Why Korean Cooking?
Korean Cookery
Chapter 1 · Why Korean Cooking? Scope, Pantry & Sources
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
The Wikipedia article calls Korean cuisine "largely based on rice, vegetables, seafood and (at least in South Korea) meats". It says meals "are named for the number of side dishes" that accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice, that soup is part of the main course and not a starter or dessert, and that "Kimchi is served at nearly every meal." So a Korean meal is not one dish with a side. It is several things on the table together, and cooking it means learning a small set of parts.
The shape of a meal
| Part | What it is | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Bap | Cooked rice | A bowl for each person |
| Guk or tang | Soup | A bowl for each person |
| Jjigae | A thicker, heavier-seasoned stew (the article's wording) | A shared pot in the middle |
| Banchan | "Small side dishes served along with cooked rice", in small portions "meant to be finished at each meal" | In the middle, to share |
| Kimchi | A banchan the article says appears at nearly every meal | In the middle |
| A main dish | A secondary main course such as galbi or bulgogi | In the centre |
The banchan article says the settings are counted in cheop: 3, 5, 7, 9 or 12, with kimchi not included in the count. It associates 12 cheop with royal cuisine, and the banchan article suggests more formal meals have more banchan, though I did not see a source for that. A passage on who got how many (a king 12, family members up to 9) is tagged "citation needed", so I treat it as a belief and not a fact. For home cooking, the practical lesson is that a plain meal is rice, soup, kimchi and two or three small dishes.
Fermentation is the flavour base
The article lists the common ingredients as "sesame oil, doenjang, soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, gochugaru, gochujang, and napa cabbage", and says fermented condiments are called jang, including ganjang, doenjang and gochujang. The banchan article adds that fermentation was preferred for preserving food because cooking oil was scarce, a claim it states without a source in what I read. Chapter 4 covers kimchi in detail.
The pantry
Seven things will be used again and again through the course. The "What the source says" column is from the articles; the last column is mine and unverified.
| Item | What the source says | My note |
|---|---|---|
| Ganjang (soy sauce) | The doenjang article says the filtrate from aged meju is boiled to become ganjang. | Look for "Korean soup soy sauce" or "all-purpose" on labels; check the label for wheat and soy, which are allergens. |
| Doenjang | A fermented bean paste of soybean and brine, made from dried bricks (meju) aged in crocks. Traditional versions use "soybeans and brine only"; factory versions contain wheat flour, and some contain anchovies. | Salty and savoury. Read the label for wheat, anchovy and soy, which matter if you avoid them. |
| Gochujang | A "savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment" of red chili powder, glutinous rice, fermented soybean powder, malt and salt; "a dark red paste, with a rich, piquant flavor". | Sweet and spicy. Brands vary in heat and sweetness; start small. |
| Gochugaru | "Dried chili powder or flakes", from fine powder to flakes; "mildly hot to very hot"; "a vibrant red color"; "spicy, sweet, and slightly smoky". | Not the same as ordinary chilli flakes, which I expect to be hotter and different in flavour; buy the Korean kind if you can. |
| Sesame oil | Listed among the common ingredients. | Toasted sesame oil is strong; use by the teaspoon, at the end. |
| Garlic and ginger | Both listed among the common ingredients. | Fresh; buy small amounts. |
| Short-grain rice | The preferred grain; steam-cooked. | Chapter 2 covers how to cook it. |
Allergens: soy sauce, doenjang and gochujang are made from soybeans, and many contain wheat; some doenjang contains anchovies. Sesame is a common allergen too. Read every label.
Raw garlic and chilli: wash your hands after handling chilli powder and do not touch your eyes.
What the sources disagree about
- Where kimchi began. The Korean cuisine article says Baekje "was known for cold foods and fermented foods like kimchi", and also that the Goguryeo people are "attributed with the earliest kimchi". It does not reconcile them.
- Gochujang's age. The article says chilli peppers reached East Asia through Portuguese traders in the early 16th century, but that the article also mentions pepper pastes older than the arrival of chilli peppers. So the old texts describe a different product from today's chilli paste, and I do not repeat the older dates as the history of gochujang.
- Health claims. The articles say gochujang "was believed to revitalize" the sick and that some studies are cited for chilli benefits. These are hedged and vague. This course makes no health claims about kimchi, fermented pastes or chilli.
Try it
A tasting of the three pastes
Before you cook with a jar, taste it on its own, in a tiny amount, with something plain. Put a little of each on a spoon with a slice of cucumber, one at a time, and write down what you taste.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 1 tsp doenjang
- 1 tsp gochujang
- 1 tsp Korean soy sauce (ganjang)
- 1 cucumber, sliced into rounds
- 1 glass of water to rinse your mouth between tastes
- Put the three on a plate with a teaspoon each. Taste the cucumber alone first.
- Taste each paste on its own tiny dab, then with cucumber. Rinse with water between them.
- Write down for each: salty, sweet, spicy, savoury, sour, how thick, how long the taste lasts. There is no right answer.
Ssamjang, a dipping sauce for wraps
The doenjang article says doenjang is "mixed with garlic, sesame oil, and sometimes gochujang to make ssamjang, eaten in leaf wraps with meats such as samgyeopsal and bulgogi." Here the leaves are lettuce and the filling is cucumber, so you need no meat. The amounts are my own starting point.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 2 tbsp doenjang
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- 1 small clove garlic, grated
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 spring onion, finely sliced
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
- 6 large lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 cucumber, cut into sticks
- Mix the doenjang, gochujang, garlic and sesame oil in a small bowl until smooth.
- Taste a tiny amount on the tip of a spoon. If it is too salty, add a few drops of water; if too hot, add a little more doenjang.
- Stir in the spring onion and sesame seeds. Put the sauce in the middle of the table.
- To eat: put a stick of cucumber in a lettuce leaf, add a small dab of sauce, fold it up and eat it in one bite.
Experiments
Challenges
Describe the parts of a plain Korean meal and where each goes on the table, using the words bap, guk, jjigae, banchan and kimchi. Explain what cheop counts and what it leaves out.
Visit a shop (or browse online) and read the label of one doenjang and one gochujang. Write down the ingredients, whether each contains wheat or fish, and the heat or sweetness if the label says. Then say which of these you would buy first and why.
Make the ssamjang, taste your own versions from the two experiments, and write a short note: the ratio you prefer, what the garlic did, and one thing you would change next time.
Quick Reference
- A meal: rice, soup, a shared stew, banchan and kimchi, with a main dish in the centre
- Cheop: counts the banchan (3, 5, 7, 9, 12); kimchi is not counted
- The pastes: doenjang (savoury, soybean), gochujang (sweet and spicy), ganjang (soy sauce)
- Gochugaru: Korean chilli powder or flakes; "mildly hot to very hot"
- Ssamjang: doenjang, garlic, sesame oil and sometimes gochujang; eaten in leaf wraps
- Always: taste small, read allergen labels, start with half the heat
- Check: every quantity (mine, untested) and what is on sale near you
Next chapter: Rice and the Korean Table, which covers cooking short-grain rice and how the table is set and eaten.