What to do with Kimchi
I took this picture a few years back in my restaurant kitchen. Two quarters of fermented whole Napa cabbage kimchi landed on my cutting board in a heart shape. I molded them a little and mopped up the juice and we used the photo later for a Valentine’s Day promotion.
I almost always made whole cabbage kimchi in my professional kitchen, a very time consuming and messy business. Koreans who still make it this way typically do so outside in late autumn. Or, if it has to be made indoors, the floor is covered in plastic sheeting as if the kitchen is about to get painted.
Making whole cabbage kimchi is a fun and relaxing process: to salt and stuff whole cabbages leaf by leaf is even meditative. You can do it at home. I have done it. But afterwards, my kitchen ends up looking like a murder scene. So instead of painting the kitchen red with chili paste, these days I make this cut kimchi recipe. It is relatively easy, and definitely manageable with minimal time, space and tools. And it is delicious! I eat it every day.
Once you find a recipe that you like and you make a batch of kimchi at home, you might be wondering what you can do with it.
Kimchi is alive
Just like all living things, kimchi ages. One month from now the texture and flavour will be quite different. Freshly made kimchi is crisp and bright like a spicy salad. You can taste all of the individual ingredients. Over time, this fresh kimchi will soften as it ferments. The initial sharp and distinct flavours will meld into something more deep, dark and complex. And, as fermenting bacteria produce lactic acid, it will become more and more sour. After enough time has passed, it will sour to the point that the acid levels feel “fizzy” on your tongue.
The good news is that kimchi never really goes “bad”. At every stage of fermentation, there are many ways to eat it. Nothing is wasted.
The list below is divided into things you can do with fresh kimchi vs things you can do with aged kimchi. I think, in general, fresh kimchi is best eaten cold and aged sour kimchi is best eaten hot but it is not a hard rule. You can try either in any preparation.
Freshly made kimchi
Kimchi, even freshly made, is a powerful ingredient. Start with a little bit, taste and add more little by little until you are happy with the flavour.
1-Eat it as is: fresh cold kimchi is a refreshing side dish to eat with almost anything. It is especially good to balance the flavours of fattier foods and meats and makes these things easier to digest. I can’t eat eggs without a side of kimchi anymore.
2-As a salad topping: you can use small leaves of fresh kimchi as an ingredient in any fresh salad. Creamy salads like Caesars also taste wonderful with some julienned fresh kimchi on top.
3-Burger or hotdog topping: like a pickle or relish, chopped fresh kimchi will balance the intense smokiness of sausage or the charred meaty flavours of a burger.
4-Raw oyster topping: A tiny amount of fresh chopped kimchi on top of a raw oyster is a perfect accompaniment. This is especially true for sweeter fattier Pacific oyster varieties but also works well for briny east coast oysters.
5-Avocado Toasts: these days, a lot of us are enjoying the rich flavours and health benefits of ripe avocado smeared on toast. I love it too and often include a bit of fresh chopped kimchi and green onion in the avocado mash. It is especially delicious with a fried egg on top. Addictive!
6-Shrimp Cocktail: whoever first combined ketchup and horseradish as a shrimp dip was a culinary genius. Add a little chopped kimchi into your cocktail sauce. It will tone down the sweetness of the ketchup and add a little garlic and spice for a slight variation on a classic combination.
7-Fresh rolls: if you like rice paper rolls stuffed with crisp veggies and/or shrimp and pork, a little chopped fresh kimchi can add a subtle spicy and garlicky flavour.
8-Kimbap: a little kimchi rolled up with the rice and other ingredients in your kimbap is delicious, especially if you are also making them with tuna!
9-Tuna Sandwich: if you enjoy classic canned tuna and mayo sandwiches as much as I do, try chopping some fresh kimchi into the mix. It brightens up the flavour and is a perfect match for the oily mayo and meaty tuna. If I don’t have kimchi on hand, I don’t even consider making this sandwich. It is that good.
10-Bloody Mary/Bloody Caesar Cocktail: try substituting the tobasco in your cocktail recipe with some fresh juice from your kimchi stash. You can even garnish with some small fresh kimchi leaves. Sour kimchi works great here too.
11-Kimchi Devilled Eggs: mix some finely chopped kimchi into the mayo and egg yolk mixture to brighten the colour and flavour of this classic dish. Top with chopped chives or green onion for a perfect finish. Also good with sour kimchi.
Aged Kimchi
Sour kimchi is an ingredient in many classic Korean dishes. For excellent traditional recipes to try at home, please have a look at Maangchi’s website , Korean Bapsang or My Korean Kitchen. There are countless sources for Korean cooking on the internet but these three are the ones I look to first for great food and writing.
Classic Korean dishes using sour kimchi:
1-Kimchi fried rice: an excellent way to use up leftover white rice. Top with chopped roasted seaweed, toasted sesame, sesame oil, green onion and fried egg. Here is a link to my kimchi fried rice recipe.
2-Kimchi jeon (pancake): Aged kimchi and it’s juices are made into a batter using flour and/or rice starch. Fried in oil until crispy outside and served with soy and vinegar sauce. Addictive. Good recipe here.
3-Kimchi jjigae (stew): there are a variety of thick and hearty stews made with aged kimchi. Ingredients can be fresh veggies, tofu, meats, tuna and other fish. Even spam and ramen noodles or hotdogs in the case of Buddae Jjigae (Army base stew). Click HERE for my kimchi jjigae with tuna recipe.
4-Kimchi Guk (soup): similar to kimchi jjigae but a little lighter and thinner. Look here for a good recipe to try.
5-Kimchi Mandu (dumplings): Korean dumplings, steamed, fried or in soup are delicious. If you want to try making your own have a look at this recipe from Korean Bapsang. You can also buy pretty good frozen ones at Korean grocers though they will probably never be as good as the fresh made.
6-Kimchi Jjim (braised kimchi): An incredibly deep and flavourful braise of aged kimchi and pork. You can also substitute in other meats, fish and/or mushrooms. I have also made this with really tough cuts of beef and the results are always very good. It is one of my favourite ways to eat really ripe kimchi. Here is a good recipe.
Other uses for aged kimchi
In my last 10 years as a chef I made tons of kimchi and tons of staff meals. The restaurant staff were always the test subjects for kimchi experiments but I honestly never received a lot of complaints. Most of the things listed below I have made myself at one time or another.
1. Pasta Sauces: aged kimchi, in small amounts will wake up any tomato sauce. You won’t exactly taste kimchi but you will taste something…GOOD. Kimchi will add a little punch to any tomato sauce with it’s heat, acidity and fermented funk. It is surprisingly delicious. This also works in cream sauces where you end up with a kind of spicy, garlicky rose…excellent with seafood.
2. Baked Pasta: Expanding on the above point, layers of kimchi alongside layers of tomato and meat sauce in a lasagna or any baked pasta is an outstanding flavour boost.
3. One more noodle: kimchi macaroni and cheese is next level delicious. Make it from scratch or even stir chopped kimchi into your boxed mac n cheese.
4. Burgers and Pizza: Warm aged kimchi is a fantastic topping on burgers (put it under the cheese) and pizza. You can also puree aged kimchi into any pizza sauce to brighten it up.
5. Kimchi Grilled Cheese sandwich: I see this one talked about a lot because it is a fantastic idea. Try it with a smoked cheese or layer of smokey bacon for maximum pleasure
6. Instant Ramen (or any cup noodles): another classic application because it is so good. Use only half the powder of your instant ramen packet and substitute in some well fermented kimchi and juice. Add an egg too. A little more healthy and definitely more delicious.
7. Hot sauce: many hot sauces are made from fermented chilis (heat) and vinegar (acid). Aged kimchi has both of these qualities. Put kimchi juice and leaves in a blender and puree. Add some extra chilli flakes to ramp up the heat if you like. Instant kimchi flavour that you can easily add to anything.
8. Hollandaise Sauce: add some well aged chopped or pureed kimchi into your egg yolks at the start of your hollandaise sauce. If it is sour enough, it can replace vinegar, shallots and cayenne like magic.
9. Kimchi Potato Hash: Boil and chop potatoes. Fry bacon in a pan until fat is rendered, add aged chopped kimchi, add potatoes and cook until they start to brown and crisp. Amazing starch for any meat dish or even with eggs at brunch.
10. Chili con carne: If you are a chili lover, try adding a little aged kimchi into the mix. It will do the same thing it does for pasta sauce. You won’t exactly taste kimchi but you will taste something delicious.
11. Steamed mussels: kimchi and cream together (bacon too) make an excellent broth for steaming live mussels and dipping bread later.
12. Baked oysters: Oysters on the half shell with crispy bacon bits, aged kimchi and smoked (or even blue) cheese broiled in the oven.
13. Kimchi butter: aged kimchi cooked in butter and poured over fish or meat with fresh green onion or chives makes an flavourful and easy sauce.
14. Kimchi sour cream: chop some aged kimchi into sour cream and serve it with bacon bits on potato and cheese pierogis. Thanks for this suggestion Milosz!
Maybe not?
Many years ago, I may have made kimchi gelato. I think some people liked it but…it wasn’t unanimous. I think it was pretty good. Am I dreaming?
There must be more…
Today I sat down and tried to think of every way I have cooked with kimchi in the past. This is what I came up with for now but I am sure there are a lot more good ideas. If you have anything to add, please leave a suggestion in the comments and I will add it to the post. We can work on this list together : )
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Spirit Wares: marketing solution
The Problem
I was contacted by one of the partners Spirit Wares to help them solve a problem marketing a new line of plates. The collection is beautiful, with unique unfinished sandy edges and thick bright white glaze.
Spirit Wares plate collections immediately evoke images of nature: blue water, silvery ice, mottled quail egg. The colours and textures are bold and recognizable. This is part of their brand identity. It sets Spirit Wares apart from other plate manufacturers, giving modern chefs inspiration with an original and natural canvas to work from.
But these particular plates are….WHITE… Although they are beautiful, their identity and how they fit into the Spirit Wares collection is not so easy to divine. The original name “Glazed White Marble” was not making an impression and sales were weak.
I was tasked with coming up with a new identity for the collection.
Here are a few examples of the plates:
The Solution
When I got a chance to see them in person, their appeal was immediate. I saw something in them; I recognized them, especially on the edges where sandy raw stone meets the bright white glaze. This image is a perfect example:
Marketing these plates successfully required making a connection between their design and nature.
Over the last few years I had been thinking about traveling to Hokkaido in winter. I wanted to experience one of the snowiest places on earth. I remembered seeing a few images of Japanese coastlines in winter that reminded me of the plate edges that I was looking at now. Here are a couple of the images below:
I thought that naming the collection with an easy association (“snow and sand” for example) was not very interesting. Instead, naming it after a place where this unusual natural phenomenon happens was far more appealing. The idea of naming it the “Hokkaido Collection” came from here.
The name “Hokkaido” sparks curiosity and gives personality to this snowy sandy plate collection that would otherwise get lost among its more colourful and easily recognizable competitors. A bump in sales after the renaming seems to back this up.
You can see all the collections at Spirit Wares
Mission to China
Let’s Go!
Many years ago I was invited by the Oysterlicious Group to work in Shanghai, China.
I had never traveled to Asia before and my first question was: “WHY? Why would I want to leave my home? Why would I want to go half way around the world to a place that I knew nothing about?” I couldn’t even speak the language.
But, after some time, my thoughts changed to: “actually…WHY NOT? Here I am with an offer of a free flight, accommodation and a job in a place that I would probably never think to visit on my own. This is an opportunity, not a problem”.
So began an adventure that would open doors to an exciting future. I packed my bags and set off on a journey that would change my life forever, a journey that has still not come to an end.
The beauty of Shanghai
Before coming to work in China, it seemed like a mysterious place, an unknowable place, maybe an unwelcoming place. But, from the moment I stepped off the plane, I was greeted with kindness and hospitality. I witnessed the beauty of natural landscape blending with space age architecture, ancient culture alongside ultra modern technology. Everywhere I looked there was something new and exciting to experience. Sights, sounds, smells and tastes that were exotic and irresistible. I was hooked on day one.
Work and Play in Shanghai
I was tasked with training a crew of young Chinese cooks. An exclusive oyster bar and restaurant in Shanghai would be my new workplace. At first, I was anxious about teaching them, especially since we didn’t speak the same language. But, my worries were short lived. These men were dedicated and hard working. They were eager to learn anything I was willing to teach them. With the help of our smart phones and sign language, communication became easy. We taught each other food words in Chinese and English and soon language was no longer an issue.
Outside of the kitchen, I was able to share time with the cooks and Oysterlicious hosts, eating and exploring Shanghai. China is a country where social connections are the greatest currency and it is not difficult to make friends over a good meal.
My kitchen mates often took me out to eat and drink at their favourite local places. These were real Anthony Bourdain style food adventures, memories I still hold dear many years later.
As a foreign professional, I was also sought after to promote oyster culture in Chinese media. I was a minor celebrity overnight!
Travel time in China
Being a cook is hard work anywhere in the world and China is no exception. But, it wasn’t all sweating and grinding away. There were also opportunities to relax and travel. The beauty, mystery and cultural richness of China went beyond all my expectations. And the Chinese people I was lucky to meet always treated me with kindness and patience.
This fateful trip was the start of a long and deep relationship with Asian culture. I have traveled back to China may times to see the friends I made on this first journey and I have traveled to Japan and Korea as well. Without the initial offer and encouragement I received from the Oysterlicious Group, I would never have had the opportunity to enrich my life in such a profound way.
Why go to China?? The reasons are endless. Better to ask: “Why not?” And then pack your bags.
Check out the Oysterlicious Instagram for more information.
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