{Guest Post} Korean Special Occasion and Seasonal Dishes
This post is written by fashion designer Esther Hall, who also writes both the Torn Angel and Let’s Be Asian blogs.
From all of my friends that are second generation foreigners or even third or fourth I’ve noticed that the taste buds for your cultural food are the last to go. I am certainly no exception. Being Korean American and growing up with Korean native parents we had a plethora of Korean food weekly. We ate everything with rice, steak, meatloaf, sauerkraut and sausage, everything. It seems odd to Americans but to other Korean Americans I know it is pretty normal.
I can’t talk for other cultures but in Korea there are special foods for special occasions and seasonal foods that I crave. My mom diligently observed these food traditions so that now as an adult living and cooking on my own I crave and do my best to observe the same traditions.
Sam gye tang: Korean Cornish Hen Soup with Ginseng
This is a soup my mom would serve when one of us was feeling under the weather and it is a refreshing soup for summer because it restores nutrients that you lose when sweating. Essentially it is an entire Cornish hen stuffed with dates, ginseng, garlic, sweet rice and chestnuts that is simmered in a stock broth for an hour. When you eat it you keep a small dish of salt with sesame seeds and some pepper mixed together. As you pick off the chicken you dip the pieces into the dry salt mixture to add some flavor. This keeps the broth pure and refreshing.
Miyeok Guk: Seawood Soup
This is a celebration soup or birthday soup. It is traditionally something you would cook or give to someone you love for their birthday. It is also eaten on New Year’s day in celebration of good health and birth of the new year. This is made with stock broth, seaweed (kelp pieces) and my mom puts in some chicken for flavoring. Very simple and warming soup. I always like to keep a bowl of rice next to it so I can take a spoon of rice and dip it into the broth to eat together.
Bi Bam Nangmyeon and Mul Nangmyeon:
Cold Buckwheat Noodle Soup
This soup is best enjoyed in the hot summer. It has a beef broth with boiled egg, pear or apple, buckwheat noodles, ice cubes and you can add gochu jang (hot red pepper paste), mustard and vinegar for your desired flavor. It might seem like a odd combination but it is the best thing to quench the summer heat.
Dduk: Rice Cake
This comes in all assortments of forms, sizes and shapes. As a dessert with sweet red bean paste inside it is like an Korean version of a cookie. Towers and spreads of this treat in different colors are the traditional equivalent to western cakes for special occasions.
Zha Zhang Myun: Brown Black Bean Sauce and Noodles
Perhaps not a special occasion dish but something my friends and younger Korean culture feels akin to is eating these on what is known as Black day. Black is basically an Anti-valentine day holiday where you can wallow in being single on April 14th. A dish that is arguably Korean or Chinese as it was made from a mixture of both cultures. This dish generally has some seafood or beef bits in the sauce to give it more flavor and it is a thick sauce that is normally served to the side of the thick noodles with shredded cucumber on top and a side of Daikwon (yellow pickled radish). With this dish you want to cut the noodles first then add the Zha Zhang sauce on top and mix it in so it keeps the noodles from getting bloated. The Daikwon is like a palette cleanser since the noodles and the sauce have a heavy taste. Another side you can commonly find to cleanse, is raw bite size slices of onion in vinegar.
These are the dishes that I most commonly gravitate towards when I think of special occasion or seasonal foods. There is one more celebratory food but it’s too vile for me to even consider ever trying which is Bo shin tang or dog meat stew. Sorry but if I’ve kept it as a pet I’m not about to try eating it.
These foods are by no means eaten on a daily basis or as renowned as Korean BBQ like Galbi and Bulgogi but if you are in the mood for something different with a little historical background then these are great to try out.
Columbus Spheres of Influence, or “My Top 5 Favorite Ball-Shaped Foods”
Takoyaki at Freshstreet: These savory Japanese dumplings have a pancake-like texture that encompasses a piece of octopus in the center.
Meatball at the Florentine: A classic old-school Italian restaurant, the Florentine tops its freshly-made pasta with a traditional red sauce and this substantial meatball.
Falafel at Mazah Mediterranean Eatery: The crunchy crust of Mazah’s impressive falafel hides a fluffy, slightly spicy interior that’s hard to beat in Columbus.
Pancake balls at Katalina’s Cafe Corner: Filled with your choice of Nutella or strawberry jam, the only thing better than these pancake balls is the side of sweet and spicy bacon that accompanies them.
Hushpuppies at Marino’s Seafood: With their sweet corn notes, Marino’s hushpuppies are the perfect accompaniment to their fish and chips.
Kimchi Redux (Kimchi, pt. 3; or “Yet Another Kimchi Post”)
My apologies for the recent spate of kimchi posts. But the truth is, I’m addicted to it; obsessed with it. And as it is such a seminal dish, I wanted to get my kimchi right. I felt my first attempt fell a little short; now that I’m a little more comfortable and confident with my kimchi-making skills, I wanted to revisit the process.
The first change I made was buying my kimchi ingredients from a Korean market instead of a chain grocery store; I now get my kimchi supplies from Lotte Oriental Foods, located on High Street across from Graceland. Lotte not only carries the requisite vegetables (napa cabbage, green onions, garlic, and ginger), they sell two important components not available at most chain grocery stores: red pepper powder and mu. Ranging in size from small bags to huge sacks, red pepper powder is available from a number of Korean and Chinese manufacturers. Although I’ve found the Chinese-made powder to be a little less expensive, there are those who decry the Chinese product as inferior. While I can’t vouch for the validity of this opinion, I did end up with a Korean-produced brand; after all, kimchi is a Korean dish. Likewise, I decided to use the Korean radish, mu, instead of the Japanese daikon. Whereas daikon is cylindrical and carrot-shaped, mu is more bulbous and eggplant-shaped. And because of the inventory turnaround at Lotte, mu is always fresh, which wasn’t always the case with the daikon at the chain store.
Following the basic recipe from my first post: I brine the vegetables for about 2 hours and drain. The primary difference comes in the paste. Instead of using fresh peppers (which I’ve found are hard to come by in the winter months), I use the more cost-effective Korean red pepper powder—about 1–2 cups of pepper powder per head of napa cabbage. I also now include the onion with the pepper powder, garlic, and ginger and blend to make a paste. (In the past, I’ve added sliced onions with the cabbage and radish, but have found them to become fairly soggy after the fermentation process; blending them with the powder, garlic, and ginger not only avoids this issue, but adds extra moisture and flavor to the paste.) For additional liquid, I add water set aside from brining, as needed, to bring the paste to a viscous consistency. Once blended (I end up with about ½ to ¾ of a standard blender pitcher full of paste), I pour the paste over the cabbage, mu, and diced green onion, then mix by hand until the vegetables are well-coated.
As I’ve started to make larger batches, attempting to separate the kimchi into several smaller containers has proved to be a bit messy, as well as time-consuming. A pleasant, accidental discovery has been that the stoneware from a slow cooker makes the perfect kimchi pot. I pack the kimchi tightly into the stoneware, pressing down to drive out any air pockets. Since there is a lot more surface area exposed in the stoneware than in a jar, I place a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the kimchi to both limit exposure to the air and prevent excess moisture escape. I place the slow cooker lid on top of the stoneware, leave at room temperature for about two days, then place in the refrigerator.
The resulting kimchi is much thicker than my previous batches. Packed in the excess brine water, my first batch resembled a jar of pickled vegetables (which it was); whereas this latest method produces a more traditional-looking, full-flavored kimchi, with a deep red hue.
Guest Post on Experience Columbus Blog
This week I had the pleasure of writing a guest post for the Experience Columbus blog in which I explore the rise of ethnic food and its influence on the Columbus food scene. The full post can be found here:
Pork and Kimchi (Kimchi, pt. 2)
Pork and cabbage instinctively go together. It’s one of those universal combinations that seems to reappear in cultures throughout the world (with the notable exception of those that forbid pork in their diet). From the many iterations of pork and cabbage in Europe—an infinite variety of sausages and roast pork paired with sauerkraut or braised cabbage, and the all-in-one combo: stuffed cabbage—to the barbeque pulled-pork and coleslaw of the American South, there’s something about the slightly acidic tang of cabbage that highlights the subtle flavors of pork. My personal favorite variation on the pork and cabbage theme is daeji bulgogi and kimchi from Korea.
Daeji bulgogi is spicy, marinated pork (its cousin, bulgogi, is non-spicy, marinated beef) that’s barbequed and serves as the inspiration for my take on pork and kimchi. While my version is far from authentic, I’m able to incorporate my own home-made kimchi in the dish without overwhelming the pork flavor. I start with a nice piece of pork loin from Bluescreek Farm Meats in the North Market, which I thinly slice. I then marinate the pork slices in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, and a little brown sugar for about an hour. I’ve mulled adding kimchi to the marinade, as it traditionally contains gochujang—a fermented Korean chili paste—but have deferred, as I like the combination of the sweet and salty notes of the marinated pork with the spiciness and sourness of the kimchi. Adding the kimchi to the marinade, I’m afraid, might throw off that balance.
For the kimchi, I incorporated some small adjustments to my original kimchi post to create a new batch of stinky, fermented goodness. The first alteration I made (and have since changed the recipe on the original post) was to reduce the amount of salt; even though I rinsed after brining, the final product was too salty, even for my taste. (That being said, I would advise against cutting the salt too much as it is the salt that helps arrest bad bacteria growth, allowing the good bacteria to get a jump on things.) I also increased the amount of garlic and ginger from the original recipe and did what I should’ve done in the first round: take the extra time to blend the peppers, garlic, and ginger into a paste. This not only resulted in a more traditional-looking kimchi, but helped infuse the heat of the peppers, as well as the garlic and ginger flavor, throughout the kimchi. For fermentation, I followed the same procedure as before: leave the open jar (covered with a damp towel) on the counter for about three days, then transfer to the refrigerator.
When the pork is finished marinating, I add a little sesame oil to a wok; add the pork, a good-helping of kimchi, and sliced onions to the hot wok; and stir fry until pork is done. I serve with a side of rice and top with sesame seeds. Pretty simple, but delicious (if I do say so myself).
While my pork and kimchi is quite tasty, I still feel compelled to make my requisite visits to Diaspora in order to obtain the traditional version. Their daeji bulgogi is not only my favorite menu item (when I visit, they always seem to know what I’m going to order), but it is accompanied by a never-ending array of banchan—small side dishes that accompany Korean meals.
Fermented cabbage, whether in the form of sauerkraut or kimchi, is the perfect companion to pork. If you’re a pork and cabbage fan and haven’t tried the Korean version, daeji bulgogi and kimchi offer a spicy take on this quintessential food combination.
