Thank you to Sarah Bates of The Chef Next Door for hosting today's Hot and Spicy #SundaySupper event! Have you heard of the 10,000-hour rule? Author Malcolm Gladwell theorizes that to truly master something, you will have had to log in at least 10,000 hours of practice. This theory was based on a study by Swedish psychologist Anders Ericsson. So what does this have to do with kimchi? Well, I feel like kimchi-making requires some level of practice to get to a point where it's easy to make and, most importantly, it consistently tastes awesome. When I first posted a recipe for this same dish, I had only made it a few times and it turned out a decent kimchi...50 percent of the time. Now 5 years later, I've made this particular kimchi a little less than 100 times. And if we're following the 10,000-hour rule, I've got about 9,900 hours become an expert kimchi maker. But I feel like after 5 years or about 100 hours, I've got this dish down. I've gotten rid of a couple of steps, streamlined ...
Perilla Pancakes
Originally published September 11, 2011. I thought I'd revive this recipe for Chuseok! Happy Chuseok! The cool fall weather is here to stay and school is in full swing. It is also the end of the season for kaenip (perilla) and the leaves are fading into a yellowish light green hue. The other weekend, I plucked the remaining leaves and decided to do a few experiments after speaking with my mom. She mentioned that the older leaves tend to be a less tender and a little tougher. Sometimes she steams a bunch of leaves and makes ssam (wraps) or chops them up and makes jun (pancakes) or jang dduk, a special recipe that my mom culled from her mother that sounded really hearty and quite simply, yummy. The recipe incorporates a spoonful of dwaen jang into the batter. (I know, dwaen jang!) I've never actually had the dish before or even heard of such a thing, but the combination of the pungent salty, nutty dwaen jang, and the strong peppery, minty kaenip sounded enticing. If you ...
Some Korean Flavor…
I’ve been juk-ed!
DH woke up one morning with a headache and flu-like muscle aches. Being the good Korean wife, I decided to make chicken juk. As an experiment, I added ginger and garlic as a nod to Out the Door (sister restaurant to The Slanted Door here in SF). I love how the essence of ginger adds…
Korean Noodles with Black Bean Sauce (Jjajangmyun / 짜장면)
Originally published Mar 14, 2013. Made a few edits to the recipe and fixed some links. I mention that I never liked this dish as a kid, but now I can’t get enough! My kids love it! I have a confession to make. I never liked jjajangmyun. I know, crazy talk. My mom made it…
Homemade makjang or “instant” dwaenjang (fermented soybean paste)
I remember the one summer my halmoni (grandmother) visited us. She and my mom made dwaenjang and it seemed like it took ALL summer. I was actually a bit embarassed by the 3 or 4 glass jars sitting on our back deck displaying the brown chunky contents. Everyday I expected one of our neighbors to…
Homemade kochujang (hot red pepper paste)
I had hoped to write about my successful homemade experiments with both makjang and kochujang. Makjang, an “instant” dwaen jang or soybean paste, ended up growing a layer of nice white fuzz. I probably could’ve salvaged it, but why risk it? I made another attempt and will follow up with a post on that later….