[Food]

[Food] Osam Bulgogi (오삼불고기, Squid and Pork Belly Bulgogi)

Americans who usually live in Hawaii and the east and west coasts enjoy a dish called 'Surf and Turf' which is a combo of seafood and meat, cooked lobster and thick juicy steak.

In Korea, there is a combo dish of seafood and meat, too, though it's not as fancy as lobster and grilled steak. It's a very popular and liked common dish that you can enjoy in most Korean restaurants.

It's a combo of stir fried squid and pork belly in spicy chili sauce which Koreans call Osam Bulgogi (O for Ojing-uh - Squid in Korean, and Sam for Samgyeopsal - Pork belly). It means Bulgogi is made of squid and pork belly, but is spicy. Bulgogi usually means stir fried soy-sauce marinated meat but it can also mean spicy stir fried meat.

Osam bulgogi was first invented in a restaurant in Daegwallyeong Pass, Pyeongchang city, which is a gateway between the eastern and western regions of Gangwon. Fresh squid from the East Sea and pork, vegetables and mushroom from the western region of Gangwon were cooked into Osam Bulgogi with a spicy sauce that most Koreans love.

The chewy and savory taste of squid goes very well with juicy pork and fresh vegetables. It's one of the best side dishes for liquor and rice. Although I'm not a big fan of squid, I like to eat osam bulgogi for lunch :)

If you want to indulge in fresh seafood and juicy meat, how about osam bulgogi today?

Bon Appétit!

 [Food]

[Food] Gogiguksu (고기국수, Meat Noodles)

Koreans served noodles with anchovy stock to guests to celebrate marriage or birthday or any good occasion because long noodle meant 'long live'. Meanwhile in Jeju Island, which is the most famous Korean tourist land in far south of Korea, people served steamed pork instead of noodles. However they served steamed pork with noodles since 1910~1920 A.D. when they started to produce noodles.

As beautiful as the scenery of Jeju Island is, Jeju Island's pork his of very high quality (and even today) without the gamey and foul smell, so they proudly serve noodles with high-quality pork. Today this noodle is called Gogiguksu (고기국수, Meat Noodles) and is a typical Jeju Island gourmet, followed by Jeju Island's half-dried tile fish and tangerine.

Gogiguksu is a very simple yet delicious dish. Put cooked noodles into thick and savory pork stock, and slice thick steamed pork to be topped on noodles. Savory, meaty and stodgy noodle with soft pork.

If you are a meat lover, how about trying gogiguksu when you visit Korea? Although you may not be a big fan of noodle soup, I'm sure that you will like it :)

Bon Appétit!

 [Food]

[Food] Makgeolli (막걸리, Traditional Korean rice wine)

There are two kinds of people in the world; people who love alcohol and those who don't :) So almost every country has their own way of drinking and brewing traditional liquor and alcohol. It's very interesting that most civilized culture invented their own liquor to enjoy their sweet, heavenly taste that often leaves one with a headache or stomach ache. 

Ancient people in the Korean peninsula didn't want to be excluded among those cultures so they decided to make traditional wine with rice.

Makgeolli (막걸리, Traditional Korean rice wine) is a typical Korean liquor, which means 'just refined'. It's made from rice and yeast because makgeolli is drunk when just after it's filtered and before it's distilled. So it has a white and milky color directly from rice. Milky, sweet, soft, slight crisp from fermentation has given great delight for many years.

Koreans loved it so much and used a tremendous amount of rice (which is the main meal in Korea) into brewing makgeolli, so some Korean kings and presidents even prohibited makgeolli brewing and drinking. Nevertheless, people have never stopped (who would?) drinking makgeolli. Today's Koreans appreciate their ancestors's solemn passion for keeping Korean liquor culture.

Today the descendants of proud Korean ancestors have created made versions of makgeolli with countless ingredients - tangerine, banana, kiwi, corn, chestnut, buckwheat, coffee, sweet potato and more flavors, depending on the environment within each makgeolli brewery.

Koreans think jeon (Korean-style pancake and pan-fried delicacies) is the best snack (or touchings) for makgeolli, and they love to enjoy it on a rainy day. So any jeon restaurant and traditional Korean bar is always crowded with people who drink makgeolli with jeon, particularly when it rains.

If you visit Korea on a rainy day, how about visiting a jeon restaurant and enjoying makgeolli with jeon varieties? The sound of raindrops will entertain you even more with the taste of makgeolli :)

Bon Appétit!

 [Food]

[Food] Chueo-tang (추어탕, Loach Soup)

What do you usually think of loach or mudfish? Maybe nothing or 'eww, slippery' but can you imagine there being people who love to eat loach as soup? Yes, Koreans eat loach as soup. It's been eaten for a long time (more than 1,000 years) usually by people of low social status such as slaves and servants, but people of high social status also ate it, secretly at night. Eventually, Korean nobles and aristocrats ate it. Can you think why? :)

Oriental loach. By Manoel Jr. - https://www.flickr.com/photos/13809278@N07/15375639675, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77757241

According to many traditional Korean medical and cuisine books, loach is very effective for providing 'stamina and energy' (particularly for men). Loach's Korean name is 'Chueo' which means 'autumn fish' because Korean loach usually lives in a rice paddy (brook and creek too), and Koreans eat them in autumn after removing all the water from the rice paddy to harvest :)

It smells very fishy and muddy so strong seasonings (Chinese pepper, spicy chili, garlic etc.) must be used to cook them to remove their unique odor. There two styles of cooking Chueo-tang (추어탕, loach soup), which are middle part (Seoul and Gaeseong)-style that use loach in whole and south part (Jeolla and Gyeongsang province)-style that grind whole loach. Well, I prefer south part-style Chueo-tang because I don't want to chew big chunks of loach in my mouth :)

It just looks like common doenjang-jjigae (Korean bean-paste stew) but it tastes uniquely like loach - savory and spicy. It also fills you with stamina and energy, so why don't you try? It may turn you into an 'Energizer' :)

By the way, the most famous chueo-tang restaurant is 'Yonggeumok' in Seoul which even North Korean VIPs ask whether it's still running because they miss the taste it had before the Korean War :)

Bon Appétit!

[Food]

[Food] Galchi-Jorim (갈치조림, Braised Hairtail)

Galchi-Jorim (갈치조림, Braised Hairtail)

Koreans love seafood as much as they love meat, freshwater food and local vegetables. Koreans eat and use most resources from the sea including fish, shell and marine plants.

According to a recent survey carried out by the Korean Maritime Institute in 2020, the most eaten seafood is squid, followed by mackerel, laver, hairtail and flatfish.

Today's fish is hairtail (also known as cutlass fish), which is one of the most popular seafoods in Korea. It's been caught in Korea, Japan, China and also in South-East Asia. It has a very long, shiny, silver-colored body with sharp teeth. It aggressively preys on smaller fish. It's called 'Galchi' in Korean, which means 'Sword Fish', because of its look and the way it swims. It swims like other fish do but it can also swim vertically. Hence the name 'sword fish'. You'll be convinced by the following pictures :)

Contrary to its tough appearance, it has a very soft and silky flesh loved by all. However, it's unfortunate to say that hairtail is one of the most expensive fish, so people can't eat it everyday like mackerel or anchovy. Nevertheless, it's worth keeping in mind that the dark-hairtail from Mokpo is a little cheaper than the silver-hairtail from Jeju Island :) Koreans usually roast it over a grill with salt but they love Galchi-Jorim (Braised Hairtail) most :)

Roasted silver hairtail

Galchi-Jorim (갈치조림, Braised Hairtail)

Put a chopped piece of hairtail into a pot with water, spicy sauce with chili powder, daikon and vegetables, and braise it till the chopped hairtail is well cooked. Then it becomes somewhat like a spicy fish stew with a spicy and savory flavor :) Moreover, the flesh of the hairtail easily absorbs the sauce, adding more flavor with the stew. Spicy, salty and savory with a silky flesh! It doesn't get much better than this as a favorite Korean dish. So galchi-jorim is one of the most popular dishes on the Korean lunch or dinner menu. Many Korean restaurants sell galchi-jorim too. You can easily find good galchi-jorim restaurant in Seoul :)

Bon Appétit!

[Food] Jeyuk-bokkeum, Best Secret Korean Dish (제육볶음, Stir Fried Spicy Pork)

[Food]

[Food]  Jeyuk-bokkeum, Best Secret Korean Dish (제육볶음, Stir Fried Spicy Pork)

When people think of Korean foods, non-Koreans usually think of typical ones such as Bulgogi, Bibimbab, Galbi or Kimchi. However, when Koreans eat lunch or supper, the food that I will introduce you to today is a very typical dish called Jeyuk-bokkeum.

No one knows the Korean origins of Jeyuk-Bokkeum but it's mentioned in the Korean novel 'Lucky Day (운수 좋은날)' written during the Japanese Colonial Era. However, we don't know if Jeyuk-Bokkeum of the Japanese Colonial Era is the same as today's. In the middle of the 1980's, a small restaurant in Seoul started cooking and selling Jeyuk-Bokkeum again. Since then its recipe has started to spread throughout Korea while people also ate it a lot at many restaurants throughout Korea.

Jeyuk-Bokkeum was usually sold in casual, cheap Korean restaurants rarely frequented by non-Koreans, so it is not as well-known to non-Koreans as other typical foods. No wonder most non-Koreans neither know it nor its recipe.

Jeyuk-Bokkeum is made of pork, Korean chili paste, minced garlic, chili powder, onion and more. Its recipe is not hard. Cut pork to size and make a spicy marinade for it. Chili paste, soy sauce, minced garlic, chopped spring onion, chili powder, salt, sugar and pepper are all needed for marinating pork. Then marinate the pork in spicy marinade for more than an hour. Lastly, stir-fry the marinated pork on any pan or wok with some oil.

If you succeed in cooking Jeyuk-Bokkeum, it will taste sweet, salty and spicy. Depending on the cook, it can be salty and spicy or sweet and spicy. Personally, I like Jeyuk-Bokkeum more than Bulgogi because it's spicy and can be cooked with cheap ingredients (pork is much cheaper than beef in South Korea).

Jeyuk-Bokkeum is a typical Korean dish for Koreans. 'Je' means 'pork' and 'yuk' means 'meat'.

Moreover, Jeyuk-Bokkeum can be cooked quickly if it has been marinated before. So it's a very popular dish in Korea. Its spicy and salty/sweet sauce also goes very well with rice when mixed.

If you want to taste a real Korean gourmet that has not been known to non-Koreans, how about tasting Jeyuk-Bokkeum? You may like this friendly and spicy Korean dish :)

Bon Appétit!

[Food] Daegutang (대구탕, Cod Fish Soup)

[Food]

[Food] Daegutang (대구탕, Cod Fish Soup)

Cod is one of the most popular kinds of fish in the world with so many recipes. Today I want to introduce you to a classic Korean codfish recipe that Koreans have been eating for hundreds of years. Its Korean name is 'Daegu' which means 'Big Mouth'.

Myeongchun of Hangyeong province is far north of the Korean peninsula and wellknown for pollack, but was originally wellknown for codfish before then. Koreans like to eat codfish as a mild or spicy soup with chopped radish, spring onion, cod intestine, egg etc. The flesh of cod fish is very silky and soft with a chewy taste. Its stock gives a very deep and refreshing flavor. Therefore, people who have a hangover usually eat it for breakfast for relief, and people who love hot, spicy and refreshing soup enjoy it.

A restaurant which specializes in Codfish soup. The wooden sign reads 'Serves Breakfast'

Mild Daegutang with big pieces of cod and radish

Today, there are good daegutang (Codfish soup) restaurants in Seoul, Daegu (same name but different meaning) and Busan. People who love daegutang say meat, intestine and eggs are good but daegu soup is the best part of the dish. As you can see from the above pictures, they give you a bowl full of soup.

Daegutang with rice and side dishes

So if you are a seafood lover or a drinker or someone who enjoys hot soup and are in, or plannning to visit, Korea, how about visiting a fine daegutang restaurant? Hot codfish soup will refresh and warm the depths of your heart :)

Bon Appétit!

[Food] Gopchang & Makchang (곱창 & 막창, Pork & Beef Intestines)

[Food]

[Food] Gopchang & Makchang (곱창 & 막창, Pork & Beef Intestines)

Koreans have been eating meat since ancient times - no one knows exactly when, but it's certain that they loved it. Unlike Japan, the Korean peninsula was influenced by China and Mongolia so Koreans knew of a variety of meat recipes. Royal families - the noble and rich - enjoyed the flesh of beef and pork. Meanwhile, poor people who couldn't afford to buy the flesh of beef or pork found other ways of enjoying gourmet like roasting or braising the intestines. Koreans eventually learned not to waste a single part of the cow or pig. They ate almost everything including ears, nose, tail and bones.

Among them, pork and beef intestines were, surprisingly, delicious and its simple roasting/braising recipe has been passed down to Koreans today. Hallelujah!

The efficacy of pork and beef intestines was also recorded in a famous medical book by Dr.Jun Heo during the Chosun dynasty. It was written: "It energized the whole body, and strengthens the stomach and spleen. It protects one's intestines and minimises dizziness."

Pork and beef intestines are very chewy and savory because they are full of fat, iron and vitamins, and are high in protein and low in cholesterol. In Korean, pork intestines are called 'Gopchang(곱창)' and beef intestines are called 'Makchang(막창)'.

Gopchang and makchang are usually roasted/braised with many vegetables  as garlic, spring onions, onion and perilla leaves. It is usually stir-fried on an iron plate in a spicy sauce. So some cities like Busan are famous for gopchang and makchang recipes.

Today, it is no longer a cheap dish like it was. It's very popular to many people because of its taste, but its ingredients are limited and require import of intestines from overseas.

Koreans love to eat stir-fried rice after any meal.

If you are a meat-lover (sausage included), how about tasting gopchang and makchang? You won't regret it :) 'Chewy and savory' doesn't do justice to explaining their full taste :)

Bon Appétit!

[Food] Jangjorim (Soy sauce braised meat, 장조림)

[Food]

[Food] Jangjorim (Soy sauce braised meat, 장조림)

Beef jangjorim garnished with garlic and gguari pepper (shishito pepper)

It is true that many non-Koreans who are fond of Korean gourmet know about main, heavy, meaty and typical Korean foods such as Bulgogi, Galbi, Kimchi and Bibimbab. However, I would say these are not frequently neither commonly served menus on the everyday Korean table because Koreans usually eat these foods on special occasions (except Kimchi, which is a typical side dish). Then, what do Koreans usually eat for their daily meal? I have been introducing many Korean dishes and side dishes. Today's menu is one of the Korean's favorite :) Jangjorim!

Jangjorim placed in the middle of a Korean meal

Jangjorim's 'Jang' means 'Sauce' and 'Jorim' means 'Braise', so it means 'Braised in sauce'. What do Koreans braise in which sauce? They usually braise meat (beef and pork) in sweet soy sauce :) The jangjorim recipe is recorded in a 15th century Korean book. Korean culinary experts estimate that the recipe of braising in sauce initially came to the Korean peninsula from China.

In the past, people didn't have freezers in the time of the Chosun dynasty (obviously because this period was far before the invention of the freezer) but Koreans wanted to store meat for a long time in jars and pots. So they invented recipes that could preserve meat and egg for a long time using salt. Jangjorim is one of the results :)

The recipe is not very hard, but it takes a long time.

1. If using beef or pork, put it into the water to remove the blood
2. Boil or steam meat with rice wine and a laurel leaf (no need to boil if using egg)
3. Put meat into a mixed soy sauce (soy sauce, sugar, sliced ginger and plum juice ), and braise for 15 minutes
4. Put quail eggs (if desired) and garlic, then heat it till it boils.

5. Tear the meat apart into small pieces (so you can eat it easily), then boil them once again in the sauce with sesames.

Usually, jangjorim is stored in a plastic box to be stored in a freezer, so it can be enjoyed longer

Egg jangjorim is not as popular as beef, but is still a welcomed side dish

Quail egg jangjorim, cheap and tasty jangjorim

Beef jangjorim. The 'eye of round' is usually used for it.

I love eating jangjorim with hot rice and kimchi :) chewy beef or pork that is well braised in soy sauce gives you a sweet and salty flavor every time you chew it :) I think I will cook jangjorim tonight. I miss its chewy and salty flavor.

Bon Appétit!