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…
Bibim Bap!
Bibim bap, literally translated is “mixed rice” or as I like to call it, mix-leftovers-with-rice-because-I’m-too-lazy-to-cook bowl. This is a dish that I usually associate with summer since we ate a lot of it as a kid during the hot months. And with the abundance from my dad’s vegetable garden, there was an abundance of banchan….
Bibim naeng myun (Korean spicy cold noodles) #SundaySupper
Growing up in a typical Korean household, my mom ruled the kitchen and my dad sat at the head of the table. He never lifted a finger when it came to cooking. Oh wait, I shouldn’t say “never”, I remember two instances when he “cooked” a meal. There was ONE time when my mom was…
Kalbi Jjim + Slow Cooker = Meaty goodness!
‘Tis the season for braised meat! My sister called me a couple of days ago for a Kalbi Jjim (braised short ribs) recipe. I had one scrawled on a sheet of notebook paper in my binder. I jotted the recipe down several years ago when I asked my mom for her (actually, my grandmother’s) recipe, but I…
Korean-style Steamed Eggplant and My Individual Medley
How has your summer been? Once school was all over back in June, I thought it was going to be smooth sailing with a relaxing, easy going summer. Boy, was I wrong! As I was watching the Olympic swimming events a couple of weeks ago late one night, it hit me. I was doing my…