Korea: centuries of cooking tradition influences by the Japanese and Chinese cuisine. Where pickling is mainstay and spice-intolerance equals slow death by starvation. Everything culminates into Kimchee.
Utter the word Kimchee only with respect and reverence, like a mantra; iIt is that important. Making it well requires a long bloodline of master picklers; it’s not for the faint of heart.
I did some research. It required stone pots half buried in snow covered frozen gardens after it was brined with salt for days. So, skip homemade kimchee for dinner tonight; ain’t gonna happen…
I get such a Sandra Lee feeling; I fail miserably at my own home cooking. I dread going to the Korean store to get me some pickled manna. But I admit defeat. Kimchee is for other people to make; I am just too white…
My poor family has been eating Korean beef soups for the last couple of weeks. They are so sick of it, that there was open revolt last night when I made beef soup again. But I getting the hang of it, finally. It starts with stock: I made mine in the pressure cooker to speed up the process: Pork bones, Garlic cloves, dried shitake mushrooms, carrots, scallions, soy bean sprouts, parsley, bay leaves and thyme
After 2 hours in the pressure cooker, the stock is amazing. Making this stock is already worth the effort; use this at will.
The soup is a mixture of the stock with scallions, garlic, tofu, more soy bean sprouts, Korean red pepper and thinly sliced flank steak. It’s a complete meal by itself. Let cook until very happy and serve piping hot. Nothing better on a cold winter night to warm you with a good soup.
Eat with kimchee, either cooked in the soup or on the side and rice.
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