Danmuji (yellow pickled radish) is a very important ingredient for gimbap; I never make gimbap without it! It tastes sweet and sour and has a really nice, crispy texture. Look for it in the refrigerated section of Korean and Japanese grocery stores. It’s sold in airtight plastic packages, either cut into strips or whole, with […]
Sprouted yellow soybeans may be the most popular vegetable in Korea. They are sold in packages alongside the other fresh vegetables at Korean grocery stores, or you can grow your own at home. The sprouts always need to be cooked because they smell fishy when raw. When cooked, they become crisp, sweet and nutty. They […]
Good fish sauce is savory, salty, a little sweet, and full of umami. It’s an essential ingredient for many Korean dishes and a substitute for soup soy sauce in many of my recipes. If you watch my videos you’ll see that I always use 3 Crabs brand fish sauce. It’s not made in Korea, but it is […]
Korean cuisine uses a range of tofu, from silken, or soft tofu to medium-firm to firm. You can usually find a few different kinds of tofu at a grocery store. The tofu above is a medium soft tofu used for stew, and I use it in my doenjang-jjigae and kimchi-jjigae videos. There are 3 white Korean letters […]
Soy sauce has a real unique taste: it’s salty and a little sweet. When you go to a Korean grocery store, you’ll find that they stock many different kinds of soy sauce, usually without English labels. Personally I always use jin-ganjang (진간장), and have been using the Sempio brand for decades. Unlike traditional Korean guk-ganjang […]
Garlic scapes are the flower bud and stem of the garlic plant. If you let them grow, they’ll get tough, the ends will bloom, and the roots will become garlic. So for this reason you need to pick and eat them when they are young and in season, around May and June. A lot of […]
These clumps of small mushrooms, with thin, 4- to 5-inch-long stems, are used widely in Asian cuisine. Buy firm, white mushrooms that aren’t slippery at all.
Dried anchovies are sold in plastic bags or boxes, sorted by size. Smaller anchovies (mareun janmyeolchi 마른 잔멸치) are used in stir-fries and toasted whole with soy sauce and chili paste to serve, bones and all, as a side dish with rice or as a snack. Large anchovies (gukmulyong mareunmyeolchi 국물용 마른멸치), around 3½ inches […]
Korean hot pepper flakes are an essential ingredient in Korean cooking, used in many side dishes, soups, and stews, and in the most important Korean side dish of all, kimchi. They come in mild (deol-maewoon gochu-garu 덜매운 고춧가루) and hot (maewoon gochu-garu 매운 고춧가루) versions. For dishes like kimchi, I use the milder flakes so […]
These noodles are made from sweet potato starch and are nearly transparent after they’ve been cooked. They’re essential for making japchae. In a pinch you can substitute with cellophane noodles (a.k.a. “glass noodles”) or Chinese vermicelli, which are similar but made with mung bean starch. Look for them in Korean grocery stores. Seal the package […]
Also called “glutinous rice flour,” this flour is actually gluten-free. It’s made with glutinous rice, which got it’s name because it’s so sticky, or glue-like. It’s used to make sticky rice cakes like gyeongdan, and I also use it in the porridge I make for kimchi, so the porridge sticks to the cabbage leaves. The […]
Pork belly is the boneless cut of fatty meat from the belly of a pig. Koreans love this cut of pork and it’s used often in Korean cuisine. The Korean name – samgyeopsal – literally translated means “3 layers of flesh” and refers to the three layers of meat you can supposedly find in the […]
Good Korean radishes are firm and the skin is a little shiny, without any scratches. The tops are pale green halfway down and fade to cream. It’s a varietal of the Daikon radish but it’s it’s shorter, fatter, and heavier, the flesh denser and the leaves a lot smoother. Peak season is late fall. As […]
Napa cabbage is the main ingredient in traditional kimchi. You can find it in almost any grocery store and in farmers’ markets, although the cabbages sold at a Korean grocery store are always cheaper, bigger, and better tasting. In the kimchi-making season of late fall, when napa cabbages are at their best, Korean grocery stores sell […]
Which to get? Both are best sellers and either one is a good choice if you want to learn Korean home cooking. Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking has all the recipes for all the essential Korean pastes and sauces, but my second book Maangchi's Big Book of Korean Cooking has more recipes, more photos, and more variety.
