Newbie with many questions about the art of Korean cooking.

Hi Sambauge,

Although I have loved to eat Korean food occasionally since I was a kid, I started out Korean cooking as a newbie, as we all do I suppose. And yes, I view cooking as somewhat as an art, in that I believe balancing flavors, textures, layers, etc., and the presentation of the food are all important in the making of the dish. The passion you put into a dish is important.

Are you in San Juan? There’s got to be an Asian grocery there for sure. I did a quick Google search and it seems like there are at least 1 or 2 in SJ. If not you can get stuff shipped to you via the internet.

Here’s my recommendations for you (an unprofessional opinion since I’m a newbie, but this works for me):

Always have these things on hand in your kitchen –

low salt soy sauce (Korean pref.)

sweet mirin

white cooking wine (Korean pref.)

cabbage Kimchi

Korean red pepper powder

Korean red pepper flakes

sesame oil

roasted sesame seeds

green onions

green peppers (mild Korean ones are the best, but I have used jalapenos)

seasoned laver (seaweed)

corn syrup

rice vinegar

garlic

sugar

Pretty basic, but you can make a LOT of basic Korean dishes with just this stuff and some beef and rice or what not, and then as your skills grow you can expand from there.

I also recommend, in addition to reading this website, that you get this cookbook asap:

I use this 4-5 times a week, can’t say enough about it.

BTW, I love PRn music. I have made many dishes, Korean and otherise, while listening to PRn salsa, merengue, reggaeton, bomba, plena, jibaro, etc. It’s the best.

Enjoy your cooking adventures!

i learned to cook from my grandma and she would tell me a lot of things about the way you prepare certain dishes, the way things are cut, color matching etc so i definietely view cooking as an art. i will sometimes watch some of my friends prepare korean food and think to my head “uh, there is a process in preparing these foods”.

i learned to cook from my grandma and she would tell me a lot of things about the way you prepare certain dishes, the way things are cut, color matching etc so i definietely view cooking as an art. i will sometimes watch some of my friends prepare korean food and think to my head “uh, there is a process in preparing these foods”.

I do think cooking is an art–and a science too :) I think you would really like the drama Dae Jang Geum (or Jewel in the Palace). It is on dramafever.com and it is largely about cooking as an art. It is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Korean drama.

I had eaten a lot of Korean food before I ever made it. Are you familiar with Korean food at all? I think if I were starting to learn how to cook it from scratch, I would start with cooking several different side dishes, because it gives you a feel for the ingredients that are used in much of Korean cooking and most are quite simple to make. Some of my easy favorites on this site are the spinach side dish, soybean sprout side dish, tofu side dish, kongjorim side dish, jangjorim (a beef and egg side dish), the egg side dishes and of course kimchi (I use maangchi’s mak kimchi recipe). Just about my favorite Korean meal is paek pan, which is where you get tons of side dishes with rice and a delicious soup.