What keeps a culture together is its' food. This is never more true than the Korean dish kimchi and the making of it.It brings family and friends together , where ever they are in the world.
Regular contributor and chef Eric Kim wrote about this traditional of all Korean dishes in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. He writes about the act of making it , usually in November with those near and dear in a rite called kimgiang and alternatively gimgiang. UNESCO World Heritage recognizes it as an intangible cultural heritage, that's passed down from generation to generation.It's living history.It symbolizes the tough Korean spirit To survuve hard times you must make yourself more resilient, Kimchi was a fall crop that would keep a tough people going through cold , harsh winters.It;s made in mid fall with pickling and Napa cabbage,placing this in a kimchi pot. and then buried in the garden , One family's recipe is not better than another.It's thought that the dish belongs to the nation, and on a smaller level communities. Lauryn Chun remembers her grandmother's kingiang's wehre all the neighborhood women came over to make kimchi. The gathering was like a party, with hundreds(!)of pounds of brined cabbage being seasoned with spices. They even sampled the cabbage.Ms. Chun now makes it for her company Mother-In-Law's KImchi which her mother also has at her restaurant in Garden Grove, California.Brooklun chef , Susan KIm adds oysters to her family recipe which gives the cabbage a kick.
KImchis is not hard to make. Chef Kim gives the basic recipe along with a white kimchi stew one.As Ms, Chun puts it "If you can make a salad you can make kimschi". There are steps but they're not necessarily difficult ones. Chef Kim's recipe has a medium head of napa cabbage and dry brining it. It starts with rinsing the head and then cutting the leaves into the strips while still attached, Brining takes anywhere from one to two hours. The pickling is a mix of ten garlic cloves a whole piece of ginger , fish sauce and Daikon radishes. Two green apples or an Asian pear is added for sweetness,A small yellow onion and a Korean red pepper are also added.Allthe ingredeitns save for the fisj sauce and the ghochu garu are pureed until fluffy. These two ingredients are added to the mix. carrots are added to this. Cut them into matchstick pieces and then add the cabbage.Transfer the sauced cabbaged to jug and tamp down with your hands,It's fermented for two o three days on the kitchen counter. Burp it by letting out extra air every couple of hours. The kim chi stew combines a pork shoulder, ginger onions and kimchi into a flavorful braise.
KImchi is the heart and soul of Korea and its' cooking. It's spicy mix is comforting and tasty. It's truly a heritage dish.
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