미국 스타일 - Making do for samgyupsal, kimchijeon, and makgeoli

I'm visiting the USA right now for family reasons, and I took the opportunity to make some of my favorites for my mother and sister.  We ended up sharing some leftovers with my aunt and grandma also.

Here's the plan: samgyupsal and kimchi pancake.  Here's the trouble: lots of ingredients are hard to find.

We tried Mustard Seed Market first and struck out.  They had kimchi, but it was like an American version of the stuff, and I didn't really want to use it.  Also, they didn't have the right cut of pork.

We had better luck at the Cleveland Asian market.  We found pork belly meat, cut into strips, and home-made kimchi.  The home=made kimchi was cheaper than the other stuff, so we went with that.  Also, I bought a huge handful of green onion for $.40.

Making the food was frustrating because I didn't have a lot of the right ingredients or kitchen tools to do it how I liked.

Here's how it all shook down:

I had to make the pork belly in a skillet, so I just made it all at once and drained off most of the grease.  Samgyupsal is best when it's crispy right off the grill, but it was still pretty decent this way.  The meat itself was a bit different from Korean pork.  It was more thinly sliced, and the skin was thick and tough. Next time, if I was using American pork, I would just cut off that skin.  It didn't add anything to the dish.

To eat the meat we had lettuce (the pieces were too big, but still delicious), raw garlic and chives, onions in soy sauce with green onion (I wanted to make my seasoned soy sauce like i do back in Korea, but i didn't have the ingredients), and red pepper paste (gochujang).  The gochujang was an import but wasn't as good as our favorite stuff back home.

The kimchi pancake was very simple: flour, kimchi, kimchi juice, green onions. I omit the sugar and salt because I think those types of ingredients often take away from the dish as a whole.

The makgeoli was super expensive!  It was like $8!  Zomg.

Reception:  my family was a little suspicious at first, but warmed up to the food quickly.  I apologized many times for the quality, since I didn't have the right tools, didn't have the right ingredients, and didn't have the right set up.  But they liked it a lot and were grateful for the experience.

We found a Korean restaurant downtown Cleveland that is run by Korea people and sells kimbap, kimchi jigae, boodae jigae, samgyupsal, galbisal, bibimbap, and so on.  Next time, I'll just take my family there!

An Ode to Kimchi

OMG, did I really make that my title? "An ode to kimchi"? Really?

This week's blog features lots of kimchi! I used the regular red cabbage kimchi. I think it's the most common kimchi, and the stuff people think of when they think of kimchi.

Step one: cut open the kimchi bag. Having kimchi sauce spray all over your shirt is optional. (Kimchi tends to build up pressure in the fridge. Oh, fermented foods. I'll miss that shirt.)

Step two: cut the kimchi into big bite sized pieces. Korean people have introduced me to the wonder of scissors in the kitchen. For times like kimchi or chicken breast or anything stir fry, scissors are just easier.

Step 3: make yummy food and enjoy!

Kimchi pork burgers. I hand smooshed them. Also, green onion, salt, red pepper powder. I didn't use egg or breadcrumbs or cornstarch or anything. If you work the crap out of them with your hands, they don't fall apart on the grill.

Bread's not my thing. I do love a good flour tortilla. Add lettuce and mustard and you've got an awesome concoction.

Fun fact, Kait and I both agreed that beef would've been better, but it's too expensive. Ground pork for four burgers: $4. Ground beef for four burgers: $15. 

I also made kimchi fried rice.

Fry to kimchi. Add rice, kimchi sauce, gochujang, and fry for a bit longer. When it's ready, turn off the heat and add sesame seeds and green onion.

Meh. The gochujang is too thick and salty. Next time id use spicy peppers, a little soy sauce and make my own sauce. Maybe a pinch of korean cooking wine.

All in all, it was pretty yummy.  

I found these "Copa di vino" things at Kim's club! One glass of wine for $3. It's nice to have for a fancy Saturday dinner, and easy! The wine is decent for cheap stuff.

Bye!

Bulk Chx

Since we were a bit out of it following our LASEK, I didn't really do much cooking. On Sunday though, I bought enough vegetables  for 12 people and some boneless skinless chicken breasts. I wanted to prepare a bunch of food that was easy to prepare for later. I got a bit carried away.

I cut up the chicken frozen and marinaded it in my special sauce*.

(*soy, sesame oil, korean cooking wine, black pepper, a little water, red pepper powder, and garlic. Red pepper paste makes a thicker sauce but usually is pretty salty when mixed with  soy sauce.)

The chicken was 'aight. I blame the frozenness.

Veggies: red and yellow mild chilis, broccoli, korean green onions, and celery.  No garlic.  The garlic in our fridge was old and completely devoid of taste, so we trashed it.

I quickly realized I had too many veggies and not enough sauce. So I compromised.

Most of then went with the chicken. The others I steamed with salt and topped with "pizza cheese". 

Results: the chicken and veggies were decent for bulk food but nothing to write about (well, you know what I mean.)

The veggies and cheese were terrible. The "cheese" I bought was the worst thing ever. It tasted like nothing and melted into rubbery bland oblivion.

That's what I get for trying to eat cheese in front of my dairy allergic wife! 

Blender Breakfast

Nope, I didn't make breakfast in a blender.  The title is misleading, and I'm sorry.  Actually, it's a metaphor!  Hooray for metaphors!

The other day I whipped up some western style breakfast. Take a look:

Eggs and Spam, aka, the heart attack summoning spell.

I just fried up eggs, onions, garlic, and spam with a bit of canola oil, and bam:  delicious breakfast for a grumpy morning.  I topped it with extra garlic powder and salt, for some bonus flavor (we love garlic).

But I made this in South Korea, and everything was a bit different from back home.  It's not bad, but it's not like the local greasy spoon up the street.  The Spam is a variety not found in my home state.  The eggs are brown-shelled eggs.  I think I actually prefer brown-shelled eggs now.  The garlic is, well, pretty fresh for cheap garlic purchased from Home Plus (the local supermarket).  In Ohio where I'm from, stuff like garlic only seems fresh when I get it at a health food or organic store.

Whenever I make something that was a favorite at home (for example: tacos!), there's always a thing or two that's different in a subtle way.  Other than some important items that I just can't find here in Suncheon (tasty fake cheese for my lovely Kaitlin), it usually doesn't make a different, but is duly noted.

So.  I take US and Korean ideas, casually plop them in the "blender", and get a something inspired by both and basically unremarkable, but nevertheless tasty.

Banchan (반찬) - Korean side dish: Garlic Sesame Sprouts (숙주나물 무침)

When I first came to Korea, I wasn't a huge fan of sprouts, but over time, they have grown on my in a huge way.  I'm very happy about this because sprouts are very healthy [citation needed].

I decided to try a Korean banchan recipe.  It's fairly typical for Koreans to make large portions and keep whatever's leftover in the fridge to serve as a healthy snack ... which I've done today.  I found the recipe online somewhere.

To the uninitiated, they may not look super delicious.  To them I say: trust me.

First, I rinsed the sprouts.  I bought 380g for only a few thousand won, pretty cheap by any standard.  I had to remove a few bad ones, but mostly it was easy with no dirt or bugs.  Then I blanched the sprouts in boiling water for about 1 minute.  This part is the hardest because you want them to be only very slightly soft.  I think I may have blanched them for too long.Next I rinsed them and added a sauce.

For the sauce I used:

1 finely chopped spring onion (though "finely" is vague for me.  i'm a bit lazy with chopping sometimes)
1-2 tablespoons of minced garlic.  the recipe called for less but we love garlic!
1 tsp seasame seeds (again i added more because i didn't have fresh seeds, so the taste isn't as strong)
1 tbsp sesame oil

(Also, the recipe called for salt.  I didn't add any, but I should've added a bit)

Combine the rinsed sprouts with the sauce and eat!  Or, stick it in the fridge for later.

A few thoughts.  I didn't use exactly the right kind of onion.  This is partly laziness, because I'm pretty sure the supermarket carries the right kind but they seemed to be out of stock.  The onions I used are more like chives.  It's still tasty (with big herby flavor), but it's a bit less traditional.  Also, salt.  Just a pinch would improve them.  Finally, I overcooked the sprouts.  It was only slightly, maybe 30 seconds or so, but it was too long.  They're not soft and slimy, but they would benefit from a more careful eye on the big pot!

I would recommend this recipe and I'm sure the bulk of these will end up in bibimbap later this week!

First creation: Fried kimchi and onions!

Welcome to my food blog!  Rather than just post photos to my facebook feed, I decided to make it a food blog.  I'll post recipes, ingredients, and thoughts.

Kimchi surprise, maybe?

My first creation was something of an experiment based on what I had in the fridge.  There's isn't much to this one ... I just dumped everything in the pan and fried it.

Ingredients: red kimchi, onions, red pepper powder, sesame seeds, and sesame oil.

I served it with rice and ICing, a grapefruit-flavored makgeolli beverage that's nice on hot summer nights.

What I would change:  I would add garlic and a tiny bit of salt.  I would saute the garlic and onions before hand so they were nice and lightly caramelized while the kimchi was warm and "al dente".  Finally, some chili oil would've made it more spicy, but you can always just dump gochujang (spicy red pepper paste) or tobasco sauce on top.

All in all, a great success!

A note on salt:  My wife and I don't really like a lot of salt.  Additionally, we figure that there's enough salt in the rest of the food we eat, so I don't use very much in my cooking.  That being said, I've found recently that omitting salt entirely is often not the right choice.  If you want to try any of my recipes, you may want to add more salt to your liking!