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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

Thursday, June 29, 2006

(KR #8) As American as Budae Jjigae (부대 찌개)

What is more American than Budae Jjigae?

Okay, well, much. But hear me out.

It is basically spam and hot dog stew. In English, it loosely translates to "Army Base Stew." From what I've gathered from different sources, it was created during and soon after the Korean War, where the locals used U.S. Army surplus meats (notably spam and hot dogs) in their traditional stews. It sounds disgusting, but it has to be the best recipe for spam in the world.

Another story is that it was created as a cheap familiar-tasting food for American and Korean soldiers off-base. This is likely why the Itaewon area near the U.S. Army base in Seoul is known for having the best budae jjigae. And it tastes very American.

Think about it. It was one of the first East-West fusion foods. It was created from America's involvement in its first Asian land war. How can it not be included in Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Veteran's Day festivities?

Making it is pretty simple.

Start with a base of gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) mixed with minced garlic and onion. You can also use a jarred red jjigae base called Eolkeun Han Jjigae Jeonyong (얼큰한찌개 전용).

Add water, but not too much. Turn the heat to high.

Add chopped onion, garlic, and chiles, and bring the fiery hell broth to a boil. Include some sliced leeks if you have some.

At this point, add the meats. The tradition is hot dogs and spam. Yet who says you can't throw in some more premium items like kielbasa, bratwurst, and smoked Virginia ham? Really, a few sites and forums say that you need spam in it to make it taste authentic.

Keep boiling. Now it's time to add the vegetables. I think these are chrysanthemum greens in the picture, but throw in any hearty dark green veggies like kale, turnip greens, or collards. You can also do the traditional thing and toss in some baked beans and tofu.

At the end of cooking, toss in some noodles. Ramen noodles (Korean: Ramyeon 라면) are popular, as are clear Korean japchae noodles. If the water is low, add more. Throw in a dash of soju if the mood strikes you.

Serve the stew bubbling with plenty of rice to counter the intense heat and flavors. Wash it down with a good beer and soju. Watch some fireworks. Enjoy your Fourth.

Labels: Korean Recipe

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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

(KFC #12) Jaeyuk Bokkeum (제육 볶음)

During the end of my first year in Korea, I started suffering Korean food burnout. It seemed that everything tasted the same. Little of it tasted like my ignorant Western stereotype of Asian food -- those garlicky stir fries on rice with ginger.

Then Eun Jeong recommended I have Jaeyuk Bokkeum, stir-fried pork, at a little diner next to my house. I was very impressed. THIS was what I had envisioned Korean food tasting like. It was spicy, garlicky, I didn't have to wrap it in leaves, it wasn't another bubbling soup...

And best yet, it's good fatty pork. I have since had Jaeyuk Bokkeum at a few restaurants, each is a bit different. Some are very spicy, some have lots of veggies. My favorite, so far, is the dish served at the food court at the Anyang E-Mart.

Yes, the E-Mart food court has surprisingly been better than a lot of traditional restaurants. I have not eaten anything there yet that wasn't outstanding. Strange, huh?

The E-Mart food court doesn't even have chain restaurants, like other food courts. It's just booths that say (in Korean) "Japanese Food", "Korean Food", "Chinese Food", "NaengMyeon" (some of the best NangMyeon, actually), and "Western Food" (and a big stretch on that definition).

The process at this food court, as with many, is to order your food at a central counter. The lady will give you a receipt, which you give to the respective booth. The lady at the booth will give you a number. When your number comes up, you get your tray with the ladies wishing you good eating.

The E-Mart Jaeyuk Bokkeum is what's pictured at the top. It comes sizzling on an iron platter with rice toasting brown, crunchy, and aromatic on the bottom. The rice is topped with the pork, stir-fried in garlicky red pepper sauce and vegetables. Then there are the veggies: bean sprouts, fresh lettuce, and dried salty seaweed. All this is garnished with sesame seeds, and you have a satisfying, tongue-scorching, belly-burning meal.

And all for less than $5.

The only drawback of eating at these food courts is the self-serve water in the tiny stainless steel cups. I have to make many trips back to the water dispenser whenever I eat something that spicy and good.

Labels: Korean Food Concept

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

New Digs. New Oven.

I haven't posted in a while because I've been in the middle of a major move. I've finished my contract and have started a new job. I'm still trying to get my last pay check and severance from my old boss (she somehow thinks such things are optional for her to do). I have moved to a nice new apartment pretty high in the sky. You can see the picks on the main site.

I'm so happy that after over two years I finally have an oven. We bought it ourselves at a great discount. I didn't realize before how much western food depends on the use of ovens. I was so excited when I first got it that I immediately made a roasted rosemary chicken (pictured top) and rosemary roasted potatoes and onions.

The oven comes with a broiler above the oven rather than below, like I'm used to seeing. It is marketed to Koreans as a fish grill.

Eun Jeong really likes that feature. She has grilled a fish in there already. I didn't try it because she ate all of it. I only saw a few bones as evidence.

It is safe to say that ovens are a new concept in Korean cuisine. It's very alien. Remember when woks were first being introduced in the '70s and '80s? I remember when we got our first wok, it came with a cookbook. The manufacturers rightly assumed that Americans who bought the wok wouldn't know what to do with it once they got it. Looking back, I can remember the recipes being very Americanized concepts of Asian foods.

The same is true with this oven. It also came with a cookbook.

I looked at it with curiosity and horror. It was basically your average Korean dishes but -- done in an OVEN! Very similar to old microwave oven cookbooks. Let's have a look.

First there are directions on how to measure...

and how to stir.

What about the recipes?

Japchae -- famous Korean garlicky stir-fried noodle dish. Now more oveney!

Tofu cooks well in the oven, I think.

As does mandu dumplings. But hold on here...

SALAD in the oven? The only time I've heard of salad in the oven was when my dad had one too many cocktails at a dinner party he was hosting.

Yeah, you could do kalbi jjim in the oven. That's one of the few Korean recipes that makes some sense in an oven.

What the freak is this? Meatloaf California Rolls? I'm there, dude!

Ooh, oven baked rice. If you have enough money to buy an oven in Korea, you obviously don't have any money left to buy a rice cooker.

And it seems we have an anomoly. A traditional Western roasted chicken. Looks good, though. But not Korean enough. We need more traditional Korean stuff to toss in our oven.

That's more like it. Traditional rice punch -- done in the oven.

Labels: Miscellaneous

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Saturday, June 03, 2006

A Loss

I am pretty slow in getting information, but I have just found out that one of the pioneers of Korea blogging, Shawn Matthews, died this week. He was known to many as the founder of Korea Life Blog. When he moved to China, he switched the name to China Life Blog.

His work was something many of us bloggers aspired to. He seemed to be doing well and had published a book about his life in Korea, Island of Fantasy.

His friend, Jake, a very strong friend who has had to put up with a lot, details what happend on his site.

Labels: Miscellaneous

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