683 recipes. Page 21 of 29
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Squid bodies are packed with a filling of glass noodles, ground pork and the chopped tentacles, steamed, then left to cool a little before being cut into thick rounds. Each slice shows a white ring of squid around a dense mosaic of noodles, chives and carrot.
Without any meat, japchae leans entirely on its vegetables: spinach, carrot, shiitake, bell pepper, and onion each keep their own color and sweetness because they are stir-fried one at a time. The spinach only needs to wilt over high heat and is spread out to cool at once, or it dulls in color and turns tough. The glass noodles soak up soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil before anything else joins them and come out glossy, chewy, and seasoned through. Tossing them with vegetables straight from a hot pan makes the noodles slump and clump, the usual way this dish goes wrong. It works as an everyday side dish or on a holiday table.
Korean myeongnanjeot is normally plain salted, not chili-cured like Japanese mentaiko, and here the chili flakes stop at a faint orange tint on the surface. Two or three folds with a spoon and the mixing is over. Burst eggs make it mushy and take away the pop.
Rice, egg and sesame oil are nearly all there is, so the flavor is gentle. Seasoning stays light, just soup soy sauce and salt, so nothing covers the sesame oil, and the egg sits in the porridge as soft, thin ribbons.
Perilla leaves plus ground perilla seed give soy-glazed tofu a double dose of that nutty, minty perilla smell. The tofu is seared firm beforehand, so the pieces keep their edges.
Half-dried pollock, kodari, is chewier than fresh pollock and much less fishy. It soaks in cold water for 10 minutes, both sides are seared plain, and only then does the soy, gochujang and syrup glaze go on, a thin coat at every turn.
Thick slices of ojingeo sundae (squid stuffed with noodles and vegetables) are braised in a gochujang sauce until a thin, glossy red coat clings to each cut face. Rather than flipping the slices, spoon the sauce over them so the filling stays put; some cooks add tteokbokki rice cakes to the pan as well.
With only blanched bok choy and sliced scallions on top, the clear chicken broth seasoned with light soy sauce and the springy fresh noodles carry nearly all the flavor. White pepper and a few drops of sesame oil, added at the end, give the plain broth its aroma. This Shanghai noodle soup comes together quickly, which suits a fast breakfast or a light meal.
Shepherd's purse is eaten root and all, because the earthy scent lives in the root. That also means scraping dirt off each root with the tip of a knife and washing through several changes of water. Gochujang would bury the scent; the dressing is doenjang instead. The greens are around only briefly in early spring.
Shrimp, squid and mussel meat hit the hot pan first, followed by carrot, egg and cold rice in turn. Soy sauce and oyster sauce are measured in teaspoons, enough to season without covering the seafood. Sesame oil goes in only after the heat is off, for its aroma.
Twenty perilla leaves go in, but they never actually cook over the flame. The soy-marinated beef is stir-fried, the heat is turned off, and only then are the leaves folded in for twenty seconds of residual heat; any longer and they blacken.
Cut thin across the bones, each strip of LA galbi carries a row of small bone sections. It goes into a pear juice and soy marinade, and given a night in the fridge, the seasoning reaches the meat between the bones.
Ground perilla seeds (deulkkae-garu) thicken the soy braising liquid into a creamy, nutty sauce, a world away from the red, spicy versions of Korean braised tofu. Searing the tofu on both sides first firms the surface so the sauce coats it thickly and the slices hold their shape. Green onion and a few drops of sesame oil at the very end lift the earthy perilla flavor. Perilla powder is sold at Korean grocers and is not the same thing as sesame.
Young radish kimchi, yeolmu, and some of its brine are mixed into a tangy gochujang dressing for cold somyeon, letting the kimchi flavor lead rather than plain chili sweetness. Only half the kimchi is tossed with the noodles, and the rest sits on top so the stems stay crisp. Noodles that are not drained well leave the sauce pooling like water at the bottom of the bowl.
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.
The rice is spread out in the bowls and left to steam off for about three minutes before the cucumber, lettuce, perilla leaves and flounder go on. Straight onto hot rice, the fish would turn lukewarm. Half the cho-gochujang, a sweet-sour chili sauce, is drizzled on for the first mix, and the rest goes in to taste.
A light dusting of flour holds moisture in the cut crab and gives the sweet-salty soy glaze something to grip, and it ends up on your fingers as you work through the shells. Buy the crabs live and clean them just before cooking for firm, springy meat; frozen crab loses water as it thaws and turns soft.
Seasoned with doenjang instead of gochujang, this pork neck tastes savory and fermented rather than hot or sweet. The basting portion of the marinade is set aside before any of it touches raw meat. At 1.5 cm thick, the slices can look browned well before the center is done, and a thermometer makes the final call.
Searing king oyster mushrooms until browned before adding any sauce gives this banchan two textures: a chewy, golden cut face and a juicy center. Spread in a single layer, they lose the water they release, which would otherwise thin the glaze and keep it from turning glossy. Mix the sauce beforehand and keep it beside the pan so it can be poured straight in before the mushrooms scorch. The soy and oligosaccharide syrup glaze cooks only briefly, and the heat goes off before it turns too strong, letting residual heat bring up the shine. Finished with green onion and sesame oil, it is best warm and keeps well as a make-ahead side.
Shredded brisket, fernbrake, and bean sprouts fill a red, chili-oiled broth, and thin somyeon noodles take the place of the usual bowl of rice. The heat comes from gochugaru coated on the vegetables with sesame oil and fried briefly, and chili scorched at that point turns the whole pot bitter.
Oiji are cucumbers put down in brine for a month or more in summer, when cucumbers are everywhere, and they come out with a firm, chewy crunch nothing like a fresh one. Straight from the brine they are too salty. The slices soak in cold water for about 30 minutes, though a bite of one slice tells you more than the timer.
Instead of the usual cho-gochujang, this raw fish bowl is dressed with ssamjang loosened with vinegar and sesame oil, and the taste leans toward savory fermented soybean rather than sweet heat. The vegetables are not dressed ahead, and the bowl gets only two or three turns when it is mixed.
A shallow slit in each shishito pepper (kkwarigochu) lets the soy and oyster sauce seep inside and keeps the peppers from bursting in the pan. The chicken tenderloin they cook with has almost no fat and a mild, clean taste.
Pork makchang is boiled once before cleaning and blanched for another 7 minutes after. The gochujang marinade works into its wrinkled surface, and slow cooking over medium heat turns it into a sticky brown glaze. The blanching does not finish the cooking; the thick parts stay on until they pass 71°C, and then it is snipped with scissors and served with perilla leaves or shredded green onion.