240 recipes. Page 1 of 10
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White miso, toasted sesame oil, and whole sesame seeds go into these thin crackers with only a pinch of sugar, and salty, nutty flavors come before sweet. Stop handling the dough as soon as it comes together. Kneading builds elasticity, which makes it resist rolling thin and bakes into a harder bite. Fresh from the oven they can feel slightly soft, and they crisp as they cool.
Thick-walled and mild, asakigochu peppers need only 20 seconds in boiling water to lose their raw smell while keeping their crunch. The dressing is doenjang and gochujang with a little vinegar. Use cheongyang chilies in the same sauce and the dish turns much hotter.
There are only three fillings: dried gourd strips simmered in soy sauce and corn syrup, egg ribbons, and yellow pickled radish. The gourd turns sweet, salty and chewy, but any braising liquid left on it soaks the rice and laver once rolled. The heat goes up at the end until only a glaze, no liquid, is left in the pan.
The woody ends of the asparagus are snapped off by hand rather than cut. They break on their own right where the tough part stops. Chicken tenderloin, sliced thin against the grain, is stir-fried hard and fast in soy sauce and syrup, and the heat goes off while the asparagus is still bright green.
Semi-dried squid browns fast in a buttered pan and stays chewy. Shallow scores on the inside of the body give the soy and syrup glaze somewhere to sink in. Once done, the pieces go onto skewers or into paper cups.
Flat slices of jeolpyeon, a plain Korean rice cake, are pan-fried in sesame oil until a thin skin forms, then a soy, honey, and sugar sauce goes in and the heat drops to low for just two or three minutes of turning until they shine. The glaze burns quickly, so the heat goes off as soon as almost no syrup is left in the pan, and sesame seeds and pine nuts go on top.
Gizzard shad are small enough to eat bones and all, and shallow scores along each fish do two jobs: they let the gochujang glaze reach the flesh and cut the fine pin bones so they are barely noticed. Syrup in the glaze caramelizes into a glossy amber coat, but it also burns quickly, which keeps the pan at medium the whole time.
Eggplant is steamed for just five minutes, torn along the grain and tossed with soup soy sauce and garlic so it takes on seasoning of its own. It then goes into cold water seasoned with vinegar and sugar and is topped with cheongyang chili and sesame seeds, a summer side dish. If ice is going in, the seasoning should be a little stronger, since it thins as the ice melts.
Finely chopped salted shrimp loosened in water seasons this zucchini side dish instead of soy sauce, a habit handed down from country tables where salted shrimp was the main seasoning. Cooking it covered over medium-low heat lands somewhere between steaming and braising, and the zucchini softens without going mushy.
Napa cabbage salted for just 20 minutes and tossed straight into a gochugaru dressing gives kimchi with no sourness at all: the red pepper heat and the savory anchovy fish sauce come through cleanly. The short salting bends the thick ribs slightly while keeping them much crisper than fermented kimchi. Sesame oil and sesame seeds are added at the very end, so a nutty aroma sits over the chili. Geotjeori, as this fresh style is called in Korea, is served alongside grilled pork belly or doenjang-jjigae (fermented soybean paste stew), and it fills in when the jar of aged kimchi runs empty. It is best right after mixing, and leftovers keep a day or two chilled.
Shiitake carries the chew in this meatless japchae, cut into long thin strips alongside the onion and carrot. The seasoning is split: half dresses the sauteed vegetables, and the rest is stir-fried with the boiled noodles so they take on flavor of their own.
Bomdong, a flat, open-leaf cabbage harvested from winter into early spring, has sweet, crunchy leaves that pair surprisingly well with strawberries. The link is a doenjang dressing: Korean soybean paste loosened with olive oil, lemon juice, and honey, salty and nutty without being heavy. Because doenjang varies a lot in saltiness from brand to brand, the dressing goes on in portions, tasted as you go. The leaves are torn by hand rather than cut to keep their natural shape, then dried well, since leftover water thins the dressing. Strawberries sit on top of the greens instead of in the dressing, which would make them weep juice, and walnuts and sesame add a toasty note that bridges the fruit and the paste.
A teaspoon of vinegar in the soy marinade makes the salt less sharp and the chicken skin taste less greasy. The shine comes from using sugar and oligosaccharide syrup together, and the last coat of sauce brushed on near the end bubbles in the oven until it sets into a thin lacquer. The thickest wing, not the glossy skin, decides when the tray comes out, because the meat by the bone cooks last. Sesame oil and toasted seeds go on after baking, while the wings are still hot.
Mallow usually ends up in doenjang soup in Korean kitchens; blanched and dressed instead, its soft leaves turn slippery and hold onto the fermented paste. Too long in the water and the mucilage loosens until the leaves clump into a slick mass, while too short leaves a grassy smell behind.
Chadolbagi, paper-thin beef brisket, goes into a dry, very hot pan with no oil at all; its own fat renders out and crisps the edges. The garlicky soy glaze is poured in at the very end and tossed for only 15 to 20 seconds, just long enough to turn glossy.
King oyster mushrooms are torn lengthwise by hand, so their fibrous grain stays intact. They are seared in a dry pan first to drive off moisture, which is why the soy sauce clings as a dark glaze instead of turning watery.
The skewered fish cakes start in a dry pan with no oil. Driving off their surface moisture is what lets the soy and gochujang glaze stay put instead of running off. After brushing, a short second spell over the heat melts the sugar into a shine, and sliced green onion and sesame seeds go on top.
Only the white part of the green onion is used, since the green tops burn before the inside cooks. Grilled hard, the outside chars deep brown and the inside softens until a chopstick slides in easily, turning sweet. Once plated, the onions get a little sesame oil, sesame seeds and lemon zest.
The only heat involved is a 20-second dip for the seaweed, which is rinsed in cold water right after so it stops cooking. The broth is never heated either; it is soup soy sauce, vinegar and sugar topped up with cold water.
Instead of a spatula, the pot itself does the stirring: you shake it so the baby potatoes roll through the reducing soy sauce, which keeps the skins on and the glaze even and dark. Cooled and kept in the fridge, they take the seasoning all the way through and last close to a week.
Long 6 to 7 cm lengths of green onion get a coat of gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) and anchovy fish sauce, and every bite carries the onion's sharpness together with salty, fermented depth. Glutinous rice paste holds that seasoning on the smooth onion surface. Without it, the paste would slide to the bottom of the container as the kimchi ripens. It goes beside pork belly or boiled pork, or folded into a lettuce wrap, and it is a good way to use up a bundle of older green onions.
Perilla oil smells nuttier and more grassy than sesame oil, and in this cold somyeon dish it is the main flavor, with only soy sauce, a little sugar, and garlic underneath. Crumbled roasted seaweed goes on just before eating so it stays crisp, and toasted sesame seeds add a small crunch. With almost no cooking beyond boiling the noodles, it makes a quick late-night meal.
Sweet yuja citron syrup, balanced with soy sauce and a little garlic, turns plain chicken breast into something bright. Gently poached chicken breast, rested off the heat and torn along the grain, soaks up that dressing between its fibers instead of turning dry. Chamnamul, a slightly bitter Korean herb, keeps the citrus sweetness from tipping the salad toward dessert.
Paper-thin sheets of dried whitebait are dry-toasted until stiff, then coated thinly in gochujang, soy sauce and oligosaccharide syrup. Straight from the pan they look a little soft, but they crisp as they cool; there is no need to keep them on the heat longer.