. Halving each heart and clearing out blood clots and the thin membrane is what keeps the taste clean rather than gamey. A thin glaze of soy sauce, oligosaccharide syrup, and mirin brushed on both sides adds a sweet-salty shine, finished with sesame oil and black pepper.
Blanching time decides the texture of pork skin, which is almost pure collagen: too short and it stays rubbery, too long and it goes limp. On the grill the skin buckles into ridges that trap the gochujang glaze, concentrating spicy-sweet flavor in every groove.
Chamnamul (Korean pimpinella greens) brings a sharp, grassy fragrance that cuts through mild tofu and anchovy-kelp stock. The tofu gets four minutes on its own to absorb the broth, while the greens stay in only long enough to wilt. Draining the cubes briefly in a sieve makes them easier to slide in without breaking.
The tough, bark-like base of each dureup (aralia shoot) is trimmed off, and thick stems are split lengthwise or scored with a cross at the bottom. That way three or four minutes in the pot cooks them through while they stay crisp. Gochujang goes in at a third of the amount of doenjang, just enough for a low heat.
Long simmering turns the cartilage and tendons of beef knee translucent and soft, and the broth becomes rich enough to set like aspic once it cools. A hard boil clouds the broth, so most of the craft lies in holding the pot at a gentle bubble. In Korea it is mostly a winter dish.
Broad, thick gomchwi leaves soak up the soy brine evenly and are seasoned through after just 2 days of chilling. The leaf's bold, wild mountain-herb scent blends with the soy, and vinegar trims the finish so the pickle never feels heavy. Only the thick stems are blanched, for 20 seconds, which softens them while the leaves stay fresh. Excess water is pressed out leaf by leaf, since wringing tears the leaves and drains their scent. Wrap a leaf around a spoonful of rice to eat it like ssam, a Korean lettuce wrap.
Jeju-style pork noodle soup usually means a dense, milky bone stock; this version simmers 500 g of pork bones for at least an hour and aims for a lighter, relatively clear broth instead. Soaking and blanching the bones first, plus a spoonful of doenjang in the pot, keeps porky off-notes down.
Cubes of firm tofu, browned at the edges, do the job meat usually does, while kimchi squeezed of its juice lends a sour, spicy note to a Parmigiano cream sauce. Left mostly unturned while it fries, the tofu colors at the corners without breaking apart. Bow-tie farfalle holds pockets of sauce in its pinched centers.
Salmon seared skin side down and broken into large flakes makes the plate eat more like a warm piece of fish with greens than a tossed salad. Searing time depends on thickness and heat, so doneness is judged by the thickest part reaching at least 63°C rather than by the color of the flesh. A soy, vinegar and garlic dressing cuts the oiliness, avocado adds creaminess, and red cabbage with radish sprouts brings crunch and a peppery edge.
Steamed mussels and fries share one plate in this Belgian pairing, but they run on very different clocks. The mussels open in 3 to 4 minutes under a lid, while the potatoes need a gentler first fry and a hotter second one to turn crisp. Getting the first fry done before the mussels hit the pot keeps the two from colliding at the stove. That first fry ends while the potatoes are tender but still pale. Soaking the cut sticks in cold water and drying every side matters, since wet potatoes splatter and stay limp. Discard any mussels that stay closed, and bring both to the table at once so the fries do not soften while the shellfish waits.
Paneer, an Indian cheese that holds its shape instead of melting, sits in cubes in a bright green spinach sauce and chews a little like firm tofu. For this North Indian vegetarian curry the spinach is blanched for only a minute before blending and simmered briefly, which keeps the green vivid.
The steamed eggplant is torn by hand rather than cut, because the ragged strands hold the soy sauce and sesame oil better than a clean knife edge. Once dressed it turns dark and glossy, and on warm rice it all but melts.
Two tablespoons of sesame oil take the minced abalone innards and garlic over low heat, and the oil picks up their briny aroma before any rice goes in. Keeping the heat low at this stage is what tames the fishy edge of the innards.
Big 5 cm lengths of green onion carry as much weight as the meat in this soy-glazed pork neck. Kept apart from the onion, they go in only once the sauce has turned glossy on the pork, so their edges soften while the centers keep their shape.
When buying pork neck, look less at any particular fat ratio than at an even thickness and fat spread through the lean. Cut 1 cm thick, it is seasoned with salt and pepper and seared, with garlic browned beside it and lettuce on the side.
Cheonggak, a green seaweed that grows in many-forked branches, is sold packed in salt. A cold-water soak takes the salt out, and a short simmer keeps it crunchy even in hot broth. It cooks with tofu, seasoned with tuna extract and Korean soup soy sauce.
As the clams open they release their briny liquor into the rice-water doenjang broth, and the zucchini stew tastes cleaner and brighter for it. Give the clams about an hour to purge their sand.
Knee cartilage and tendon should come out chewy and springy. Cooked too long, they slump and start to melt. Slices about 0.7cm thick sit on blanched garlic chives with a ladle of warm broth poured around them, so it eats like a moist meat platter rather than a soup.
Gondre, a thistle-family mountain green gathered in spring in Gangwon Province, has a quiet aroma that grows clearer once it is pickled. The tough stems get only 20 seconds of blanching, and the greens are squeezed hard afterward so the brine stays clear. Grain syrup (jocheong) softens the sharp edge of the soy sauce, while brown rice vinegar and kelp stock add tang and savory depth. Half a Cheongyang chili leaves only a light heat at the end. After 2 days in the fridge, spoon it over rice with gochujang and sesame oil, or use it as a bibimbap topping.
From Guilin in China's Guangxi region come these slender rice noodles, smooth and slightly springy, soaking up a clear beef brisket broth as the bowl sits. Pickled radish adds crisp, vinegary bites that cut the beefiness and reset the palate, and chili oil drizzled at the end spreads a slow warmth through the soup.
Kkaennip, the Korean perilla leaf, smells nothing like basil or mint, and its grassy herb note is what sets this mushroom cream sauce apart from other cream pastas. Its aroma fades with long simmering, so only part of the shredded leaves cooks in the sauce and the rest is scattered raw on top, layering the scent twice. Thick-sliced button mushrooms are cooked until their water is gone, so their flavor holds up against the cream. Parmesan brings salt to the sauce, and the pinched folds of farfalle trap it. If the sauce tightens, a tablespoon of pasta water at a time loosens it again.