The Joy of Korean Food: A Personal Journey

As I sit down to cook, I'm reminded of the countless hours spent perfecting my recipes. For me, cooking is not just about following a recipe, but about understanding the nuances of Korean cuisine and sharing that with my family and friends. My journey into Korean cooking began many years ago, when I first discovered the thrill of boiling Spam in kimchi juice - it was like a different kind of flavor explosion! From there, I moved on to making my own kimchi, using a specific Korean pepper called KJang, which adds an essential fermented flavor to any dish. I've since perfected my recipe for single-head Nappa cabbage kimchi and Tongvetu kimchi, both of which make appearances regularly in my kitchen.

One of the challenges of cooking Korean food is balancing flavors, particularly when it comes to using a variety of fermented ingredients like KJang and soybean paste. However, these ingredients are what give Korean cuisine its unique flavor profile - rich, savory, and umami. When I think about my favorite dishes, I realize that noodles play a significant role in many of them. Whether it's stir-fried noodles or a hearty bowl of noodle soup, the key to success is cooking the noodles just right - not too overcooked, but still firm enough to hold their shape.

Another crucial element in Korean cuisine is seaweed. As a peninsular country, Korea has an abundance of seaweed, which adds depth and complexity to many dishes. For me, roasting seaweed brings out its natural umami flavor, making it a staple ingredient in my pantry. I love adding it to kimchi fried rice or noodle dishes, as well as using it as a garnish for soups. The beauty of Korean cooking lies in its ability to balance flavors and textures, with each ingredient playing its part in harmony.

When it comes to serving food, I believe that the presentation is just as important as the taste. In my household, meals are always served family-style, with each person having their own bowl or plate. This way, everyone can serve themselves and enjoy the meal at their own pace. The key to a successful family-style meal is making sure that each component is perfectly balanced - in this case, that means a steaming hot noodle soup, accompanied by a generous serving of rice, kimchi, and a variety of toppings.

For me, one of the highlights of Korean cooking is the use of American cheese. Yes, you read that right! In Korea, it's not uncommon to add a slice or two of American cheese to noodle soups, which adds a rich, creamy element that complements the savory flavors of the soup. The trick is to place the cheese over the noodles before adding more broth, so that it melts just enough to coat the noodles in its gooey goodness.

The Korean Wave: A Cultural Movement

In recent years, I've been fortunate enough to be a part of the growing Korean wave movement, which has brought international recognition to Korean culture. From K-pop and K-drama to Korean cinema and food - everything is suddenly cool! As someone who's always identified as Korean, I never thought I'd experience this kind of cultural validation. But now that I have, I feel a sense of pride and connection to my heritage.

This movement has brought me closer to understanding what it means to be Korean. For so long, I've been cooking without recipes - just following the flavors and intuition. Now, with the world's attention on Korea, I'm excited to explore new ingredients and techniques that will help me refine my craft. It's also made me realize how much Korean cuisine has to offer, from spicy stews to comforting noodle soups.

As I sit down to enjoy a meal, I'm reminded of the power of food to bring people together. Whether it's a family dinner or a gathering with friends, sharing a delicious meal is always the key to connection and community. In my household, meals are an essential part of our daily routine - and Korean cuisine has been at the center of it all.

The Importance of Food in Korean Culture

Food plays a significant role in Korean culture - it's not just about sustenance; it's also about tradition, hospitality, and community. When I think about my favorite dishes, I realize that they often evoke memories of family gatherings and special occasions. Whether it's a traditional holiday meal or a simple weeknight dinner, food is always at the heart of Korean culture.

One of the most meaningful aspects of Korean cuisine is its connection to geography. As a peninsular country, Korea has an abundance of seaweed, which adds depth and complexity to many dishes. For me, using seaweed in cooking brings out its natural umami flavor, making it a staple ingredient in my pantry. I love adding it to kimchi fried rice or noodle dishes, as well as using it as a garnish for soups.

The Joy of Cooking: A Personal Journey

For me, cooking is not just about following a recipe; it's about understanding the nuances of Korean cuisine and sharing that with my family and friends. My journey into Korean cooking began many years ago, when I first discovered the thrill of boiling Spam in kimchi juice - it was like a different kind of flavor explosion! From there, I moved on to making my own kimchi, using a specific Korean pepper called KJang, which adds an essential fermented flavor to any dish.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit's a remnant of the war it's a dish that I think Koreans have reclaimed in my family especially pich is a feast my name is Eric Kim I'm a cooking columnist for the New York Times and I developed 10 recipes that I consider essential to me I sort of describe them as my desert island Korean Feast so I definitely overthought this list first of all I've been thinking about it for years even before was even at the times I was like someday I hope I could I hope I can do the Korean one I knew Peta had to be one of the 10 because I think it tells such a big story Pig translates to Army based stew it really is just a hot pot of wonderful ingredients you dump everything in the pot you pour water over it you bring it to a boil and then you add noodles and a slice of cheese and that's it sorry I wish it was more lyrical but but there isn't much to it and that's why I love it what you're actually doing is assembling everything in the pot first slicing some onion daon this is homemade kimchi that I brought that I made myself really proud of I'll show you in a second it's a dish that has many ghosts after the war it's with the leftover Army rations from these us camps you would take those Army rations that were leftover spam Cann canned VI sausages like stuff like that you would take all of that and create a stew out of it and so I think think for older Generations who think of picha they think of the trauma of the war what I think it really I just picked like the most serious dish to make for this video uh I think it really shows the resilience of the Korean people I think it shows survival so I think with this picha recipe I really wanted to keep the ingredient L minimal it's like hard to say about this dish cuz this dish is anything but minimal it's pretty maximal actually soy sauce and KRA Jang and and garlic and all these things are very flavorful right uh cuts of meat that are a little more flavorful than what might normally be in piga I think a lot of people have a nostalgic sauce spot for like regular hot dogs sort of my least favorite part of piga so I didn't include them because I love kind of the fennel note of an Italian sausage in there I love that sweet almost mapley like breakfast sausage kind of vibe and kobasa is just like the best and it has a great texture and tastes really good but these meats are also gaining the red kukaru K Jang kimchi um flavors and there's nothing like a piece of spam that's been boiled in kimchi juice it's just like a different kind of ethereal this is exactly half a gallon and I made a single head of Nappa cabbage kimchi and it fit exactly this and this is the tong vetu kimchi it's number 10 on my list of essential curan recipes I just like didn't think that I could do a list of 10 without the kimchi I think Kato is an essential Korean ingredient for sure it's a specific Korean pepper it's what I use to make this kimchi K Jang all the Changs the K Jang which is a Korean pepper paste tenang is a fermented soybean paste there's also Kang which is just soy sauce the one thing that they bring is this fermented flavor you know that resultant broth just imagine the the combination make the broth just so packed with flavor it's one of those bites of food that everyone loves part of the Journey of being a Korean in the United States is that you're constantly having to prove how Korean you are um and then not to mention on the side you're also trying to prove how American you are to the non- Koreans and of course ultimately in the end what makes me crean is just what's in here but I think also tapping into the food I feel like I've really learned a lot about myself as a Korean cook what does it mean to be a Korean cook I think for me that means when you're cooking without recipes and it's just a part of your life like when I have some leftover kimchi I'm going to turn it into kimchi chig I'm going to turn that kimchi chig into chig so I really like these dishes these 10 that I decided on are the ones that are the most regular in my house on my table ready it's all about the noodle I like the noodles a lot and uh but there's a real trick to it like you need to make sure to not overcook them and you also need to make sure to only boil as much as you'll eat in that moment cuz you can always add more water and add more noodles like on the next reheat it's going to cook for like 2 minutes just until it's done I think it's important to say that seaweed is a big part of the cuisine and I like that because it tells the story of Korea's geography it's a peninsular country and the shores are Rife with seaweed and so I think it makes sense that the cuisine is also really takes advantage of the Umami in seaweed for my family Keim roasted seaweed is a really big part of our pantry my mom would take that Keim and crush it in between her hands and shower it over her kimchi fried rice or it would be in a noodle dish maybe I throw it into a lot of things and even in my grits so good would you like one the reason you pile them in sections like that is because they kind of like move around a little bit but for the most part they stay in their section in the pot so it's a very like snug pot full of a lot of things the bua comes to the table right in the center and everyone has their bowl of white rice which is a nice landing pad for everything it says a lot about you like what you reach for when everything's in its section like that you're able to to grab the piece you want and I like that you know I'm the guy who would probably sitting closest to the to the sausages and in the center goes the noodle with my normal size spoon and the noodle specifically you don't break it up you leave it in its shape that keeps it pretty alente but also because you want to be able to really like fish it out and it's over the noodle that I like to do this one slice of American cheese this is imperative and in order for the cheese to not just absolutely melt into the soup it's really important I think to do this just like I lay it over the noodles so that it doesn't bleed too much in and just let it melt that's what that's like the second best first bite I would say it's like taking the noodle with the American cheese and just like slurping that and then chasing it with rice guys it's so good it's like I can't wait to feed everyone here I can't do this interview without talking about the Korean wave hu like I think this boom in Korean culture an international recognition of Korean food of Korean pop music of Korean Cinema it's a real wonderful moment to be Korean again I've been Korean my whole life but it's really just now that I feel like I'm sort of like growing into it or leaning into it and and feeling very Koreanit's a remnant of the war it's a dish that I think Koreans have reclaimed in my family especially pich is a feast my name is Eric Kim I'm a cooking columnist for the New York Times and I developed 10 recipes that I consider essential to me I sort of describe them as my desert island Korean Feast so I definitely overthought this list first of all I've been thinking about it for years even before was even at the times I was like someday I hope I could I hope I can do the Korean one I knew Peta had to be one of the 10 because I think it tells such a big story Pig translates to Army based stew it really is just a hot pot of wonderful ingredients you dump everything in the pot you pour water over it you bring it to a boil and then you add noodles and a slice of cheese and that's it sorry I wish it was more lyrical but but there isn't much to it and that's why I love it what you're actually doing is assembling everything in the pot first slicing some onion daon this is homemade kimchi that I brought that I made myself really proud of I'll show you in a second it's a dish that has many ghosts after the war it's with the leftover Army rations from these us camps you would take those Army rations that were leftover spam Cann canned VI sausages like stuff like that you would take all of that and create a stew out of it and so I think think for older Generations who think of picha they think of the trauma of the war what I think it really I just picked like the most serious dish to make for this video uh I think it really shows the resilience of the Korean people I think it shows survival so I think with this picha recipe I really wanted to keep the ingredient L minimal it's like hard to say about this dish cuz this dish is anything but minimal it's pretty maximal actually soy sauce and KRA Jang and and garlic and all these things are very flavorful right uh cuts of meat that are a little more flavorful than what might normally be in piga I think a lot of people have a nostalgic sauce spot for like regular hot dogs sort of my least favorite part of piga so I didn't include them because I love kind of the fennel note of an Italian sausage in there I love that sweet almost mapley like breakfast sausage kind of vibe and kobasa is just like the best and it has a great texture and tastes really good but these meats are also gaining the red kukaru K Jang kimchi um flavors and there's nothing like a piece of spam that's been boiled in kimchi juice it's just like a different kind of ethereal this is exactly half a gallon and I made a single head of Nappa cabbage kimchi and it fit exactly this and this is the tong vetu kimchi it's number 10 on my list of essential curan recipes I just like didn't think that I could do a list of 10 without the kimchi I think Kato is an essential Korean ingredient for sure it's a specific Korean pepper it's what I use to make this kimchi K Jang all the Changs the K Jang which is a Korean pepper paste tenang is a fermented soybean paste there's also Kang which is just soy sauce the one thing that they bring is this fermented flavor you know that resultant broth just imagine the the combination make the broth just so packed with flavor it's one of those bites of food that everyone loves part of the Journey of being a Korean in the United States is that you're constantly having to prove how Korean you are um and then not to mention on the side you're also trying to prove how American you are to the non- Koreans and of course ultimately in the end what makes me crean is just what's in here but I think also tapping into the food I feel like I've really learned a lot about myself as a Korean cook what does it mean to be a Korean cook I think for me that means when you're cooking without recipes and it's just a part of your life like when I have some leftover kimchi I'm going to turn it into kimchi chig I'm going to turn that kimchi chig into chig so I really like these dishes these 10 that I decided on are the ones that are the most regular in my house on my table ready it's all about the noodle I like the noodles a lot and uh but there's a real trick to it like you need to make sure to not overcook them and you also need to make sure to only boil as much as you'll eat in that moment cuz you can always add more water and add more noodles like on the next reheat it's going to cook for like 2 minutes just until it's done I think it's important to say that seaweed is a big part of the cuisine and I like that because it tells the story of Korea's geography it's a peninsular country and the shores are Rife with seaweed and so I think it makes sense that the cuisine is also really takes advantage of the Umami in seaweed for my family Keim roasted seaweed is a really big part of our pantry my mom would take that Keim and crush it in between her hands and shower it over her kimchi fried rice or it would be in a noodle dish maybe I throw it into a lot of things and even in my grits so good would you like one the reason you pile them in sections like that is because they kind of like move around a little bit but for the most part they stay in their section in the pot so it's a very like snug pot full of a lot of things the bua comes to the table right in the center and everyone has their bowl of white rice which is a nice landing pad for everything it says a lot about you like what you reach for when everything's in its section like that you're able to to grab the piece you want and I like that you know I'm the guy who would probably sitting closest to the to the sausages and in the center goes the noodle with my normal size spoon and the noodle specifically you don't break it up you leave it in its shape that keeps it pretty alente but also because you want to be able to really like fish it out and it's over the noodle that I like to do this one slice of American cheese this is imperative and in order for the cheese to not just absolutely melt into the soup it's really important I think to do this just like I lay it over the noodles so that it doesn't bleed too much in and just let it melt that's what that's like the second best first bite I would say it's like taking the noodle with the American cheese and just like slurping that and then chasing it with rice guys it's so good it's like I can't wait to feed everyone here I can't do this interview without talking about the Korean wave hu like I think this boom in Korean culture an international recognition of Korean food of Korean pop music of Korean Cinema it's a real wonderful moment to be Korean again I've been Korean my whole life but it's really just now that I feel like I'm sort of like growing into it or leaning into it and and feeling very Korean\n"