ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal

ATTENTION: New Feed!

2007-03-03T22:08:00.000+09:00

To all subscribers to the ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal Feed.

This is the new feed address:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/zenkimchi/nuhq

ATTENTION: New Feed!

2007-03-03T22:08:00.000+09:00

To all subscribers to the ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal Feed.

This is the new feed address:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/zenkimchi/nuhq

New Food Journal COMING SOON

2007-02-19T00:04:00.000+09:00

I've grown tired of Blogger's clunkiness, especially since they made us all "upgrade" to the NEW Google-ized Blogger with all these new features--

That you can't use unless you are hosted on Blogspot.

Those of us who actually have and pay for our own servers and go through the trouble of setting this up through FTP don't get any of this.

Did you notice that Blogger now has categories? Yeah, it only works for Blogspot users. I myself manually put the links to the categories on the left, nothing automated. Sure I could continue doing that, but the state of blogging software is so beyond that now.

So I'm upgrading to Word Press.

It rests completely on my server, I can add many useful plug-ins and features, and I don't have to deal with a blogging company changing the rules.

I've been working on upgrading the whole ZenKimchi sites and adding yet another blog or two while totally changing the look of the Food Journal.

Until then, I'm temporarily closing down new comments until the new site is up and running.

Remember to update your syndication feed (RSS, Atom). Even though the new Food Journal will be at the same address, it will have totally new feeds.

Hopefully, the new site will be more useful to you and more entertaining. It's a lot of fun to do this.

The New ZenKimchi is THIS WEEK!!

(Out There #7) Chocopie, Grilled_Aubergine, and Rachel Lynn Seoul

2007-02-14T11:19:00.000+09:00

It's funny how I stumble upon new Korean food blogs. Do a search on Google, and you don't find many at the top of the search. I found these blogs through another blog about women in Asia.

Chocopie is an English language blog written by a Korean woman living in Seoul. She hasn't posted in a long, long while, but it's full of Korean foods and snacks through a Korean point of view.

Grilled_Aubergine is a blog that seems to have existed for a short period. Written by a woman who worked for a broadcasting company in Korea, she documented great Korean food with great pictures.

Rachel Lynn Seoul is not exclusively about food, but she writes a LOT about it. She's an English teacher and seems to have adapted well to the heathenist lifestyle many of us in Asia share.

NOW... I need your help...
PLEASE, tell me about any Korean food blogs you come across. I try to hunt them down, but it's becoming harder than Rachel Ray trying to cook without a can opener.

(KFC #20) 15 Strangest Foods I've Tried Thus Far

2007-02-10T09:00:00.000+09:00

It's no secret that I think Korea is a playground for those of us who treat eating like an extreme sport--for those of us who agree with Tony Bourdain that our bodies are not temples, they're amusement parks.

A lot of these foods spawn from necessity, belief in medicinal properties, or, in my opinion, complete shots in the dark.

So here are the top fifteen strange foods that have made Korea so interesting to me.

15. Lotteria
It's a fast food chain owned by a Japanese company founded by a South Korean family. One thing Lotteria can be depended on is having something different than McRalph's.

Don't go to Lotteria for the regular hamburgers and such. You'll be disappointed, even though the cheeseburgers do come with both sliced cheese and cheese sauce. Lotteria's specialties are its Korea-centered menu items and "what were they thinking" specials.

The best out of the bunch are the Shrimp Burger and the Frico Burger. The Shrimp Burger is a fried patty that is so filled with shrimp it still has a firm shrimp texture. The sauce that accompanies the sandwich makes it taste strikingly similar to a New Orleans Po' Boy.

The "Freaky" Frico advertises that it uses Dutch Maarsdam cheese, yet not just thrown on the burger. The cheese is sliced, breaded, and fried before being placed with a meat patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, yellow bell peppers, and black olives. It's a surprisingly good combination.

The Gochu Burger, loaded with fresh Korean peppers and a fried hashbrown--not too bad. The Squid Burger is ho-hum. The Kimchi Burger? Only Lotteria's shameless nationalist appeals ("우리 김치 버거" -->"Our Kimchi Burger") sell that nasty monstrosity.

Yet the Vegetable Rice Burgers win the prize for oddity. Did they even test market these things? Instantly these burgers were pushed into the public with prerequisite boy band holding them in their hands. I tell you, those burgers they're holding in the ads had to be plastic props. I tried one of those things, and it was a disaster.

You see, the gimmick for these burgers is that instead of buns, they have rice and vegetables shaped in bun shapes. These do not hold the insides together and promptly fall apart into basically a burger bibimbap.

Nonetheless, whenever Lotteria has a new promotion, I look forward to trying it.

14. Budae Jjigae 부대 찌개

I love this stuff. Yet when I tell fellow Westerners what's in it, they stay far away from it. They'd rather eat dog soup.

Serious. They would.

There are many legends to the origin of Budae Jjigae ("Army Base Stew"). Whether it was created by Korean cooks near the Army base in Seoul to accommodate soldiers on the town, created out of necessity from Army surplus by a starving populace, or created by an Army cook to give President Lyndon B. Johnson a taste of Korea using American ingredients (where it's known as "Johnson Stew"), we know that Budae Jjigae definitely originated in Itaewon, the foreigner ghetto.

So what's so scary about this stuff?

It's hot dog and Spam™ soup. It's done up in the traditional spicy Korean style, sometimes with some ramen noodles and processed cheese thrown in there. I personally like this stew, and I call it Fourth of July in a Pot.

13. Korean Sandwiches, Pizzas, and Western-style Bakeries
This is one of those areas where I don't think some people are "getting it." Many ex-pats and I have a constant frustration with pizzas, sandwiches, and the selections at Korean bakeries (the ones that try to make themselves look like Paris boulangerie).

My first and main criticism: why does everything have to be sweet?

Yes, that works fine on fruit pies and cinnamon buns. Yet strawberries in ham and cheese sandwiches? Sugar on a seafood tart? Kiwi sauce on a toasted bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich? Sweet potato puree in pizza? Sweet pickles with pizza, steak, and spaghetti?

Does every Western food have to be turned into candy for Korean public consumption?

Oh God, and then there was this cruel trick.

What looked like a normal fruit-filled pastry ended up being chewy rice cake with red bean paste surrounded by a clever pastry disguise. You know, if I wanted red bean-filled chewy rice cake, I woulda bought red bean-filled chewy rice cake. Is it so hard to get a simple apple pie?

12. Pressed Fish (Juipo 쥐포)

I had no idea what these mysterious marbled disks were at first. They looked pretty. They looked like something you'd decorate a Venetian home with or dragon scales.

Yet they're food.

Eun Jeong describes them as pressed fish. Juipo is kind of a fish jerky. Don't be put off by that. It's kinda tasty. And it doesn't stink up your fingers like dried squid.

You can have it plain, grilled, or, my favorite, deep fried. If you have not tried this yet, order some fried Juipo (Juipo Twigim 쥐포 튀김) the next time you're enjoying friends and drinks at a Korean establishment. I have helped create many addicts to this delicacy.

11. The Meat Buffet (Gogi Bupae 고기 부페)

If you're in town for a short while and want to try as many different Korean foods as possible in one seating--and if you have a strong fortitude and no qualms with health ratings--try the Gogi Buffet.

This has a freezer full of as many kinds of protein as you can think of from a variety of animal species. Take what you want and grill it at your table.

Ooh, what is that? Duck or pork? Is that intestine? What's that odd pointy shellfish?

Just grab it, grill it, and find out for yourself.

The Gogi Buffet also has a big supply of serve-yourself side dishes. And they encourage you eat those and not gorge fully on meat.

Be aware that even though this is an all-you-can-eat buffet, it's also a take-all-you-want-but-eat-all-you-take buffet. You get charged extra for plates of uneaten food when you leave your table.

10. Sundae 순대

This is the great street food that challenges tourists out on the town. Sundae is basically a blood sausage with glass noodles thrown in, giving it a jelly-like texture. People from England, France, and Germany are pretty much used to blood sausages. Americans and Canadians--"Eww, blood?"

The thing is, many non-Koreans already become fans of Sundae before finding out what's inside them. Yet really, if you can ingest a hot dog, you can ingest a blood sausage.

What takes Sundae over the top is the other bits and pieces that are chopped up and served with the salt and spicy dipping sauce: liver, heart, organs with big veins.

The ultimate Sundae dish is SundaeGuk 순대국, a manly stew of Sundae, intestines, liver, and other organs in a rich spicy broth that tastes like rendered bacon fat. Not for the faint of heart or anyone who cares about the condition of their heart.

9. Hangover Soup (HaeJangGuk 해장국)

After a night of drinking and munching on blood sausages, sit down at a restaurant with fellow liver abusers and enjoy a steaming bowl of HaeJangGuk. I call this Dinosaur Soup because of the Fred Flinstone sized meat bones in it. I still don't know what's in this stuff completely. It tastes similar to GamjaTang 감자탕 (literally "potato soup," even though there's more meat in it than potatotes).

This soup was created during the days of curfews in Seoul, where people would lock down the clubs. All the restaurants and businesses were closed. People out all night would hole up in whatever night club they were in until the curfew was lifted. When it was lifted, only a handful of restaurants were open. One of them was serving this dish, and it caught on as a hangover cure.

Oh yeah, there is coagulated beef blood in there too. I think the British call this blood pudding. Enjoy.

8. Pine Tree Flavored Toothpaste

Okay, it's not a food, but I couldn't pass this up. Eun Jeong brought this home one day, and I got hooked on it. I personally am not a fan of minty toothpastes. I don't get what is supposed to taste so good about them.

Yet I looked at the tube of this toothpaste and thought, "No, that's just an image. It's not what I think it is."

I then brushed my teeth with it and was pleasantly surprised. It was like one of those Peppermint Patty™ commercials. Yet instead of being in some frosty ski resort, I was transported to the Pacific Northwest with pine trees, lakes, and dancing little people in red suits.

7. Acorn Jelly (Dotori Muk 도토리묵)

In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared M. Diamond talks a bit about why certain foods were domesticated and harvested. Zebras couldn't be domesticated like horses, which was why there weren't many African cavalries. Even though elephants could be caught in the wild and tamed, they were difficult to breed and domesticate in captivity. And even though acorns were nutritious food sources, the process to make them edible in great quantities was too laborious.

Yet we eat acorns in Korea in the form of Acorn Jelly. By itself it's fairly bland, but you eat it for the texture and the nutrients. I've had it a few ways, but my favorite way is in a spicy garlicky salad, like the one Sue makes on her site My Korean Kitchen.

6. CheongGukJang 청국장

I love Dwinjang Jjigae 된장 찌개, the fermented soybean paste stew that is the riper (and I think, superior) cousin to Japanese miso. I swear by it.

For those of you who understand the pleasures of rot, decay, fermentation--stinky cheeses, good beer, great wine, artisan sourdough breads--you would not be disappointed with CheongGukJang.

This is the stinkiest of stinkiest soybean pastes. It is strong stuff. I've heard of people evacuating their apartment buildings in the U.S. when someone tried making this.

I can only eat this maybe a couple of times a year. I tell you, though. I'm sure it's one of the foods that dramatically boosts my immune system.

5. Chicken Feet (Dalk Bal 닭 발)

This is one of those Korean foods that some Koreans I know are themselves too scared to try (ahem, Eun Jeong).

Yet when I tried my first good plate of these much neglected chicken parts, I was hooked. Great chefs also are aware of this secret. They're full of the stuff that makes chicken taste so good, particularly the crispy skin and soft cartilage. It's no secret that chicken feet make the perfect low cost chicken stock. According to Bill Buford's book Heat, where he tries to become a food professional, Mario Batali uses chicken feet in the stock for his upscale restaurants.

Many people in America have tried them in dim sum restaurants. And most of the people I've talked to have loved them.

In Korea, they're sweeping the nation like the Buffalo wing swept America. The best places serve them charcoal grilled dripping in a sweet garlicky sauce so hot, they supply you with plastic gloves to eat them. These inflict unforgivable pain. The sauce is made from Korean peppers. Unlike habaneros and Thai chillis (if you think I'm spelling that incorrectly, look here), which hit you immediately with their heat, Korean chillis are sneaky.

They lie in waiting.

You'll eat a few chicken feet, bul dalk 불 닭("fire chicken"), or Sh-wing "Krazy Korean" wings, thinking, "Oh, these aren't so bad."

Then, all of a sudden, it hits.

Your mouth starts salivating beyond control. Your nose starts running. Your hearing become muted. Your eyes go blurry. The heat from ten pieces of chicken hits you all at once. There is nothing to stop it.

LORD! MAKE IT STOP!!

Which brings me to my one criticism about Korean chicken feet and bul dalk--a constructive one, really. I wish something creamy like a ranch or blue cheese dressing could be served with these things to give us some relief from the heat. It's all about balance.

Yet if I've learned anything from Korean food and culture, as eloquently stated in Lee Won-bok's Korea Unmasked, it is full of extremes.

Here's a video of us just eating "Krazy Korean" chicken wings at Sh-wing. Note poor Eun Jeong's face when she eats her first one.

4. Grilled Intestines (Gobchang Gui 곱창 귀)

I've told the story many times before of Brant and myself enjoying a meal of Samgyeopsal outside and watching this cool flambe show at the restaurant next door. We sat down to try it, not knowing what it was we were ordering. The proprietor even asked us if we were sure.

What came out was a sizzling dish of potatoes, onions, livers, and what looked like macaroni.

"Um, Brant, I think these are intestines."

"Really? Try one. How does it taste?"

"Good. Pretty damn good."

(Lars with his favorite Korean food.)

Thus started my love affair with Korean chitlins. I have since introduced other Western and Korean friends of mine to this delicacy. Yes, I knew Koreans who hadn't tried this either. Everyone, even the pickiest of the bunch, at least liked the stuff. It's grilled in a pan and flambeed with soju.

The big challenge was some of the side dishes served, including blanched tripe (like chewing on condoms) and raw cow's liver (not too bad if dipped in sesame oil and salt).

There are many ways to enjoy these delicacies. Here's a video of us enjoying them stir-fried in a very hot sauce.

3. Live Squid and Octopus (San Ojingeo 산 오징어, San Nakji 산 낙지)

This is the big "I dare ya" food.

I have only had this in chopped up form. I have yet to eat one whole, but believe me, when I do, there will be a video camera there.

I had this for the first time during my first month here at a Hui 회 (Korean sashimi) restaurant. One of the dishes moved when I touched it with my chopsticks. I realized what it was immediately. They're difficult to pick up with chopsticks. Like plastic wrap, they cling to anything except to the object you want them to cling to.

Taste?

By themselves, there's not much flavor. It's the thrill of eating something live and squirming. They feel cool. Yet at Hui restaurants, I've had them dressed up in sesame oil, vinegar, and cucumbers, where they taste sophisticated as well as creepy.

Here's a video of some of us at a Hui restaurant. It was the first time two of our friends had ever had raw fish, much less live squid.

2. Dog Meat (Kaegogi 개고기)

The food that has caused poor Korea a lot of notoriety, even though it is by far not the only nation to eat dog. I'm not even going to touch the politics of eating dog right now. Believe me, I will in the future.

If you have trouble with it, do what King Baeksu does and call it dork. We call cow meat beef and pig meat pork, we might as well call dog meat dork.

Well, actually, if you want to go into etymology of those words, they come from French. The history of English is the absorption of words from other languages, especially if those languages' home countries have a famous field of expertise. Many of our words for music and architecture come from Italian. The French infused our language with our words for food. Beef (boeuf), pork (porc), venison (venaison). So if we use this logic, let's just call dog meat chien.

Anyway, I have had chien only once, and it was good. Pricey, but good. You have to go to a reputable restaurant--one that advertises that the dogs are not beaten nor abused.

The meat itself tastes like a gamey pork. Soft, tender, and a perfect amount of fat.

Oh, and I'll let you in on a little practical joke. That navigation bar at the top of the web site. You know, the one with the tasty meat and soup that likely made you drool?

That's dog meat.

If you want to have even more sadistic fun, you can do what my friend Christina has done and name your dog Kaegogi. If you're not that cruel, you can at least buy one of the "Kaegogi" dog t-shirts from the ZenKimchi Fun Store.

Now, --oh-- we're at number one. Okay. The number one strangest food I've had in Korea (thus far) is...

1. Bugs

I had never eaten a bug before I came to Korea, unless you count lobster, crawfish, and shrimp. People were daring me from the start to try Beondaegi 번데기, silkworm larva, which are a traditional snack.

According to Eun Jeong, it's something little kids used to like. Yet I also see middle aged men sitting outside of convenience stores with a few bottles of soju, paper cups, and an open can of baby moths.

They are hard to try, though, because the smell would make your nose run to your butt for relief.

I have tried them once, and I would try them again, under the right inebriated circumstances. Brant says their texture is "mealy," which is true. The flavor, to me, is salty. It's sort of like overboiled shrimp.

I have also tried roasted cricket. Now these, my friends, you should try. They're smoky, nutty, salty. They're kinda like potato chips. They just need a dip.

I have a video of eating both on Seorak Mountain. The clip is at the end.

There are many more foods in Korea that will wake up your senses and challenge your world view of cuisine. I have noticed, like with all great delicacies, that I didn't like some things at first just to become addicted to them later--kimchi, dwinjang jjigae, bibimbap.

Food is the only art to stimulate all five senses, not only the taste and smell, but the rich colors, the crunch, the texture. This is why food not only helps you understand cultures. It helps you understand yourself. What you eat is who you are.

And I guess my friends and I are people who like to play with our food.

(Event #8) Joe's Birthday at Hooters

2007-02-09T21:13:00.000+09:00

February 24th. 2 PM.

I know, I know... it's tacky.

Seriously, I was originally planning to go to a Balinese restaurant where they sold durian milkshakes. Yet I only know of two people who would actually enjoy that, myself would be one of them.

Considering the good time we had at the first Hooters in Korea last month, I thought it would be a good place for a little birthday get together and get the ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians back and rolling.

I am well aware of the reputation Hooters has back in the States. Yet like most things from home, they are different over here. I never went to McDonald's in America.

Well, I don't really go to McDonald's in Korea, but really...

The buzz has been good about this Hooters in that it ironically is introducing a good relaxed party atmosphere in Korea with good service that is sorely lacking. There are many TGIs and Outbacks, but their service frankly sucks.

AND I DON'T WANT NO FREAKIN' SWEET PICKLES WITH MY STEAK!!

This is the first U.S. imported restaurant franchise, in my opinion, that actually gets it. Besides, when Eun Jeong saw the pics of our trip there, she said she wanted to go. If it gets Eun Jeong's stamp of approval, we're going.

Still not convinced?

Listen to the Scribblings of the Metropolitician podcast on the topic, and come back here.

If you live in the Seoul area, sign up to join the ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians on the right column. I hope to do more events in the near future like a shellfish roast and a street food night. I also am open to suggestions for places to go and events. It would really be great if more Koreans could join us or even introduce us to new exciting things.

Email me.

(KFC #15) Acorn Jelly Salad (Tastes Better Than It Sounds)

2006-08-27T11:29:00.000+09:00

At the mountain restaurants, including my favorite dong-dong-ju place, one of the plates you can order with your food and alcohol is DotoriMuk 도토리묵. It's Acorn Jelly Salad.

According to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared M. Diamond, acorns were not practically domesticable nuts. There was too little meat for the trouble one had to go through, and the tannins in acorns made them too bitter to be bearable.

Somehow, Koreans have figured out how to remove the bitterness and convert them into an earthy jelly. In DotoriMuk, they almost have no flavor because of the other ingredients.

DotoriMuk itself is spicy and garlicky. It's one of the few salads that goes well with alcohol, especially rice liquors like makkoli. It contains leafy lettuce, slivers of onions, cucumbers, carrots, and a dressing made of sesame oil, red pepper powder, sesame seeds, and loads of garlic.

Good salad. Gives you killer breath for the rest of the day.

Update: My Korean Kitchen has posted a recipe for this.

(Porn #2) Kimbap

2007-02-09T11:25:00.000+09:00

Eun Jeong made some kimbap a while back, and the lighting was really good that day. The kimbap was good too.

She set up her mise en place on the floor (our floor is very clean since we don't wear shoes in the house).

This included some blanched spinach,

strips of yellow pickled radish, cucumber, burdock root,

blanched carrot, scrambled egg, ham, and Eomook (fish cakes).

And the seaweed (gim 김).

Similar to making maki rolls, she spread rice on the gim. Unlike make rolls, it doesn't need to be seasoned with vinegar. The pickled radish takes care of that.

Next came the veggies

and the protein.

She carefully rolled it up.

She made quite a few.

She then rubbed them with a sheen of sesame oil.

Before she cut them, she rubbed some oil on the knife. Looks dangerous to me.

And there you go. The quintessential Korean snack. Even though she made a lot, they were all gone by the next day.

Here is some more beautiful kimbap footage.

(Video #5) SeoulGlow Explores Ddeokbokki

2007-02-06T23:33:00.000+09:00

The new amazing podcast SeoulGlow is featuring the eponymous street food, Ddeokbokki (떡복... nah, I can't spell it) with SeoulGlow creator Michael Hurt (Mr. Metropolitician himself) and radio DJ Susan Choung, whose background includes working for Alice Waters.

Alice freakin' Waters, dude.

Susan knows her stuff. And what's with the vinegar drink Mike is trying to push on her?

ZenKimchi Mentioned in The New York Times

2007-02-07T09:35:00.000+09:00

Just a note that The New York Times just put out a piece on Korean fried chicken in New York. I'm in there.

I Like Hot Food, But...

2007-02-05T13:48:00.000+09:00

Koreans pride themselves on eating some pretty spicy food. Even though not all of it is as spicy as what I'm used to, coming from near the New Orleans area and the home of Tabasco, some of it can really smoke my ears.

I get asked by Koreans regularly, "Can you eat that? Isn't it too spicy for you?"

We need to remember that chili peppers come from the New World. That's my turf.

Nonetheless, even though I have been known to enjoy eating a straight raw habanero every now and then, I ain't squeezin' no habanero juice in my eye like this guy from Mexico City.!

(KFC #19) Korean Fried Chicken

2007-02-04T14:31:00.000+09:00

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)

I understand the confusion on this journal with the entries labeled "KFC." The acronym stands for "Korean Food Concept." On the left column is an explanation for the post labels.

Yet this post is truly about Korean fried chicken. I have been meaning to tackle this subject for a while. I had my first taste of Korean fried chicken during my first week here in February 2004. Two Two Fried Chicken. I was instantly hooked.

What makes Korean fried chicken so different?

That's not an easy question to answer. There's not some monolithic Korean chicken recipe. There are many styles. I shall concentrate on the big three styles coming from the big three chicken chains, Two Two, BBQ, and Kyochon.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)

Two Two style has the most Asian exotic flavor. There's a little anise, black pepper, and cinnamon flavor to it. It's similar to Chinese five spice but not exactly. On the Two Two web site, they say that they use traditional Korean medicine in the preparation. This follows a Sino-Korean approach to food and medicine. They are one and the same.

In fact, that is a major selling point in a lot of Korean foods, even fried chicken. The health benefits are advertised on the same level or more than the actual flavors.

Eun Jeong says that Koreans don't like greasy foods. This is evident in the Two Two style of cooking the chicken. There is not much breading on the chicken pieces. They're pre-fried and placed aside.

Pre-fried?

It's strange, but there's a method to this madness. In restaurants I've worked in, we pre-fried the french fries. We called this blanching. We then put the fries aside for later. When we fried them again in hotter oil, the results were fries that were crispy on the outside with a mashed potato consistency inside.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)

Yeah, yeah, you don't get a mashed potato consistency in twice fried chicken. But you do get a crispier skin. Also, pre-frying lets the restaurant quickly prepare fresh chicken to order. Otherwise, you'd have a long wait for your chicken, or, like many American chains, you get chicken that has been sitting under a heat lamp, soaking in all its grease.

Fried chicken at Two Two comes with a salt, pepper, and sesame seed mixture and a spicy sweet garlicky dipping sauce. You can ask for your chicken yang-nyeom 양념 style, where they smother the whole chicken in the sauce. I sometimes like this. Brant can't stand it. He calls it "yang-yuck" chicken ("It's too too sweet").

Most all the fried chicken establishments serve their chicken with the yang-nyeom sauce on the side or smothered all over.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)

My only complaint with Korean fried chicken is the sides. If there were biscuits or a decent coleslaw, it would be perfect. Instead, we usually get a pack of pickled radish, which even Koreans I know say isn't that good. We also tend to get shredded cabbage drizzled in lines of ketchup and mayonnaise. Some establishments mix the ketchup and mayonnaise first. That's the closest we get to coleslaw. Barbecued chicken restaurants do this too, but that's another post. We eat these sides because they're all that's available, and they help cleanse the palate when the mouth becomes too overwhelmed.

That's the Two Two style. It's safe for me to claim that most chicken hofs use this style. And that's another good thing about chicken hofs. They're hofs. You can have beer with your chicken. In fact, yes, fried chicken is considered a drinking food--well, at least a party food. It's not dinner. It's something you eat after dinner or at a birthday party. You can even order draft beer to go.

There are Two-Two chains in Japan, Russia, Vietnam, and Australia. There don't seem to be any in North America yet, but I have a feeling that the Korean fried chicken that is getting popular in New York City uses this technique.

NOTE: I don't have any decent pics of Two Two chicken. Gdog from The Daily Kimchi, a rabid Two Two fan, was generous enough to let me use his photos.

Now for the other styles.

BBQ (pronounced Bee-Bee-Cue) is the largest fried chicken chain in Korea. They have a thicker breading on their chicken and don't use the twice frying method. It's closer in style to American fried chicken. Yet the spices they use are different. I can't put my finger on it. They brag on their web site that they use a lot of 'em.

BBQ also follows the trend of advertising its health benefits. When I first came to Korea, it was plugging its Calcium Fried Chicken.

I'm serious.

I don't know still how they put the calcium in the fried chicken. Do they soak it in milk?

(Image from BBQ web site)

Now they advertise that they fry their chicken in 100% olive oil. They have big cans of olive oil sitting outside their stores.

Nonetheless, they put out some really good chicken. The flavor is addictive. If they ever set foot on American soil, they would expand as quickly as Krispy Kreme has expanded in Korea (there's now a Krispy Kreme within walking distance to me... my poor waistline). So far, they have expanded into China and Spain.

This past summer, BBQ came out with what they called an African chicken. It's a barbecued chicken that tastes very close to Jamaican jerk chicken. Another hit from those guys.

BBQ is not usually a chicken and beer place. Yet they have recently started opening "BBQ Chicken & Beer" hofs. I'd like to check that out sometime.

The third main style is Kyochon. Kyochon boasts that its chicken stays crispier longer. Their method is to dip their chicken in a sweet garlicky batter before frying. They also don't pre-fry, and each time I've gone to Kyochon, it has been a long wait to get my order. They are also the greasiest of the three styles.

(Image from Kyochon web site)

Nonetheless, they are good. I know some people who swear by Kyochon chicken. And the people I have introduced this to have been surprised by the flavor. It's one of those chickens that causes, hmm, less than refined behavior in people--sucking on chicken parts, licking fingers, making Cro-magnon grunts.

Kyochon also promotes itself as "better-being." I don't know specifically what its health benefits are, but they do have a new walnut fried chicken that I haven't tried yet. I think they've also resolved to stop using trans fats.

(Photo by The Daily Kimchi)

All Korean fried chicken places cut their chicken in the Asian style. Rather than cut them based on the joints between bones, they hack them with cleavers or scissors into mysterious pieces. This makes the dark meat almost indistinguishable from the white meat.

One thing I like about many of these chicken places is that these are great mom and pop operations. Last week, I got some chicken from a place close by that I hadn't tried yet. They were a Two Two style hof. It was a wife, a husband, and two children in hapkido uniforms. The husband was very chatty and asked me lots of questions in Korean and English. He made me feel like they were cooking me a home cooked meal.

One of my first Korean friends outside of my workplace was the guy who owned the BBQ near my place. He always greeted me when I passed by and sometimes gave me discounts on the food.

One evening, I got stood up on a date, and took the long subway ride back home. I walked forlornly through my neighborhood to my apartment. The BBQ guy saw me pass and noticed I didn't look like my usual happy self. He opened his cooler, tossed me a canned soda, and patted me on the back.

That, my friends, is Korean hospitality.

(Street Food #3) Kebabs in Itaewon

2007-02-04T11:43:00.000+09:00

After lunch at Nashville, I said goodbye to Mike and did my usual Itaewon thang. That means I go to the Foreign Food Mart and buy new and interesting things. The Foreign Food Mart mostly has Pakistani/Indian foods and well-priced Halal meats. I picked up some lamb and spices.

I decided to take a back alley way to the subway station. From the Foreign Food Mart (which is next to What the Book bookstore) I took the road before the main street. It's full of food stalls catering to the late night drinking crowd. At the end of the street, across from Gecko's, Taco Amigo, and Memories (the dour German restaurant), was a Turkish kebab (Döner Kebab, specifically) stand that I had not seen before.

There was a good reason--it was its first day of operation.

There was a bit of a line outside, and the proprietor was welcoming everyone. He looked at me and said, "What can I get for you, my brother?"

"I'll have two of those."

"Great. Come on inside and sit down. It's cold out here."

When I lived in Germany, places like this were everywhere, and I got so addicted to them. The places in Germany had a mixture of lamb and beef roasting on vertical rotating spits. I stupidly asked the owner if that was pork on there.

NOTE TO SELF: There is no such thing as Halal pork. Oh, and you're a dumbass.

He laughed and said it was chicken.

He said he makes everything himself. The bread he bakes himself. The green yogurt sauce he makes himself, as well as the chili pepper sauce.

He gave me two kebabs loaded with everything. They're just 3,000 won a pop.

Eun Jeong had asked me to get her something. I had already gotten her some chili to go from Nashville. I thought I'd surprise her with these.

I took the trek home to Anyang, and she looked suspiciously at the kebabs. She took out a knife and fork and cut off a small piece. Tasted it.

"Mmm... mashida! What's this sauce?"

"Yogurt sauce. Do you like it?"

She didn't answer. She just picked up the whole thing and stuffed it in her mouth.

I think I have a new tradition for when I venture into Itaewon.

(Rest #9) Burgers at Nashville

2007-02-04T11:09:00.000+09:00

Hung out at Nashville with Michael Hurt (Scribblings of the Metropolitician, SeoulGlow) yesterday. It's the oldest restaurant/bar in Itaewon, opening its doors in the basement in 1982 ₁. Now it owns the third and fourth floors and even the roof. The upper levels are drinking areas. The basement is for serious food.

Michael likes the burgers there.

I do too. For one thing, they are not as expensive as the other quality burger joints. They're also slightly smaller. The big kicker is that they cook your meat to your desired temperature.

Those of us who put their culinary lives in their own hands and treat dining as an extreme sport know the pure divinity of a rare hamburger. It's worth the risk to some of us.

I ordered mine medium. It was perfect. I hadn't had a hamburger with intentional pink in it for years. The tenderness. The juiciness. The pure caveman thrill of eating bloody raw meat.

Haw-haw-haw!

The chili is not too bad at Nashville either. It's a little sweet and has ample meat. It reminds me a bit of Wendy's™ chili. It comes with a few slices of processed cheese and some saltines on the side.

Now, I didn't try Nashville's steaks, which are one of their big claims to fame, but I found a secret that makes Nashville worthy of frequent visits: the french fries.

They are perfect. They remind me of the pommes frites I used to eat in Germany. Perfectly crispy. Not a limp one in the bunch. And almost hollow inside. Light and airy. Like eating clouds with crispy coatings.

They even stood their ground after we dumped the bowl of chili on top of them.

After a few beers, I thought I'd try their apple crumble. It comes with either ice cream or custard. I opted for the ice cream.

This is good stuff that reminds me of school cafeteria lunches. Say as you may about school cafeterias. There were some items that were pretty darn good that I haven't had for a long time. The crumble was accented by orange zest, giving it a more grown up flavor.

Nashville's also played action movies on their TV. This makes it not really the place to take a date but to hang out with the guys.

1. (2002) Salmon, Andrew and Jinny. SeoulFoodFinder. Cookand. p. 57

McDonald's Korea Now Has Breakfast

2007-01-30T15:56:00.000+09:00

I know of a few people who would be pleased to know that McDonald's Korea has introduced a "Morning Menu."

There are four food items on the menu: McMuffins, Sausage McMuffins, Sausage Egg and Cheese McMuffins, and Bacon Egg and Cheese McMuffins. The sets come with the same old McHashbrowns was all McKnow and McLove.

I had a Sausage McMuffin set this morning, and it warn't too bad. I noticed that they do give my stomach more of a McBrick than they used to.

Update: We showed up again this morning for breakfast, and the Morning Menu was gone. The counter person said we couldn't order any McMuffins because they were out of--the actual McMuffins. That's okay. I've had my fill of Dirty Ron's for a few months.

(Rest #8) hOOters -- I Really Came Here for the Wings

2007-01-28T14:52:00.000+09:00

As far as I can tell, this is the first site to review the first Hooters in Korea. I know reviewing a restaurant within two weeks after opening is not an accurate account. Yet I'm sure that we'll be back a few times for updates.

My history with the Hooters franchise has been mixed. It was cool to go there in high school for my best friend's seventeenth birthday. Yet as an adult, I feel like a stupid male being duped through my most base instincts. The last time I had visited a Hooters was when I was working a Flash design contract in Jacksonville, Florida. There weren't many restaurants near the hotel, and I chose to go to the Hooters by myself for a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. There's little worse than the look of pity on a Hooters Girl™ when you're dining alone.

On a positive note, the Hooters method of frying their chicken has been a major influence on my constantly evolving fried chicken technique. And I really dig their wings.

I've mentioned before that I grew up on the northern Gulf Coast (Gulf of Mexico, that is), in the Mobile Bay area. The cuisine in the region is a mix of French New Orleans and Spanish Florida combined with West African rooted soul food.

I'm blessed.

Despite what people say about Hooters, it has been the closest I've come to having Floridian/Gulf Coast food in a Seoul restaurant thus far.

Let's start with the star of the show. The wings.

You can order them breaded or naked. When I was in Jacksonville, it seemed that most wing places served them breaded. Is this Florida style? Don't know, but I like them this way. We ordered the hottest flavor, the 911. They weren't as hot as Korean bul dalk (fire chicken) or the Krazy Korean wings at Sh-wing, but they had a good spicy kick. Hooters uses a buttery hot sauce that adds an extra richness. And the method they use for breading the wings keeps them crispy.

Another plus is that they have blue cheese dressing. They have ranch too, but THEY HAVE BLUE CHEESE DRESSING!!

Our only complaint with the wings was that they didn't come with celery or carrots. We don't know if that's a Hooters Korea thing or they just messed up our order. It wouldn't be the last time.

Being the first few weeks of operation, you can expect a restaurant to have a few kinks, especially with service--especially especially with a service style that is almost alien to Korea. A lot of us have grown used to waitresses only coming to our tables when called for. We had forgotten about the Western style of having a waitress visit us every so often to check up on us.

Shia, our waitress (Korean name, Yu Jin 유진), was trained well. I had seen that Hooters had flown in a whole staff of trainers from the States to get the Korean staff ready. No really, there's a video of it. I must say she was trained very well, all the way down to the "lean over" to take our orders. The bartenders looked like they were trained by the same school of bartenders who trained me when I worked at Chili's--they did the same tricks I learned.

Very photogenic, too.

Honestly, I have always been resistant to the Hooters Girl™ thing, but the Korean Hooters Girls™ just do that little Korean agassi thing that gives it that special Koreanness. Cute Korean charm mixed with American sass. It's all part of the show. They also treat the female guests like they're old sorority pals.

Woo hoo! Got my picture!

Now back to the food.

I couldn't resist ordering up a dozen oysters on the half shell (15,000 won). Shia couldn't understand me at first. She hinted that the only English she knew was from training. So I said, "Seng gul 생 굴."

That was enough. It took a while for the oysters to arrive. I myself used to be an oyster shucker at a redneck bar, and I had made tons of these platters. They involve some work, but they aren't that hard to make.

The oysters come the way I remember them at Gulf Coast bars--served on a bed of ice with lemon wedges, a pack of crackers, and a simple cocktail sauce of ketchup and horseradish.

We indulged.

Next came a sampler platter with king crab, steamed shrimp, buffalo shrimp, and some more wings. The crab was good with the accompanying butter. The buffalo shrimp also were good, even though they seemed a bit cold and soggy.

After another round of wings, I ordered something more substantial--the Hooters Cheeseburger (12,000 won). It came on a nice roll with an ample amount of beef. The only sides were condiments and some baked beans.

It did the job, though. It was a good burger.

What's that? Oh, a birthday. Hey, mine's next month. What do I get?

Oh well, I'll have to wait.

Next up was our order of beef nachos. Again, they're still working out the kinks. Look closely at this picture. We looked closely too. Now, everyone together...

"Where's the beef?"

A quick mention of this, and we were given a plate of beef on top of our nachos. That's more like it. I'd say the nachos were ho-hum. Not as good as the wings and the burger.

Pie was much better. Key lime pie, in fact. I'm not a big fan of citrus pies, particularly lemon merengue. This key lime pie was a good balance of sweet and sour. It wasn't too harsh on a stomach reeling from hot wings and beer.

A quick look behind revealed that a line was forming. We had shown up at 3:30 on a Saturday and were seated almost immediately. It was then almost 7:00, and the crowd was looking hungry and restless. At Sh-wing we're not used to the crowds. We're used to claiming a table for the whole night.

We decided to stop ordering, take one last picture with Shia, and call it a night.

There was even more of a crowd outside. One funny little anecdote, though. While I was taking pictures of this line, a nicely dressed woman with her date asked me if I wanted her to take my picture for me. I told her it was okay, but, you know, that was really nice.

Now, we usually go to Sh-wing in Apgujeong. During the summer, Sh-wing really let us down by cancelling their All-you-can-eat wing special, bumping up their prices, and being laughably stingy with their limp vegetables. Since then, Sh-wing has restored the All-you-can-eat special on Thursday nights, and their veggies are of better quality (they actually use cuts of celery from the stalk itself, not the leaves).

Nonetheless, Sh-wing has finally found some competition. I said in the title of this piece, I really came to Hooters for the wings. It's because wing places are very rare in Seoul. We really only know of Sh-wing--and now Hooters. It's hard to believe that a food culture that loves spicy chicken hasn't embraced buffalo wings. Granted, grilled fire chicken and scorching chicken feet are great Korean contributions to the drinking food landscape--if only they served them with some blue cheese.

Until then, we'll definitely make a return trip to Hooters.

That made Injoo happy.

Update: Michael Hurt at Scribblings of the Metropolitician has photos and a podcast interviewing a trainer and a waitress at Hooters Korea.

(Porn #1) Dalk Doritang 닭 도리탕

2007-01-28T21:47:00.000+09:00

Ah, the first official food porn entry.

The thing is, it just looks pretty. I don't know anything about this food's history or -- anything. I just ordered it one day because it was something I hadn't tried yet.

Dalk Doritang is basically a spicy chicken soup. Yet it pulls off a sort of creaminess without the use of any dairy products. This is a perfect warm-me-up for a chilly Korean Peninsula winter day.

The "dalk" means "chicken." "Tang" means "soup." Don't know what the "dori" means. Eun Jeong's watching Jumong right now. I don't want to bother her.

Trust me. Don't bother her during Jumong.

This creamy spicy soup is loaded with leeks, mushrooms, and big hunks o' chicken. As with most Korean foods, white shirts are discouraged.

(Rest #7) Kimbap Nara -- DECODED!

2006-11-17T21:56:00.000+09:00

Mary at maryeats has done the world a great service. She has gone through, translated, and provided descriptions to the menu at Kimbap Nara.

Kimbap Nara, Kimbap Cheonguk, Kimbap Sarang -- these places are the heart of daily life Korean food. The food is cheap, usually fast, and satisfies your Korean fast food cravings. And they're everywhere, packed with students, blue collar workers, office drones, families, and grandmas.

It is also likely the most accessible place for a newbie in Korea to start his surviving skills in ordering food.

Even though there are pictures in most restaurants, the menus are all in Korean. Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) is easy to learn, but even a newbie who knows Hangeul (as I was) still can't read an entire menu in an efficient amount of time.

This is where Mary has come in and provided this public service to help the new foreigner adjusting to the Land of the Morning Calm and to make those of you outside the peninsula just drool and wish you were us.

MWA HA HA HA HA HA!

Here is Mary's menu translation.

Oh, and remember, as with all Korean restaurants, side dishes are free.

Also, for any fans of the Kimbap restaurants, there's a decent thread on them at the GalbiJim forums.

(Fusion #4) Korean Sloppy Joes

2007-01-28T12:02:00.000+09:00

Growing up with the name Joe can have its pitfalls while growing up.

"Yo, Joe!"
"Joe Piscopo!"
"Joe-mamma!"
"Where're you goin' with that gun in your hand?"

It doesn't help that a lot of words rhyme with Joe, so it almost seems like people are calling your name when they are not. Jo 조 is also an informal way in Korean to say, "Give me!"

I always knew when it was Sloppy Joe night at my house growing up when I came home and my parents were snickering.

"What's so funny?"

"We're having Sloppy You for dinner tonight."

My dad never got tired of that joke, even though he himself was named Joe. He was immune because he chose to go by his middle name, Dan.

Two weeks ago, I made Sloppy Joes for the first time in Korea. Yeah, yeah, it was a jarred sauce that I found at Costco. I also used pork instead of beef because of Korea's astronomically high beef prices. Nonetheless, they turned out pretty well. Eun Jeong loved her first taste of (what may be) Iowa's greatest contribution to the culinary world. (<-- That is one of the most fascinating links I have found recently.)

Eun Jeong loved the Sloppy Joes so much that she ate the leftovers for breakfast on top of rice.

The other night, we both came home from our jobs exhausted. Eun Jeong had already eaten at her place, but I was starving. I stopped by E-Mart to pick up some ingredients for myself. I told Eun Jeong, whom had offered, to not cook me anything.

Luckily, she chose to ignore me.

She created this dish off the top of her head. She knew I was going to cook dinner for myself, but she felt I needed another side dish.

She made a concoction made from ground pork, onions, carrots, peppers, and a spicy sauce. It tasted almost exactly like a Sloppy Joe! Yet the ingredients in the sauce were 100% Korean.

We made this again yesterday morning for breakfast. Basically, you need julienned onions and carrots. Also you need some garlic. Bell Peppers really add to the flavor, but you can exclude them. Really, any hearty veggies you have lying around in the fridge will work. Yesterday, we used up the leftover zucchini squash.

So basically, here are the steps:

1. Brown the pork in a pan with a heap of black pepper, along with onions, carrots, garlic, and whatever vegetables you have.

2. Add two tablespoons of gochujang 고추장(the red pepper paste).

3. Add a dash of salt, some soy sauce, some corn syrup, and some mirim 미림(also known as mirin, a cooking wine made of rice). Taste often to balance the flavors to your liking.

4. Serve on rice or toasted bread.

My Marrakesh -- VOTE NOW

2007-01-28T10:25:00.000+09:00

(Maryam, the glamorous proprieter of My Marrakesh)

The 2007 Blog Award nominations are up. Despite lots of underhanded ballot box stuffing, none of the two ZenKimchi blogs got nominated. Yet ZenKimchi friend My Marrakesh got nominated for "best african or middle eastern weblog" (they hate capitalization there, I guess).

Maryeats first introduced me to Maryam's great blog detailing how an American family (hers, of course) picks up and moves to Morocco, building their own house on an old olive grove. It is a great source for Moroccan style and inspiration. Maryam writes with a fresh eye, and her pictures will push your video card to the limit with all their rich colors.

Voting for the Bloggies is easy. You don't have to vote for each category. I sure didn't. You just select the nominess you like, fill in an authorization code and email address, and answer the email verification.

(KFC #18) Kids Love Squid

2007-01-21T12:02:00.000+09:00

The only thing I have ever had to ban in the classroom is dried squid, ojingeo 오징어.

IT STINKS!!!

Actually, I occasionally enjoy dried squid. It matches well with beer. It tastes better than it smells, but OMG--it can truly reek. You can almost smell it in this instructional video.

It comes in different flavors. My favorites are barbecue and butter. If you go to see a movie, you can even get peanut butter flavored dried squid.

This leads to one of my more surprising observations: in Korea, kids love squid.

They frequently snack on this, and it is marketed to kids next to the candies.

When I taught kindergarten, the schools had birthday parties each month for the students whose birthdays fell on that month. There were kids each month who would not touch cake. They couldn't stand it. But all of the kids attacked an opened bag of dried squid.

Observe.

Like velociraptors on a holstein.

So the conclusion of my unscientific survey: kids love squid more than chocolate cake.

(Video #4) Connor Luvs Live Squid

2007-01-19T23:25:00.000+09:00

GalbiJim forums regular, Conor, was interviewed for a piece on Arirang TV about "weird" Korean foods.

Hm... I guess I've been a fan of those foods for so long, that I don't find them so odd now. Good piece, though--especially to look at Conor, who admitted he was tired and had just walked into work when he was approached for the interview.