I've watched too many KDramas and now the craving is demanding satisfaction
April 28, 2012 3:01 AM Subscribe
Help me learn to cook delicious homestyle Korean food, please?
What are your favorite resources for learning good foundational Korean style cooking for someone in the US? I'm in Seattle, so I have access to specialty stores and ingredients, but I really like to use fresh local products if I can, and am willing to experiment and substitute for fun. I have plenty of time to cook but unfortunately I'm usually only cooking for myself, so making twenty pounds of kimchi isn't really feasible, either. (In case someone asks, I'm an omnivore and happy to try almost anything once.)
I'd really love to learn how to make the sort of food that real actual Korean families eat, things that moms make, you know? I can find lots of recipes for big fancy things or Korean barbecue or elaborate special-occasion banchan, but I haven't found anything good or endorsed by actual Korean people on normal every day stuff.
Is there anything like The Japanese Kitchen or Manjula's Kitchen for Korean cuisine? Ultimately I would like to feel comfortable using flavors and techniques to make things without real recipes, so something with lots of options and explanations is ideal.
What are your favorite resources for learning good foundational Korean style cooking for someone in the US? I'm in Seattle, so I have access to specialty stores and ingredients, but I really like to use fresh local products if I can, and am willing to experiment and substitute for fun. I have plenty of time to cook but unfortunately I'm usually only cooking for myself, so making twenty pounds of kimchi isn't really feasible, either. (In case someone asks, I'm an omnivore and happy to try almost anything once.)
I'd really love to learn how to make the sort of food that real actual Korean families eat, things that moms make, you know? I can find lots of recipes for big fancy things or Korean barbecue or elaborate special-occasion banchan, but I haven't found anything good or endorsed by actual Korean people on normal every day stuff.
Is there anything like The Japanese Kitchen or Manjula's Kitchen for Korean cuisine? Ultimately I would like to feel comfortable using flavors and techniques to make things without real recipes, so something with lots of options and explanations is ideal.
I'm a total Korean cooking noob and have been very impressed with Maangchi linked above. I haven't found a book that I like that is similar.
posted by karlos at 4:07 AM on April 28, 2012
posted by karlos at 4:07 AM on April 28, 2012
I love Korean food too and have been cheating by buying tiny amounts of pre-marinated meat from the specialty store near me and just making rice!
I have seen a book by Jean George V's wife on Korean home cooking- I'm not sure of her name or the book's title but given the company she keeps and her Korean heritage, I'm sure it's pretty good!
posted by bquarters at 6:35 AM on April 28, 2012
I have seen a book by Jean George V's wife on Korean home cooking- I'm not sure of her name or the book's title but given the company she keeps and her Korean heritage, I'm sure it's pretty good!
posted by bquarters at 6:35 AM on April 28, 2012
You might be interested in this thread on the food forum eGullet called Korean Home Cooking. Mouthwatering pictures of home-cooked Korean food to inspire you!
posted by peacheater at 8:13 AM on April 28, 2012
posted by peacheater at 8:13 AM on April 28, 2012
Disclaimer: I'm not korean and I doubt what I make is anything near authentic. But it usually tastes pretty good.
If there is a particular dish I want to make, I tend to look at multiple recipes on the internet and go from there. I rely on Maangchi as a starting place because she breaks down the cooking techniques so well. The ingredient glossary is also super helpful. A lot what I make is a sort of an average of a few different recipes. Read enough recipes and you start to realize that having a few basic ingredients on hand will allow you to make a lot of different things.
For example, I have a CSA share and tend to cook a lot of my veggies/greens in a sauce made of gochujang (fermented red pepper sauce), sugar, garlic and gochugaru(red pepper flakes to adjust the spiciness). Sometimes I add a little soy sauce as well. Or vinegar. Or both. I mix up the sauce in a dish and adjust to taste before throwing it in the pan. One recipe tells me to heat the sauce in a separate pan before adding to the veggies. I don't always do this and it works out fine. Finish with sesame oil and scallions at the end.
Once you have a tub of gochujang on hand, you will find other uses for it. It's a super versatile flavor.
Some other useful blogs:
Beyond Kimchi
My Korean Kitchen
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:27 AM on April 28, 2012
If there is a particular dish I want to make, I tend to look at multiple recipes on the internet and go from there. I rely on Maangchi as a starting place because she breaks down the cooking techniques so well. The ingredient glossary is also super helpful. A lot what I make is a sort of an average of a few different recipes. Read enough recipes and you start to realize that having a few basic ingredients on hand will allow you to make a lot of different things.
For example, I have a CSA share and tend to cook a lot of my veggies/greens in a sauce made of gochujang (fermented red pepper sauce), sugar, garlic and gochugaru(red pepper flakes to adjust the spiciness). Sometimes I add a little soy sauce as well. Or vinegar. Or both. I mix up the sauce in a dish and adjust to taste before throwing it in the pan. One recipe tells me to heat the sauce in a separate pan before adding to the veggies. I don't always do this and it works out fine. Finish with sesame oil and scallions at the end.
Once you have a tub of gochujang on hand, you will find other uses for it. It's a super versatile flavor.
Some other useful blogs:
Beyond Kimchi
My Korean Kitchen
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:27 AM on April 28, 2012
Maangchi is a very useful resource, so I'm here to second (third??) it as well.
Also, there's a Korean cooking show called "Sinae Choi's Korean Food Cult" that concentrates on basic homestyle cooking. She covers basic recipes, demonstrates the various techniques and gives a running commentary on why she does things and what the ingredients are good for. The episodes never seem to be available in my country (Australia) but there are ways of getting around that.
I cook several Korean dishes on a semi-regular basis: japchae, bimbimbap, bulgogi beef, kimchee, scallion pancakes and so forth. I learned these by trying recipes I found online and comparing them to restaurants I've eaten at - tweaking as required. Prepare for the occasional disaster - it's all part of learning. I bought a little BBQ grill really cheap on eBay that goes over a portablegas burner and we have Korean BBQ at home.
But don't forget about one of the best resources of all - and that is the Korean grocery stores themselves. I've had so much help from going in and asking about stuff. Investigate their coolers and try the zillion different varieties of kimchee. Show an interest and some people will go out of their way to help you out.
posted by ninazer0 at 5:33 PM on April 28, 2012
Also, there's a Korean cooking show called "Sinae Choi's Korean Food Cult" that concentrates on basic homestyle cooking. She covers basic recipes, demonstrates the various techniques and gives a running commentary on why she does things and what the ingredients are good for. The episodes never seem to be available in my country (Australia) but there are ways of getting around that.
I cook several Korean dishes on a semi-regular basis: japchae, bimbimbap, bulgogi beef, kimchee, scallion pancakes and so forth. I learned these by trying recipes I found online and comparing them to restaurants I've eaten at - tweaking as required. Prepare for the occasional disaster - it's all part of learning. I bought a little BBQ grill really cheap on eBay that goes over a portablegas burner and we have Korean BBQ at home.
But don't forget about one of the best resources of all - and that is the Korean grocery stores themselves. I've had so much help from going in and asking about stuff. Investigate their coolers and try the zillion different varieties of kimchee. Show an interest and some people will go out of their way to help you out.
posted by ninazer0 at 5:33 PM on April 28, 2012
Response by poster: Wow! Maangchi is awesome, and exactly what I was looking for. Why didn't I find it before? My google-fu must be out of whack. I'll be checking out the rest of the links later but Maangchi is huge and I'll have to take some time to "digest" it.
This question is my most favorited question ever so I suppose lots of people are interested in the answer. If anybody has more yummy Korean food links to share please do! I'm certain more than me will find them helpful.
And it is definitely time to buy a grill pan.
posted by Mizu at 6:59 PM on April 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
This question is my most favorited question ever so I suppose lots of people are interested in the answer. If anybody has more yummy Korean food links to share please do! I'm certain more than me will find them helpful.
And it is definitely time to buy a grill pan.
posted by Mizu at 6:59 PM on April 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
One thing I like about Maangchi is that she points out regional differences in the preparation of Korean dishes. I have found a lot of English-language Korean food resources to be problematic because they ignore regional differences, or uphold one particular regional variation as being the only way to prepare it. I have even seen Korean food articles in the New York Times describing individual families' idiosyncratic cooking as somehow being representative of Korean food. Personally, I see an increasing gap between Korean and Korean-American cuisines. But, this is something that has happened with other ethnic foods arriving in the U.S. (e.g. Italian and Italian-American cuisine).
I do think Maangchi is a good starting point. For example, Maangchi's mandu recipe is perfectly fine, although I would consider it more a restaurant-style mandu than home-style mandu. I really appreciate she didn't include glass noodles in the filling - at that point we're talking cheap restaurant mandu, not even good restaurant mandu.
I hope you enjoy your journey through Korean cooking, and hope you even encounter some recipes from 600 Years of Seoul Food, the food of my hometown.
posted by needled at 5:22 PM on April 29, 2012
I do think Maangchi is a good starting point. For example, Maangchi's mandu recipe is perfectly fine, although I would consider it more a restaurant-style mandu than home-style mandu. I really appreciate she didn't include glass noodles in the filling - at that point we're talking cheap restaurant mandu, not even good restaurant mandu.
I hope you enjoy your journey through Korean cooking, and hope you even encounter some recipes from 600 Years of Seoul Food, the food of my hometown.
posted by needled at 5:22 PM on April 29, 2012
Response by poster: Needled, I'd love to know more about regional differences and stuff like the history of food in Korea. Things like the spice trade and horticultural history are one of my most favorite things to read about. Do you have any English language book recommendations? They don't need to include recipes, but that is a bonus. I'd love to read something that is more than just a "starting point", something like a textbook or a memoir would be fascinating. It is just hard for me to find something because I don't speak any Korean (and all my language friends speak Japanese) but I'd be most interested in things written from a Korean perspective. Everything about food written originally in English is normally so strongly centered on a European viewpoint; there's almost no getting away from it.
posted by Mizu at 8:58 PM on April 29, 2012
posted by Mizu at 8:58 PM on April 29, 2012
One book worth taking a look at is Chang Sun-Young's "A Korean Mother's Cooking Notes" - it was a bestseller in Korea, albeit the Korean title was "A Cookbook for My Daughters-in-law". It gives a good picture of what a housewife from a middle or upper-middle class background would be expected to know how to prepare day-to-day as well as on special occasions. So not much history, but solid recipes that give you a sense of what a household in Seoul would be eating on a daily basis. This book was also notable when it came out in Korea because it had quite precise measurements and instructions in the recipes, instead of relying on "cook until done" and "season to taste," which was more typical of Korean cookbooks at the time.
posted by needled at 5:23 PM on May 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by needled at 5:23 PM on May 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
(Sorry I can't offer a stronger endorsement or suggest a number of other sites, I personally tend to check Korean-language resources, including my mom ...)
posted by needled at 3:48 AM on April 28, 2012 [9 favorites]