162 recipes. Page 7 of 7
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A full 120g of water parsley (minari) turns an everyday doenjang stew green and sharply aromatic, with a peppery, grassy bite against the fermented soybean broth. The minari simmers for only 2 minutes and comes off the heat while the stems are still crisp, not limp and stringy.
Thick coins of octopus sit on slices of boiled potato, finished with nothing more than olive oil, smoked paprika, and coarse salt. With so little seasoning, texture carries the dish: a hard boil tightens the flesh, so the octopus rests in its hot water after the heat goes off and softens gently.
Because this soup is served cold, it gets seasoned a little more heavily than usual while still warm. Chilling dulls the taste of salt. Only the leek whites go in, cooked gently in butter without browning, and the soup stays a pale cream color.
The shepherd's purse goes in roots and all, because the roots carry its earthy, bitter spring scent. The trade-off is cleaning: soil has to be scraped off with a knife tip and the greens swished through several changes of cold water. Doenjang brands differ in saltiness, and the paste is adjusted half a tablespoon at a time.
Raclette works as a meal at the table: each person melts a portion of cheese and pours it straight over warm potatoes and ham. The cooking ahead is simple, boiling small potatoes until a fork goes in but the centers hold, then keeping them covered and warm. A raclette machine is the usual tool, though small ovenproof pans under an oven grill manage the same job. Pull the cheese when it turns glossy and the edges bubble; left longer, it browns and the fat separates.
Raw Italian sausage, out of its casing and crumbled, is browned first, and its fat becomes the cooking oil for the onion and garlic. When the chicken stock goes in, the brown layer on the bottom of the pot is scraped up too, carrying the sausage flavor through the whole soup. Potatoes are cut no thinner than 0.5 cm to hold their shape, and the cream is only warmed over low heat at the end.
Country-style doenjang gives this stew a dense, earthy body, and the Cheongyang chili added at the very end cuts through it with a sharp, clean heat. Half a block of tofu is torn by hand into rough chunks and simmered gently for 3 minutes so the pieces hold together.
Potatoes, corn, smoked sausage, and shrimp all cook in one pot of salted, paprika-seasoned water, added in order of how long each needs. The potatoes get a head start, the corn and sausage follow, and the shrimp go in only for the last couple of minutes. Drained and tossed with melted butter and lemon juice, everything is tipped out onto a large platter or table for a crowd to eat with their hands.
Thinly sliced beef brisket, not the usual anchovy stock, supplies the savoriness, giving this doenjang jjigae a meaty rather than oceanic lean. Rice-rinse water forms the base and softens the soybean paste, and the edges of the potato break down a little as they cook, thickening the broth on their own.
Snow crab legs, shrimp, potatoes, corn, and sausage are tossed in a red butter sauce of garlic, Cajun seasoning, and Korean chili flakes, then spread out across the table. The potatoes and corn boil in water while the seafood steams separately, so the crab and shrimp stay dry enough for the sauce to cling. The sauce stays over low heat so the garlic and spices do not scorch, and the chili flakes push the heat beyond what the Cajun seasoning gives alone. Shaking everything with the warm sauce in a large bowl or bag works it into the crab joints and shrimp shells. Expect to eat it with your hands, cracking shells as you go, with lemon on the side.
The grassy bitterness of spring mugwort (ssuk) sits on top of a nutty perilla seed broth made with rice-rinse water. Tough stems are pulled off and mostly the leaves are used, cooked for just the final 2 minutes to keep their green color and scent.
A dark, crisp crust and a pink, juicy center come from heat and a dry surface rather than from seasoning, which stops at salt and pepper. A damp steak in a pan that is not hot enough turns gray instead of brown. Butter melted with garlic and rosemary near the end gets spooned over the meat, adding a nutty, herbal layer to the crust. Potatoes on the side turn it into a full plate.
Wheat dough is torn by hand into thin pieces and dropped into the clam broth. Each piece comes out a slightly different thickness, and each one chews a little differently. The clams go in once the dough floats up translucent, the lid goes on, and the stew goes to the table right away, since sujebi swells quickly.
Steak frites lives or dies on two techniques at once: a well-seared sirloin and properly double-fried potatoes. The first fry at 160°C cooks the potato sticks through while they stay pale, and the second at 190°C turns the outside crisp and golden. Soaking the cut potatoes in cold water first washes off surface starch so they do not stick together in the oil. The steak gets only salt and pepper, then a quick baste with butter, thyme, and garlic.
Ripe tomato, roughly chopped, goes into an otherwise familiar beef short rib stew and turns the broth tangy and thick. It melts into the gochujang sauce, leaving hardly a trace except a deeper red.
Reblochon halved and laid cut-side down melts straight into the layers of potato, smoked bacon, and onion below. This winter dish from the Savoie region of France depends on parboiled potatoes: cooked only halfway, they soak up cream in the oven and still hold their shape.
Burdock, which stays firm, and potato, which crumbles at the edges, share the pot, but the potato goes in only after the burdock has had seven minutes on its own. Added together, the potatoes would be mush by the time the burdock softened. Oyster mushrooms join them and there is no meat; the broth is anchovy-kelp stock with perilla seed powder stirred in.
Potatoes cooked slowly in plenty of olive oil turn creamy and soft, while the same slices fried over high heat scorch outside and stay hard in the middle. That gentle start gives a Spanish tortilla its thick, tender layers once the eggs are added. The nerve-racking part is the flip: a plate goes over the pan and the half-set omelette turns out in one motion before sliding back in. Both sides end up golden, with a moist center.