K-BAP the Ninth

           Hello, K-BAP followers! I think the hot and humid summer weather is now gone for here. It is even cold outside at night-time! Of course, it is natural, right? Today is already the 24th of October. Furthermore, less than 70 days are left for this year. Although it is a bit early to have such thinking, I think now is the time we should start working on ending this year well. Thus, I’m going to work harder to make this K-BAP as such successful blog of this year. In order to achieve that goal, at first, I need to finish the on-going ‘Kinds of Gook’ series.

           Yes! What you are expecting is right! This ninth K-BAP story would be the last series of ‘Kinds of Gook’ story. In the previous story of this series, we talked about Jjigae. In the third story, the ‘Jeon-gol’ would be dealt with. The main directions for cooking ‘Jeon-Gol’ can be explained by these two sentences. At first, put meats, fishes, or vegetables into the special ‘Jeon-gol’ pot. And then, pour some seasoned meat broth into the pot. That’s all. But this simple food has been regarded as the basic food for party in Korea. It is not because the ingredients for this food are special or expensive. ‘Jeon-Gol’ is a kind of quick dish. In other words, you can eat while the dish is still being cooked.

           The difference between ‘Jeon-Gol’ and Gook is there for you. There is a distinction between cooking time and eating time for Gook. When you cook ‘Gook’ or ‘Jjigae’, you should cook this in kitchen and then deliver it to the dining place. However, when you cook ‘Jeon-Gol’, you can cook this in the dining place on the mobile stove. Because of this feature of ‘Jeon-Gol’, everyone attended that meal time could sit together on one table. Therefore they could be much familiar with each other. For that reason, ‘Jeon-Gol’ has been regarded the basic food for party in Korea. I can surely tell that ‘Jeon-Gol’ is typical food of Korean people’s emotion.

           Gook, Jji-gae, and Jeon-gol are the main kinds of soup-like foods. Specifically, there are so many sub-classifications for those foods. It is not easy to say that you know everything of Korean Gook. But, you already got the main concept of gook in Korean food culture. For next K-BAP stories, the series of ‘Kinds of Banchan’ would be dealt with.

Thank you!

- S.Choi -

K-Recipe the 6th Menu

 K-Recipe the 6th Menu

           Hello, K-BAP followers. Today, I’m going to upload the 6th recipe post. In the last post, Korean traditional food for birthday, Miyeok-Gook was handled. This K-recipe post would deal with another kind of gook. The 6th menu is ‘Spicy Fishcake Gook’.

           This is the overall ingredients' photo and the brown thing on the right side is the Fishcake. Have you heard about the fishcake? Actually, fishcake is not Korean traditional food. It was invented in Japan, and introduced to Korea in early 1900s. Usually, in Korea, Fishcake is the main ingredient for many kinds or Gook, Banchan. Especially, ‘Spicy Fishcake Gook’ is one of the most popular foods made with Fishcake. My roommate took this picture of me cooking this menu.

Spicy Fishcake Gook (매운 어묵국) – Serving 4 people

Total time: 30 Minutes = Prep 10 minutes + Cook 20 minutes

Ingredients: 4 to 5 pieces of Fishcake / Green onion / 2 pieces of Garlic / Salt

              Gan-jang / Ground red pepper / 1.5 litters of water / Anchovy broth

Cook Utensils: Knife / Medium sized pot / Table Spoon

Directions

           1. Preparation

             1) Chop down the fishcake with small triangle shape

             2) Smash & crush garlic with your knife

             3) Chop down the green onion

           2. Cook

             1) Pour at least 1 litters of water into the pot

             2) Put 1 spoon of anchovy broth into the pot

             3) For seasoning, put 1 spoon of Gan-jang into the pot

             4) If the anchovy broth boils, put the chopped fishcake into the pot

             5) Put chopped garlic and green onion into the pot

             6) Put 1 spoon of red pepper into the pot

             7) For better seasoning, put 1 spoon of salt into the pot.

           My roommate took this photo of me before eating the fishcake gook.

Try it at home, Bon Appetit!

K-Recipe the 5th Menu

           Hello, K-BAP followers! Are you having great week? Oh, I know I can’t get your answers. I just asked you this because there was no appropriate sentence to start this blogpost. Sorry, it was just a joke. It has been more than a week from the last post that included the video of cooking chicken Jook. I don’t know whether you saw it or not, but I really want to tell you that I did my best to make the video of 4th K-BAP recipe. Thus, if you have not seen it yet, please find it and watch it for me.

           ‘Saeng-il’. Can you expect what this Korean word means? In Korean, we write that word with ‘생일’. This Korean word refers to a birthday. Yes, birthday is the main theme of this 5th recipe post. Usually, what food is well-known for the typical menu of birthday’s meal? You might think about cake, but in Korea, we eat Miyeok-gook. It is the gook cooked with sea weed. Miyeok can be interpreted in english with japanese, 'Wakame'. If you find this package in the Korean market, you should try to buy this one. This particular sea weed has been well-known for its efficacy to help strengthen the immune system. Therefore, Miyeok-Gook is traditionally a must-have for mothers after giving birth. Today, I’ll give you the recipe to cook Miyeok-Gook.

Miyeok Gook(미역국) – Serving 4 to 5 people

Total time: 1 Hours = Prep 25 minutes + Cook 35 minutes

Ingredients: Dried Miyeok(Sea weed) / 3 pieces of Garlic / Sesami Oil / Stew meat (beef) 

                  /1 Full bowl of Rice Water / Ground pepper

Cook Utensils: 1 Table Spoon / Medium sized Pot / Knife

Directions

           1. Preparation

             1) Soak dried Miyeok for at least 20 minutes.

             2) Smash & Crush garlics with your knife.

             3) Chop stew meat with your knife.

             4) After 20 minutes, squeeze water out of soaked Miyeok and chop it also.

           2. Cook

             1) Pour vegetable oil and 1 spoon of sesame oil into the pot.

             2) Heat up the pot with medium fire power.

             3) Put the chopped stew meat into the pot and stir-fry it.

             4) If the meat’s color changes to light brown, put the chopped Miyeok and garlic.

             5) Add some ground pepper and stir-fry the mixed ingredients for 3-4 minutes.

             6) Pour 1 spoon more of sesame oil into the pot for better taste.

             7) Pour the rice water into the pot, and heat up the pot with strong fire power.

             8) Put 1 spoon of Gan-jang for seasoning.

             9) Let it boiled until the color of the Gook changes to green.

             Tip) If you have kimchi, try it together with Miyeok-gook.

Thank you!

K-Recipe 4th Menu

           Hello, K-BAP followers. Are you having great week? If there is somebody sick, you should focus on this post. What do you eat when you are too sick to try ordinary meal? I don’t know about the U.S. culture in that situation. But in Korea, when someone is sick, he or she would try ‘Jook’. As you already expects, ‘Jook’ is the main menu of this post.

           The name of this dish might not sounds familiar to you. For the appearance, ‘Jook’ usually looks like Italian food, risotto. However, it is totally different from risotto. Jook, ‘죽’ in Korean word, is another kind of Bap. Although this menu has longer history than Bap, it has been considered as alternative staple food or diet for patients in Korean culture. Cooking process of Jook is very simple. Boiling soaked rice and 3 times much water of the amount of rice. However, because Jook’s texture should be very soft, it takes much time to cook this dish. The menu that I prepared for the 4th K-Recipe is ‘Chicken Jook’. As you can find from the name of it, chicken is the main ingredient for this. But, the most important point you should keep in mind is the origin of chicken to be used for dish. I’m going to use leftover fried-chicken. If you have leftover fried chicken and rice, try this!

K-BAP the Eighth.

           Annyeong, K-BAP followers! It is good to see you again for this week too. Oh, did you find anything weird? It’s the first word used to start this post, ‘Annyeong’. As some of you might expect, it is Korean word for ‘hello’. As a Korean food blog’s publisher, targeting people who are interested in Korean culture, I’m going to use some Korean expressions for the posts from this week.  By the way, I haven’t told you about the main topic of this week. K-BAP the Eighth is the first post of new series, ‘Kinds of Gook’.

           In the third K-recipe, ‘Kimchi-Jjigae with ham’ was the main menu. It is a kind of Korean ‘Gook’ cooked with kimchi and ham. As I stated in the last post, Jjigae is one of the kinds of ‘Gook’. You might wonder about the difference between Jjigae and Gook. Thus, I’m going to give you the difference between those two menus as the first post of series.

           At first, you have to understand what the Jjigae is. I’ve told you that Jjigae is one of the kinds of Gook for your easier understanding. However, specifically, Jjigae is not one of the kinds of Gook. Jjigae is the think soup cooked with chopped meats, fishes, vegetables, tofu, and etc. through seasoning with Gan-jang, Doen-jang, Gochu-jang or pickled seafood. All the ingredients are not necessary for all Jjigae. You can choose your own ingredients and seasoning for Jjigae. Because Jjigae is relatively free from the selection of main ingredients, there are unaccountable kinds of Jjigae in Korean food culture. Furthermore, the methods to cook those kinds of Jjigae are unaccountable, also. Followings are the famous menus of Jjigae; ‘Kimchi-Jjigae’, ‘Doenjang-Jjigae’, ‘Gochujang-Jjigae’, ‘Beef-Jjigae’, and ‘Egg-Jjigae’.

           With the explanation about Jjigae that I stated above, you might not get the difference from Gook. The most distinct difference between Gook and Jjigae is the amount of water being used to cook those menus. Jjigae needs more solid ingredients and less water for thicker taste than Gook. If you see Korean soup with less water, it might be Jjigae. Cooking utensils for cooking Jjigae is different from Gook, also. If the chosen menu is Gook, or Jjigae that needs more water, we use ordinary pot. On the other hand, if the chosen Jjigae needs less water, we use Ttukbaegi, which is Korean earthen pot.

           In Korean food culture, soups are very important. Jjigae and Gook are the most basic kinds of them. If you try a meal with Jjigae or Gook, you might understand why those menus are very important in Korean food culture.

K-Recipe 3rd Menu

           Hello, K-BAP followers. It has been like a month after the last K-Recipe. I’m so sorry for late post of Korean food recipe. In fact, I didn’t even think about posting recipe on this K-BAP blog because it is a little harder than writing K-BAP stories. However, I took many pictures of me making Korean food. I can surely tell you that the first and second recipes were just foretastes. From this week, the real recipe for real Korean food would be posted. The third menu of K-Recipe is ‘Kimchi Jjigae with Ham’.

           You might wonder what ‘Jjigae’ means. In plain language, ‘Jjigae’ is one of the kinds of ‘Guk’. I’ll explain about later in K-BAP story. To return, this menu is one of the most popular dishes in Korea. Even, I have learned how to make this when I was 7. Almost all of Koreans are love this food. Okay then, let’s begin to cook.

Kimchi Jjigae with Ham (Spam) – Serving 4 to 5 people.

Total time: 40 minutes = Prep 15 minutes + Cook 25 minutes.

Ingredients: Kimchi / 3 Pieces of Garlic / Half of Onion / 1 Chili Pepper

                    Sesame Oil / 1 Can of Ham (Spam) / 1 Table spoon of Sugar

                    Black Pepper / Vegetable Oil

                    1 full bowl of Rice Water – The rice water used to wash rice

Cook Utensils: 1 Table Spoon / Medium sized Pot / Knife

Directions

1.     Preparation.

1)    Smash & Crush garlics with your knife. 2) Slice half of onion.

           3) Chop 1 to 2 of chili pepper diagonally 4) Slice 1 can of Ham (Spam).

5) Chop some Kimchi (however you want) roughly.

6) Prepare rice water. *click it, then you would know the other efficacy of it

2. Cooking.

1) Pour 3 to 4 table spoons of vegetable oil into medium sized pot.

(If you have one, pour 1 spoon of sesame oil)

2) Put sliced onion and black pepper into the pot and stir-fry it.

(Use moderate fire power of stove.)

3) When onion is properly stir-fried, mix it with chopped Kimchi, garlic, and ham.

(Now you can use stronger fire power.)

4) While stir-frying the mixed ingredients, put 1 table spoon of sugar in it.

(Sugar will weaken the tangy taste of Kimchi for this dish.)

5) Pour 1 full bowl of rice water before the mixed ingredients to be burnt.

(Burnt ingredients make this dish bitter. Watch well!)

6) Put chopped chili pepper on the surface of Kimchi Jjigae.

7) Cover the pot with proper lid and let it be properly boiled for at least 20 minutes.

8) Enjoy your Kimchi Jjigae with a bowl of 'Bap'!

Thank you.

K-BAP the Seventh

          Hello, K-BAP followers. How have you been? It is already the last week of September in 2016. It’s been a week from the last K-BAP Story post about ‘Doen-Jang’. I am sorry. I was a little busy to study for my university exams last week, so I could not post anything. From now on, I’ll post 2 to 3 posts every week. Finally for this week’s K-BAP story, I’m going to give you the third post of Korean traditional sauces series. I don’t know whether you like the series or not, but I’ll do my best because the sauces are the most fundamental things in Korean food culture.

            Like the other foods of many countries, Korean foods also need many kinds of sauces. As a third post of sauce series, K-Bap the Seventh is about one of the most important sauces, ‘Gan-Jang’. Probably, ‘Gan-Jang’ would be the most familiar to U.S. people among Korean sauces. The name of ‘Gan-Jang’ is spelled phonetically. Practically in United States, this sauce is called ‘Soy sauce’. I’m sure that you have already seen this sauce before. It is being used in many Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Therefore, you can think that ‘Soy-sauce’ is Japanese or Chinese traditional sauce. However, ‘Soy-sauce’ is derived from original Korean sauce, ‘Gan-Jang’. Even, ‘Gan-jang’ was listed one of the gift items for royal wedding in Korean traditional history book, ‘Samguk-Sagi’. Based on this publication, it is being known that ‘Gan-Jang’ has been used from 6^th Century.

           Although the smell and appearance of those two sauces are similar with each other, there are clear differences between them. The easiest difference to be found is the taste of those sauces. Soy sauce is sweet while ‘Gan-Jang’ is more salty than Soy sauce. It is true that soy sauce is being used for more foods than ‘Gan-Jang’ because the taste of soy sauce is less stimulating. However, if you try foods seasoned by ‘Gan-Jang’, you might think it is better than general soy sauces. The essential difference between those sauces is the main ingredient of those. The main ingredient of soy sauce is the dough made of flour and bean powder. On the other hand, fermented bean is the main ingredient of ‘Gan-Jang’. You are familiar with the ingredient of ‘Gan-Jang’, right? Yes, it is also the main ingredient of ‘Doen-Jang’. In the process of making ‘Doen-Jang’, salty and black liquid is naturally formed. That salty liquid is ‘Gan-Jang’.

           Until now, I’ve posted stories of the most basic sauces of Korean food through 3 posts of K-BAP story. I hope that those stories about ‘Gochu-Jang’, ‘Doen-Jang’, and ‘Gan-Jang’ can help you to be more familiar with Korean food culture. Thus, for the future K-BAP stories, intensive course of Korean sauce would be posted. Thank you

- S.Choi -