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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, February 26, 2006

(KR #4) Dashi - Basic Kelp Stock


Many times I have asked my girlfriend how to make a certain Korean food. Most of the time she replied, "First you need dashi."

"Dashi?"

"It's seaweed with water and..."

"A soup stock?"

"I guess."

So that's why she has kept large leaves of seaweed and dried anchovies in my freezer for the past year.

I consulted with her and the internet on how to make this stock. I knew it would be a weekend project. It turns out that dashi is a Japanese word for kelp stock. I don't know if there's a Korean word for it, but the Korean on the seaweed package said "dashi."

I experimented by taking the advice from others and adding traditional Western touches to see what would turn out.

1. I toasted some dried anchovies and large kelp slowly in a pan. This large kelp I have seen at Asian markets back in the U.S., along with dried anchovies. I hear dried sardines also can work.


2. I then added water and some coarsely chopped onions and garlic. Now this is where it strays from Western stock-making techniques (real chefs, correct me on this). Don't boil the stock. Boiling turns the kelp into slime. It has to heat slowly.
So I waited.


And waited.



I was dreading a nasty fishy smell to take over the apartment, so I vented. Instead the stock made the apartment smell like the beach. The wait wasn't so bad because it was also its own potpourri.

3. The protein from the anchovies and kelp made foam on top, so I skimmed it off.


4. When the kelp started to float to the surface, it was time to take it out.


5. I then strained the stock.


6. And I really overdid it. I have way too much, I think. I froze some in containers and made ice cubes out of the rest.

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