282 recipes. Page 12 of 12
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Doenjang, Korean fermented soybean paste, gets mixed with a little gochujang, garlic and honey and spread over rockfish fillets in a coat thin enough to see the flesh through. Any thicker and the paste and honey burn before the fish is done. Laying the fillet skin side down and leaving it alone keeps it from curling.
As it simmers, the tough stems of the ugeoji (blanched outer napa cabbage leaves) loosen and soak up the doenjang. A little gochujang tints the broth reddish, and rice-rinse water gives it more body than plain water would.
Chicken cartilage gives a crunch first and then a chew. The longer it cooks, the more that crunch turns tough, so the cartilage is marinated for 10 minutes and then stir-fried hard and fast. Gochujang, chili flakes and hot Cheongyang chilies pile up into a fiery bar snack.
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.
Uijeongbu is the city where this stew took hold near US Army bases after the Korean War, and that is where the name comes from. The salt of Spam and cocktail sausages, the sourness of ripe kimchi and the sweetness of melted baked beans all end up in the same pot.
A shallow crosshatch scored on the inside of the squid body opens up as it cooks, curling each piece and letting the gochujang sauce work into the cuts. Score too deep and the body tears apart; the knife should only graze the surface.
Doenjang mixed with honey and lemon juice coats the rich salmon in something salty, sweet and faintly tart. A third of the glaze is set aside before any of it touches the fish, then spread on thinly with a clean spoon once the fillets are turned.
Water from the bean sprouts is what most easily turns this stir-fry thin. They are drained well, added only in the last minute or two, and the whole pan goes onto a plate as soon as the heat is off.
Once the salmon is flipped, butter melts in the pan, and with the pan tilted it is spooned over the fillets again and again. The gochujang, soy and honey glaze gets a second thin coat in the final minute for shine.
Jumulleok means meat kneaded by hand with its marinade, but thin duck slices tear if squeezed, so here the gochujang sauce is folded through them gently. Perilla leaves add their scent to the spicy coating.
Osam takes its name from the first syllables of squid (ojingeo) and pork belly (samgyeopsal). The pork belly is cooked first until plenty of fat has rendered, and the squid and gochujang sauce go into that fat, so no extra oil is needed.
Fried chicken thighs get only a thin coat of a sour, spicy sauce made from gochujang, ketchup and vinegar, so the crust is still crisp when it reaches the table. Letting the fried chicken cool and then rewarming it in the oil makes it crunchier still.
Thin-sliced bulgogi beef sits in a gochujang marinade for about ten minutes, then hits a hot pan with onion. By the end there is almost no liquid left, just a glossy coat of sauce clinging to every slice.
Ketchup sets a sweet base and half a spoon of gochujang adds only a mild heat, giving these cocktail sausages a sticky glaze that settles into shallow scores and sits well in a lunchbox. Once the ketchup and syrup start to thicken they stick fast to the pan, so nothing stays still after the sauce is poured in.
Square fish cake sheets are blanched for 20 seconds before frying to shed surface oil, which lets the gochujang glaze cling more cleanly. No water is added; the onion goes in first, and the moisture it gives off loosens the sauce on the pan floor.
Doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) does most of the seasoning, with only a little gochujang, so the pork comes out savory and salty rather than hot. The crown daisy goes in after the meat is cooked and comes off the heat just as the leaves wilt, keeping its slightly bitter scent.
Pork shoulder goes red with gochujang and chili flakes, and summer yeolmu (young radish greens) keeps its slight bitterness against that heat. For a milder plate, leave the other seasonings alone and cut the chili flakes to half a tablespoon.
Smoked duck gives off a lot of fat as it cooks, and all but a thin film is poured off. The duck brings plenty of salt of its own, and soy sauce waits until a taste just before serving.