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I love food. During my time in Korea, I have been collecting recipes and anecdotes about Korean food. I also have been working on survival techniques for westerners living in Korea.

In this journal are recipes for cooking Korean food in Korea or abroad and recipes for recreating western food with Korean ingredients.

But mostly, it's about enjoying life.

SUBJECT KEY
Christmas Chronicles - Trying to celebrate Christmas in Korea
Drink - Imbibe me
Event - Special events involving special Korean foods
FFF (Food for Foreigners) - Recipes for foreigners living in Korea
FP (Food Porn) - Pictures for stimulation
Fusion - A mixture -- or clash -- of cultures
Junk - Junk food
KFC (Korean Food Concept) - A blog entry explaining a type of Korean food
Kimchi - Something about kimchi
KR (Korean Recipe) - A recipe for Korean food, duh!
Miscellaneous - Stuff, stuff, and stuff
News - Korean food in the news
Out There - What others are saying
Rest (Restaurant) - An entry about a restaurant in Korea
Street Food - An entry about a street food concept or adventure
Tip - A survival tip for living or visiting Korea
Video - A summary of a video on the site
WTF - A feature on anything unusual that has to be investigated further

Sunday, October 23, 2005

(Street Food #1) Thanks, Crab Man!

I was walking home from work Friday night, when I passed a truck selling steamed crabs. I have seen these trucks on occasion, but usually I was not in the mood for crab, and really, would YOU buy seafood from a truck on the side of the road?

There was a small group of people around the truck, and he was giving free samples. I decided to give it a chance. He sold me three crabs for 20,000 won ($20).

While he was bagging my crabs, I noticed some lumpy purple things in a steam basket. I thought they were Korean sweet potatoes. On closer inspection, I noticed they were stuffed squids. He said, "Ojingeo sundae."

I took this to mean that they were squid stuffed with Korean sausage. I bought three of those and took them home, along with the free packet of gochujang he threw in.

The crabs were actually okay. Eun Jeong, my girlfriend, showed me a more efficient way of opening them than the clumsy crab crackers and mallets that we're used to. She used kitchen shears to cleanly and quickly open them up. It made so much sense, I

wondered why I hadn't thought of this before.

We enjoyed the crabs with gochujang and melted garlic butter. I also roasted and steamed some sweet potatoes.

The stuffed squid, though, was a misunderstanding on my part. Rather than being stuffed with sausage, they were stuffed like sausage. The stuffing was a bland mixture of mashed potatoes and carrots. After three slices, we threw the rest of the squiddies away. But hey, sausage-stuffed squid... I think I'm getting some evil ideas.

Labels: Street Food

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Thursday, October 20, 2005

(KR #3) Samgyeopsal - At Home

I have mentioned samgyeopsal many times in the past. It's a simple concept that has become one of my favorite foods. Samgyeopsal is basically bacon, pork belly, without curing. It's fresh pork with a great balance of fat and lean.

I found out recently part of the reason it's called samgyeopsal. The 'sam' stands for 'three,' as in three strips of fat and lean. At restaurants and butchers, you can find the more expensive ogyeopsal. The 'o' means it's five layers.

In restaurants and homes, samgyeopsal is cooked at the table on a special pan designed to let the fat run off the sides. I like to put vegetables on this fat stream on the pan to give them that extra flavor. Until I actually go out and get a real samgyeopsal pan and a portable gas burner, I make it on the stove in a regular frying pan.

I then add thickly sliced onions, kimchi, peppers, and whatever else I want to throw in. Tonight, I had some leftover tofu, so I fried it with some sesame oil. It's a bit of a trick to handle samgyeopsal in a frying pan without it getting too greasy. I just picked them out one-by-one with tongs and let them drain before serving them. Being bacon, this meal takes very little time to cook -- as long as it takes to cook breakfast.

Resist the Western urge to season the meat while cooking. It kills its sweetness and makes it too salty when combined with kimchi and other sauces. A sauce I like to make that is served in restaurants is a simple combination of sesame oil blended with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Samgyeopsal, like other grilled Korean foods, is eaten like fajitas at your local T.G.I. McChilibee's. Instead of tortillas, we wrap them in lettuce leaves and use kimchi, garlic, onions, rice -- whatever toppings we want. My favorite is a special paste made for samgyeopsal out of fermented soybeans and red peppers mixed with other ingredients called 'Samgyeopsal Ssamjang.' It's ripe and stinky and so good, I have actually eaten it off my finger like peanut butter.

Labels: Korean Recipe

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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

(Video #1) Home Plus

This was the first video I made back in September 2004, around Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving. Brant and I were shopping for stuff for a foreigner party at his place. I found out later that Home Plus doesn't let people film in or near its stores. I guess I got away with it.

While we were shopping, Eric, our supervisor, was trying to track us down because the school owners wanted to have us over for some small face time. We found out by the few who weren't so evasive that we didn't miss anything. In the background in one shot, you can barely make out Brant saying on his phone, "Tell Eric that we went out of town."

Home Plus is a little different from your western big box superstore, with shrink-wrapped octopus,

rows of fresh kimchis,

and tables of meat!

There are also some western fusions of traditional western cuisine, such as sandwich kimbap.

Since it was Chuseok, all the stores were selling gift packs. It seemed a popular one was a gift set of tuna and canned ham...

with its own carrying case.

Go to the videos page or stream the video from here.

Labels: Video

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Monday, October 17, 2005

(FFF #7) Mashed Taters

Okay, many would say this is a no-brainer. But one of the main reasons for this blog is to fill a void for foreigners living in Korea trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Koreans are fond of the kamja, and the Koreans I know who have traveled to the West absolutely love mashed potatoes. They're easy to make. A mistake some people make is that they literally mash potatoes and think that's it. Remember that "mashed potatoes" is just a name. In a way, the mashed potatoes we like is a very, very thick bechamel sauce.

INGREDIENTS
Potatoes (peeling them is optional)
Salt
Butter
Milk

1. Roughly cut the potatoes into 1 inch cubes or so.
2. Boil the potatoes in salted water until you can poke through them easily with a fork.

3. Drain the potatoes in a collander and transfer them to a bowl.

Now here's a handy gadget. Potato mashers are available in Korea if you look hard enough. And when you find them, they're a bit pricier than I would prefer. If you're not willing to go for the investment, one of these cheap wooden pounders will do the trick.

4. Mash the potatoes with a smidgen of milk and butter. Gradually add milk until you reach a consistency you like.
5. Season the potatoes however you like, with garlic, pepper, wasabi... tonight, I added a little Pakistani curry powder I bought in Itaewon.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(WTF #1) Buldalk Pizza Sandwich

After our trip to Sh-wing, we went across the street to 7-Eleven for some sojus and more snacks. I love looking at the sandwich and samgak (triangle) kimbap sections to see what new flavors they come out with. That night, I found something that blew my mind: a buldalk ("fire chicken") pizza sandwich.

It combined two great late night drinking foods between two slices of bread.

Even better, it had grill marks. Those grill marks weren't painted on. It was toasted. I guess the chilled panini look is getting popular in Seoul.

Inside was a spot of filling. It had some red sauce that tasted somewhat like pizza sauce, some bits of chicken, green pepper, and shredded cheese. The taste? Well, considering that my tongue was numb from Krazy Koreans and beer, it wasn't too bad.

Labels: WTF

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Sunday, October 16, 2005

(Rest #1) Sh-wing!

Sh-wing is a small restaurant in Apgujeong that serves American-style buffalo wings. It is one of our favorite spots.

Because it's far away from most of us, we tend to go only once every one or two months. We usually go during their all-you-can-eat wings time slot.

The staff there is great, especially the spunky waitress who runs the place.

They have made some changes in the past year. New wings have been added to the menu, including Oriental BBQ and Garlic Teryaki. I like them, and they break what used to be a monotony of hot, hotter, and hottest choices of flavors. They have also recently changed their dipping sauce from ranch to blue cheese (yea!).

Still, their claim to fame is a wing flavor called the "Krazy Korean." These are particularly evil. It's not that they're hot -- they're sneaky.

Many times a person will eat one and not think it's very hot. So he eats two more. Then the volume on the heat starts turning up at the back of the tongue and travels to the lips, where the victim starts drooling uncontrollably and tries to drink beer and suck in breath to allieve this new suffering brought upon him.

It is our tradition to start each night of wing-eating by eating at least one Krazy. It christens the evening. The beer flows. We help ourselves to more wings and more dipping sauce. And we watch the pretty women walk by outside. It's a great evening.

There's also a good video from November 2004 of Sh-wing.

Labels: Restaurant

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(FFF #6) Anyang Minestrone

One of the hardest things to find in Korea that we take for granted is canned tomatoes. I'm finding them more frequently in supermarkets and smaller shops. This recipe uses Naengmyeon soup stock, which adds an extra bite to the soup.

INGREDIENTS
1 small package of refrigerated liquid Naengmyeon Yuksu (냉면 육수)
1 can Whole Tomatoes
1 Carrot, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Green Pepper, diced
1/2 handful Macaroni, dried
Salt and Pepper
Optional Herbs (Oregano, Thyme, Marjoram)

1. Saute the Onions, Carrot, Garlic, and Pepper on Medium High heat until the onion is a little clear.
2. Add the Naengmyeon Yuksu, Tomatoes, and Macaroni.
3. Turn the heat to High.
4. When it boils, turn it to low and simmer.
5. Taste the soup and add Salt, Pepper, and Herbs as you see fit.
6. The soup is ready when the Macaroni is al dente. If there is not enough liquid, add water. If more people are coming to dinner, add water.
7. Best served with a crusty baguette.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(FFF #5) Chicken Stock for All Occasions

It's always good to buy chickens whole when you're frying them or doing whatever you're going to do with them. After you're finished chopping them up, you're usually left with a back and other unusable pieces.
Unusable? No.
You will get more use out of the backs in the long run than the chicken itself.

INGREDIENTS
1 Chicken back and bits and pieces
1 Onion, coarsely chopped
1 Carrot, coarsely chopped
Some salt and pepper (not much)

1. Put all the ingredients in a large pot and fill with water until just covered.
2. Place on high heat.
3. When it boils, lower it to simmer and cover.
4. Simmer for one hour.

Let the stock cool to room temperature or just cool enough to handle. Run the stock through a strainer and separate the pure liquid stock into little containers and freeze it. Now you have stock handy to pull out for any recipe.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(FFF #4) Red Beans and Rice

Can you believe that with the popularity of Popeye's Fried Chicken in Korea, they don't serve red beans and rice at the restaurants? Obviously, this is a perfect side dish for fried chicken.

INGREDIENTS
2 Onions, diced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Green Pepper, diced
1 Carrot, diced
1 can Red Kidney Beans, drained
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
Salt and Pepper
Optional Seasonings (Celery Salt, Thyme, Old Bay, Bay Leaf)
Sliced Sausage or Ham
Rice, cooked

1. Sweat (slowly cook with little sizzle) the veggies and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
2. Add the chicken stock, beans, seasonings, and meat and turn up the heat until it boils.
3. Reduce the heat to simmer.
4. Mash the beans while stirring them in the pot.
5. When the mixture looks nice and thick, take it off the heat.
6. Put the rice in a bowl and top it with the red bean mixture.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(KR #2) Se-u Sogum Kui (Salt-grilled Shrimp)

This is a pretty simple shrimp grilled in salt. This method crisps the outside so much, you can actually eat the shrimp with the shells on.

INGREDIENTS
Shrimp with shells on
Salt (large grained)
Seasoning (optional)

NOTE: This is better done outdoors because it creates a lot of smoke.
1. Line a pan with aluminum foil and place a thick layer of salt on it.
2. Place the pan on a hot fire.
3. Place shrimp on the salt and cover.
4. Remove the shrimp as soon as they turn pink.

Labels: Korean Recipe

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(FFF #3) Perfect French Fries

This is one of those constantly evolving recipes. I've been experimenting with ways of making the perfect french fry. I think I'm getting close.

INGREDIENTS
Potatoes, washed, sliced into french fries with the skins on or off
Salt
Vinegar
Crab Boil Seasoning (optional)
Oil for deep frying

1. Soak the sliced Potatoes in a bowl of cold Salted water for a while to leech out some of the starch. The water should look milky be the end.
2. Drain the Potatoes and place in a pot of boiling water with 1/2 cup of Vinegar and 1 Tbsp. of Crab Boil Seasoning. Boil for 15 minutes.
3. Drain the Potatoes and let them cool. Heat the oil carefully over medium to medium high heat.
4. Fry the Potatoes in the oil until they are crisp. I recommend using a fry screen to place over the pot to prevent oil splatter all over the place.
5. Take the Fries out of the oil and put them in a collander. Immediately season with Salt and serve.

NOTE: This process works even better if you freeze the parboiled fries before frying them.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(FFF #2) Schnitzel (German)

In the early 1990s, I spent a year in Germany. Without knowing it, I became hooked on Schnitzel, a simple sauteed pork cutlet. There are many ways to make it, but I prefer the basic fried Schnitzel with a squeeze of lemon. It goes great with a side of pommes frites (french fries) or mashed potatoes.

Many Korean butchers and stores sell premade dunkass. If you can't get the premade stuff, get some pork cutlets, dredge them in flour, then an egg wash (beaten eggs), then Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs). Let them sit a while to set the coating.

INGREDIENTS
Dunkass (breaded pork cutlets)
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Lemon

1. Melt 1 Tbsp. Butter in a shallow pan under medium to medium high heat.
2. Add the Dunkass. Season with some Salt and Pepper.
3. When browned, flip to the other side and season with Salt and Pepper.
4. Serve immediately with sliced Lemon wedges.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(FFF #1) Mock of the Walk Coleslaw

This is my mock up of my favorite restaurant slaw. The preparation method I got from Alton Brown.

INGREDIENTS
1 head of Cabbage, thinly shredded
Salt
1 Onion, thinly shredded
1 Carrot, thinly shredded
2 tsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Vinegar
Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Buttermilk (optional)

1. Rub a lot of Salt in the Cabbage and let it sit in a collandar over a bowl for an hour. This leeches out a good bit of water, preventing the slaw from getting watery.
2. Rinse the Cabbage thoroughly by dunking it in a bowl of water and draining it again in the collander.
3. Combine with the Onions and Carrots.
4. Mix the Mayonnaise, Sugar, Vinegar, and Buttermilk and combine with the vegetables.
5. Add lots of Black Pepper, tasting for balance.
6. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving, giving the flavors time to mingle and mellow.

Labels: Food for Foreigners

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(KR #1) Zen's Kimchi Chigae

After tasting other people's Kimchi Chigaes and introducing some of my more western preferences, here's my latest recipe for Kimchi Chigae. Like my chili recipe, it's constantly evolving.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lbs. Bacon or Samgyeopsal (fresh pork belly), thick sliced, salted or unsalted
2 Onions, sliced
1 Tbsp. Ginger, minced
Handful of Garlic Cloves, smashed and whole
1/2 lbs. Kimchi, preferrably old
2 Tsp. Sugar
Salt to taste (depending if you have salted or unsalted bacon)
Fresh cracked Black Pepper, lots of it
Rice Vinegar (optional)
1/2 bottle of Soju (Korean traditional liquor)

1. Brown the Bacon in a hot wok. When it is brown, move it to the side.
2. Brown the Onions in the bacon grease.
3. Add the Ginger, Kimchi, and Garlic. Stir fry for a while.
4. Fill the wok with water until it's covered the ingredients. Boil for five minutes. You will end up with a rich red broth.
5. Add the Sugar and Black Pepper and taste. Adjust the Sugar, Vinegar and Salt until a nice balance of salty, sweet, and sour is achieved. The Kimchi should give it enough sourness, but vinegar should be at the ready just in case.
6. Throw in 1/2 bottle of Soju to give it that extra kick. Drink the rest with due caution.
7. Let it boil for a few more minutes. Serve it hot or boiling (if possible) with steamed rice to balance the strong flavor of the stew.

Labels: Korean Recipe

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