Cook Your Own Damn Potato Soup!

Posted by ZenKimchi in Korean Food 101, Top Posts | 2 comments

There’s Chris, my boss, getting ready to have lunch at work.

Some of us are great procrastinators, so we usually show up at work without eating lunch first. Daily we order in whatever we can to feed us before classes start. Unfortunately, the location of our school is a bad location for restaurants. Our choices are very limited. It’s usually fried pork cutlet and fried pork cutlet.

Chris decided to try something different from the place we usually order from. He ordered their GamjaTang 감자탕• (Potato Soup). The name “Potato Soup” is misleading. There is more pork in the soup than potatoes, and it’s a rich spicy red broth that covers it all.

Alas, much of Korean food isn’t really on-the-go fare. It seems to be a requirement in the DNA of Korean food that it has to inflict blisters on your tongue. You’re supposed to eat meat as it’s grilling and eat soup as it’s boiling.

So how do delivery places deal with this requirement?

They give you your food and the stove to cook it on.

Just unwrap the pots and bowls, place the pan on the stove, pour in the broth…

And turn it on.

And in… oh well, it does take a while. This ain’t fast food, and I don’t think we’ll be getting this again during the crunch time before class starts. Besides, it’s hard to eat when ten-year-old students are pressing their noses and salivating tongues against the window to the office.

We need to invest in some blinds.

Joe McPherson is the founding editor of ZenKimchi. He is also dining editor for 10 Magazine and writes and consults for multiple publications. He is the only non-Korean judge for the Korean section of the Miele Guide--but don't ever call him a food critic.

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