"When your food stares back at you" 파란눈으로 보는 한국 생선의 측은한 눈길

In dining with friends who are not familiar with Korean food, I am often asked about the eyes. I mean "the eyes", as in "Here's looking at you, baby" kind of eyes. They invariably would tell me that eyes or head left on the fish, bother them. It does decrease their enjoyment, they would say. Perhaps, their aversion may ameliorate, if they heard the whole fish tale. In many Asian culinary traditions, preserving or re-creating of the former living self of the fish has been a necessary part of culinary training as well as a showcase of the chef's skill. Every part of the fish is always used in preparation of the dish. A hwe (sashimi; thinly sliced raw fish) plate is prepared fresh, using the fish the customer just chose from the large aquarium. The fish is, then, prepared with minimal preparation; filleted, & skillfully paper-thin sliced. The hwe slices are artfully arranged back on the fish carcass & presented on a porcelain plate on a mound of thinly sliced fresh radish. This beautifully presented dish is presented with a spicy dipping sauce; wasabe-based, soy sauce-based, or gochoojang-based. Since the customer just paid a large sum of money to ensure the fish's freshness, he or she would like to have what they had paid for. Hence, the use of the remainder of the fish on the plate as a "CSI" identification purposes. Sometimes, you can even see the fish's muscle still twitching. It is that fresh. Now, I understand that this is a bit bizarre to many western eyes, but for cultures where fish has been a large part of their diet, it is understandable that different sets of standards develop. Remaining carcass is not discarded, of course. Rather, it is made into a delectable spicy or non-spicy stew/soup on the spot. In fish markets, it is customary that customers get the fish head along with the main part of the fish when the fish manger guts, cleans, & quarters the fish. There are also more esoteric recipes specifically created for fish heads; most commonly that cod fish. Koreans believe that every part of the fish has its own flavor and texture, even the head. Surprisingly it does, it does have slightly distinctive taste & the cheek meat is delightful. When I eat cod eye balls in front of my western friends, they invariably cringe at the sight. But it is not quite like Bear Grylls eating raw eyeballs from a dead wild ram carcass for survival (if you ever watch Man vs Wild on Discovery).  For Korean food, it is a matter of frugality, practicality, & culinary creativity. As for those mini eyes of the dry anchovies, you are on your own. Taste it, you may like it. For the record, the eyes are not gazing into your beautiful sympathetic eyes. The last thing they saw was a day in the school, admiring the hind pins of this hot new fish in the school. Thank them for letting us nourish our bodies & we move on.
*CSI=Cut Sashimi Investigation.

메뉴쓰기

메뉴쓰기

• 피할 수 있으면 피해야 할 단어들
• 상큼한 형용사들
• 요리방법 표기
• 식재료 표기

"How to enjoy Korean food" Taste

"How to enjoy Korean food" Texture

If I were told to pick one & only one unique aspect of the sensual experience that is Korean food. I would probably say texture. It is not just texture in a traditional & ubiquitous sense of the word as found in the western culinary training. Texture as in elastic. One rarely finds elastic foods in western savory dishes. It is not so in Korean menus. Take Naeng-Myun for instance. Naeng-Myun literally means cold (naeng) noodles (myun). An interesting eating utensil that one always finds with Nang-Myun is a pair of sharp scissors. The server would ask politely, "would you like the noodle chopped?" And to this question, most would nod with an enthusiastic approval. Naeng-Myun truly is an exotic experience. I recommend that you try to eat the noodles initially without the aid of the scissors. With one successful swallow of the first yarns of NaengMyun, you will have a pretty good idea how a novice sword swallower may feel. The group of whole strands will be traveling in unison though your upper digestive tract. The front of the strands will have already passed your epi-gastric sphincter while the tail ends are still enjoying the cavernous scenery in the pharynx, titillating or even tickling the innocent uvula. By now, you will think, "Ok, I will use the scissors, after all." If the noodle kitchen was one of those less visited stringy smaller islands in Galapagos, the noodle genome would probably have selected Naeng-Myun as the fittest of them all. That is if on this island, gluten is the ultimate genetic trophy. Similar pursuit of elasticity, using gluten has occurred in many global culinary history; the concept of "Al-dente" for an example. There are as many attributes in noodle textures as there are types of noodles in the world. The  most common denominator has been the texture (firmness or elasticity, if you will). There are various ways to make the noodle firm. Most common are selection of flour or flours; various high gluten flours or combination of flours. Once the flour is selected, there are other methods that can amplify the texture/elasticity; use of alkali/base water, addition of protein (eggs), mechanical effect of kneading, & use of pressure extrusion instruments or machines. Nang-Myun uses buckwheat as the basis. Buckwheat by itself doesn't contain enough of the needed gluten. Therefore, the recipe requires addition of starch (traditionally potato starch or sweet potato starch). This mixture is made into a dough & vigorously kneaded. Then it is extruded from a highly pressurized extrusion noodle machine often directly into boiling water. In the US market most restaurants use fresh frozen form of these extrusion noodles. There are also recipes that use only buckwheet flour. This formulation must be made using extrusion method. It is softer & than ones made from the combination dough. Nang-Myuns are categorizes largely in four categories; one with cold clarified beef broth, one with spicy sauce without the broth, one with sweet & spicy raw fish toppings, and finally one with water kimchi (Dong-chi-mi, Yulmoo-kim-chi) juice. The original form of this noodle recipes developed in the north, in today's north Korea. Hence, the dependence on buckwheat & potato starch. These plants can grow in cold mountainous climate of north Korea. It was typically enjoyed in the thick of winter, shut in by the snow, toasting one's body on the heavily heated floor. It was served with frozen broth shavings or in heavily chilled broth & simple topping. Toppings in this traditional north korean recipe included spicy raw sting ray & thin slices of simple radish kimch. Sting ray or skate was a low market value fish & was affordable for many households. This eating method is akin to indulging in a tub of ice cream in the dead of winter, toasting by an open fire, listening to crackling of the burning log, and safely warm in the arms of a loved one. Perverse gustatory pleasures, perhaps, but it is so deliciously decadent in so many levels. So, go ahead chew on that noodle, if you can. I dare you.

"How to enjoy Korean food" Temperature

"How to enjoy Korean food" Sight

"How to enjoy Korean food" Sound