Eating Korean

That’s right. Dried. Kimchi. I did a double take when I was perusing the aisles of Trader Joe’s. Professional curiosity got the better of me, and the package ended up in my basket. I left it on the table for a couple of days before opening it up.

I opened the package and peered inside. It looks just like what you would expect dried kimchi to look like. I wondered why they would make a product like this. The package suggests using it as a condiment, putting it in your ramen. Why would you do that when you can put in real, plump juicy kimchi?

I poured it out and the entire contents of the $3.99 package fit into a small bowl. It smelled vaugely like kimchi, but didn’t have that delicious pungent odor you would expect from opening a package.

But how does it taste? Would it be too obviously to say that it tastes like freeze dried kimchi? They did to kimchi what they did to ice cream to make it useful for astronauts. They sucked all the liquid out of it and made it a dry and crispy husk of its former self. The first thing that struck me was how salty it was.

I turned over the package and gasped for two reasons. 1) This tiny package supposedly had a serving size of 4. Obviously, not designed for Koreans. And, 2) the sodium content was astronomical — 2,400 mg per serving! Now, I understood why the serving size was 1/4 teaspoon. 2,400 mg is the US recommended daily allowance of sodium per person. I don’t think they could, in good conscience, offer a product that had a per serving content of more than the US RDA of salt. Although they call it a “delicious and healthful snack.” I would not call it delicious. I would not call it healthful. And I would definitely not call it a snack.

I wondered what quality of kimchi they used to dry in the first place. The next time my mom comes over with her baechu kimchi, I may have to get out the food dehydrator and find out what happens. In the meantime, I may have to figure out a delicious use for dried kimchi. Got any ideas?

Come join me for a special evening where I’ll be doing a cooking demonstration and sampling recipes from my latest cookbook, “Quick and Easy Mexican Cooking!”

Traveler’s Bookcase
8375 West Third Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 655-0575

Friday, October 19, 2012
7pm

Just a quick note to all you Northern California peeps, I’ll be in Folsom doing a signing and cooking demo for my cookbook, Quick and Easy Mexican Cooking.

Saturday, July 7th

Noon – 2pm

at the Whole Foods in Folsom

270 Palladio Parkway

Folsom, CA 95630 USA

916.984.8500

See you there!

When I was in Seoul, I was invited to tour CJ Food World, a food court of restaurants and brands owned by South Korea’s largest food company CJ.

First stop, Bibigo.

This was CJ Food’s new concept restaurant, somewhat inspired by Chipotle, it’s a “fast-food” version of bibimbap. But unlike Chipotle, the choices are not so simple and building your bowl is a little bit complicated. (I also am not a fan of the idea of “Korean tapas,” whatever that means.)

Regardless, I was served a fresh bibimbap bowl. It lacked the soul of Korean flavor, but it wasn’t bad, and definitely healthy.

We toured the rest of the location, including VIPS, CJ’s answer to the steak house.

There was also Loco Curry, a fast food curry joint.

The Tofu House was a clean-line, exposed wood place that served healthy tofu dishes.

They also had a nice noodle joint, with freshly made kalgooksu.

The unfortunately named China Factory, is one of their newer restaurant concepts. I really enjoyed my meal at the one in Daehang-no. A full review will follow shortly.

They even had a flower shop.

And a store where you can buy many of CJ’s products.

Seeing the array, you can see how huge they really are. Here are a line of their jjangajji (pickling) vinegars.

They even had a test kitchen for kids (note the cute heart-shaped frying pans and such). Unfortunately, they only have cooking workshops in Korean.

I’m a sucker for bread displays and the one in Tous les Jours is made with real bread (I had to check!).

We finished off our tour with some Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. No, CJ doesn’t make them, but they brought the popular American chain into Korea under their umbrella.

Not bad for a company started by selling sugar, right? It’s a good place to bring a group or your kids, if you can’t decide what to have for lunch. But then again, the plethora of choices might make your head explode!

CJ Food World
Seoul-si, Jung-gu, Ssangnim-dong 292
On the basement level (and a bit on the 1st floor) of the CJ Tower in Jongno
Take subway line 2, 4 or 5 to the Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (exit 6)
It’s less than a 5-minute walk from there.
1577-9622
Open daily 11 am to 10pm

Tags: bibigo, china factory, cj food restaurants, CJ Food World, korean fast food, loco curry, seoul restaurants, seould fast food restaurants, tous les jours, vips

Come enter your kimchi recipe for the first annual Good Food LA event at Metabolic Studios. I’m going to be one of the preliminary judges!

Even if you don’t enter the cooking contest, come join us this Saturday, March 31st!

Tags: cabbage, cooking contest, good food la, kimchi, metabolic studios

Just before Kim Jong-Il died, my Aunt Jumi and I had made a reservation to visit Yanggu and go to the observatory platform there. Yanggu and the “Punchbowl” village was where the bloodiest battles were fought during the Korean war. It’s the closest you can get in the DMZ to North Korea without actually crossing the border.

It’s called the “punchbowl” btw, because some American correspondent called it that, seeing the geography of the region while flying overhead. (Unfortunately, my photo does not do it justice.)

Of course, the day we had made our reservation was the day after Kim Jong-Il died. So, they called us from the tourist info office in Yanggu and told us we couldn’t go since things were uncertain. Luckily, we were able to go a couple of days later. However, it turned out to be both good and bad. It had snowed a ton the day before, so the road to the observatory was closed.

I couldn’t go look at North Korea, but I did get a chance to visit the 4th Infiltration Tunnel (so named, since it was the 4th of the tunnels dug by North Korean soldiers, that the South Koreans discovered). I was the only one on the whole tour (since my aunt had an attack of claustrophobia as we were entering), so it was just me, a soldier and the guide. We walked through a tunnel to get to the tunnel and rode a rickety monorail train into the first 100 meters of the tunnel. The guide showed me some dynamite marks and tracks laid out by the North Koreans and then we rode the rickety train back and walked out. Not worth a special trip, but I’m glad I saw it.

Then, we went to Dutayeon, the nature preserve and river, that had been salvaged from land littered with mines. That land, now a special military base, was part of North Korea for a time. The North Koreans had covered what used to be small farms with thousands of mines. The South Koreans got a hold of it when the ceasefire happened. And after decades, they cleared some of the mines and made it a nature preserve.

We arrived in the afternoon and two ladies there greeted us in the nicest fashion and asked if we had lunch. We hadn’t had time to eat because we were busy touring the tunnel. Concerned, they made us ramen.

And gave us kimchi that they had made, which was really tasty, too!

My aunt and I were the only ones on the tour. And when we arrived, the entire area was blanketed with virgin snow, still undisturbed from the previous night’s storm.

On the other side, over the ridge is North Korea.

The path was wide, but the winter sun was starting to set already.

On either side of the path were barbed wire fencing and signs that warned of mines.

The one good side effect of the Korean war, was this unintended nature preserve created because the area was too dangerous for humans to tread, but fine enough for the light-footed animals — the deer, mountain goats, rabbits and birds that lived in the area.

The beautiful scenery had a section that highlighted the remnants of war — pieces of artillery, soldiers’ helmets, army rations and spent mines found in the area.

If you get a chance to visit Gangwon-do and the lesser traveled parts of the DMZ, plan ahead for a trip to Yanggu. You’ll be rewarded with warm Korean hospitality (although the ladies at the tourist office will probably not make you ramen) and beautiful scenery, dotted with remnants of Korea’s not-so-distant violent past.

This particular trip was poignant for me, not only because of Kim Jong-Il’s death, but since it may be the last trip that my Jumi-imo and I will be able to take together. In her quiet resolve, she neglected the cancer that had been growing inside her for so long that it has spread to her bones now. And I fear that she doesn’t have much time left. At least, she was able to enjoy the kindness of strangers and a pristine nature that seemed to have been preserved for our benefit.

Tags: 4th infiltration tunnel, dmz, dutayeon, fourth infiltration tunnel, north korea, punchbowl village, ramen, yanggu

Of all the hole in the wall restaurants I’ve been to in my life (and in my profession I have been to many), this was the most “hole in the wall” place I’ve ever been to.

In the shopping district in Gangneung, there’s a Baskin Robbins on the main drag. If you turn into a tiny alley to the right of the ice cream shop, you have to walk single file because it’s so narrow only one person can squeeze through at a time.

In this dark alley that even a bicycle can’t fit through, there is a shack, an old, old house that they run a restaurant out of. It’s called Geum-ak Kalgooksu.

You step inside the run-down old place and you have to call into the kitchen so that they know you’re there. There’s no menu; all they make is kalgooksu (handmade noodles). They tell you to go inside and have a seat and the room took be back to my childhood growing up in Korea in the 1970s.

I don’t think the room has been renovated since the 70s. It looks just like the room my siblings and I used to sleep in behind my mom’s beauty salon. There were only 3 tables inside and plain brown wrap wallpaper that had been written on by people who’ve frequented the place.

There’s just a little sign on the wall that has also been graffitied letting you know that a bowl of rice will cost you an extra W1000.

The handmade “knife” noodles arrives swimming in a spicy broth, that tastes like 1975, too. It had an anchovy-based broth with bits of gim (dried seaweed) and ggae (sesame seeds) generously sprinkled on top.

It was served with a side of kimchi. That was it.

For W6000 I got to taste my childhood again. I think for that price, it was a bargain.

Tags: gangneung, gangneung kalgooksu restaurant, handmade knife noodles, handmade korean noodles, hole in the wall restaurant, kal gooksu, kalgooksu, korean noodles

I arrived in Korea just in time to peel pounds of garlic and julienne piles and piles of Asian radish (mu) in preparation for the annual gimjang. Thank goodness for sharp knives and mandolins!

The radish starts as white as snow and we mix spices, seafood, seasoning and other vegetables.

My great aunt bought a giant jar of salted brine shrimp (jeotgal).

And put in a generous amount of it into the mix. She also added fish sauce I brought from America, as well as actual coarse sea salt (since the sea salt helps to keep the cabbage crisp during fermentation).

She made a flavor mix out of chile powder (gochu galu), garlic, cooked rice and sea salt.

And we added generous amounts of miced garlic (Kimchi wouldn’t be Korea’s national dish without it, I think.).

Tubs full of thin green onions (pa) and mustard greens (got) get added to the filling.

My aunt grates Asian pear (bae) and onion (yangpa).

Some ginger gets grated into it too and then it all gets added to the filling.

My great aunt puts in some sweet plum (meshil) tea that she had prepared beforehand (in lieu of sugar), as well as some cooled fish broth from boiling dried fish. After mixing and mixing, the filling is finally ready (Notice how nice and red it is!).

Now for the napa cabbage (baechu). In the old days, we used to sprinkle the cabbage leaves, one by one with sea salt and soak the baechu overnight. Now, in the cities, you can order your baechu, pre-brined, pliable and ready for filling.

The labor intensive part is the stuffing of the cabbages, one by one, with a bit of filling between each leaf.

Then the large outer leaf is used to wrap each 1/2 head. One by one until all the cabbage is stuffed.

Once all the cabbages are filled, they can put into containers. In the old days, they were put into large clay pots and buried in the snow. Now they go into giant tupperware containers and get neatly packed into kimchi refrigerators ready for a year’s worth of kimchi eating!

Tags: annual kimchi, baechu gimchi, bulk kimchi, gimchi, gimjang, kimchi, kimchi making, napa cabbage, napa cabbage kimchi, spicy kimchi

Exciting news! I’m teaching a hands-on cooking class on how to make kimchi on

Saturday, November 12th at 2pm
in the catering kitchen of Jennie Cook at

3048 Fletcher Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90065
(just a couple of doors down from the fire station)

We’ll also put on a pot of cranberries so you can take a jar home for your Thanksgiving dinner.

I will be teaching the class at the Glassell Park kitchens of Los Angeles caterer, Jennie Cook. Everyone will go home with a jar of cranberry chutney and jars of kimchi. AND if Jennie gets her pressure cooker in time, she’ll even do a demonstration on how to can tuna at home (something she picked up from the Master Canners).

Did I mention, I’ll also share my family’s kimchi stuffing recipe?

Class size is limited (to those we can squeeze into the industrial kitchen), so reserve a spot soon!

RSVP with jenniecooks@jenniecooks.com or 323-982-0052. Only $65 per person, which includes all the supplies and trimmings.

Tags: canning, class, cooking, cooking class, cranberries, cranberry chutney, hands on, hands on cooking class, jennie cooks, kimchi, kimchi stuffing, preserving

I just moderated a panel at the Korea Society in New York, called “Korean Food in the Digital Age.” It was odd to be speaking to everyone via Skype, but I think that’s apropos for the topic at hand and what the theme of the night was about.

The guests were Debbie Lee (who was a finalist on the third season of ” The Next Food Network Star”), Steve Porto (the chef-owner of New York’s popular Asia Dog) and Edward Song of Korilla BBQ (who was on “The Great Food Truck Race).

Here is a description of the program:

Rising culinary entrepreneurs—Food Network finalist Debbie Lee, Edward “3d” Song of Korilla BBQ, and Steve Porto from Asiadog—discuss the unique demands of food-trucks and mobile kitchens, new-generation customers, and inspirations found in Korean culinary culture. Fostering a multicultural palate by combining traditional and new ingredients—and employing the latest digital and social media—these young chefs and restaurateurs introduce fresh approaches to Korean cuisine, adapt start-ups in a fast-changing marketplace, and share Korean culture with new audiences. Guests will enjoy a sampling of these chefs’ signature dishes.

It was an interesting discussion about Korean cuisine, mobile food, Korean culture and the trials and tribulations of running a restaurant in contemporary times.

You can see more info on the Korea Society’s site.

Tags: ahn-joo, asia dog, asiadog, debbie lee, digital age, eddie song, food truck, korean food, korean fusion, korilla, new york, new york korea society, steve port