Posts Tagged: Korean

Anchovy Broth

On January 14, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking

Anchovy broth or myeolchi yuksu (멸치육수) is a basic fish stock. It is an essential base for many Korean dishes. It is very easy to make, has endless uses and large batches can be frozen in single use containers to use later on. The recipe can be as simple as just anchovies and water or it can incorporate a number of aromatic vegetables or even seaweed and dried mushrooms. The recipe below uses anchovy, kelp and just a few other ingredients to make a delicious stock. This recipe gives you about 8 litres / 2 gallons of stock. If this seems too big, just half or quarter all of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • 8 litres / 2 gallons of water
  • 40-50 medium large dried anchovies (around 100 grams)
  • 8-10 small squares of dashima seaweed aka kombu (around 10-15 grams)
  • 500 grams Korean radish
  • 1 large onion
  • 12 cloves of garlic

Dried anchovies can be found at Asian grocery stores. They come in a few different sizes from very tiny (1 cm) to fairly large (about the length of a finger). The ones I am using are on the larger side.

Dashima is thick, rigid and sometimes powdery looking dark green seaweed. You can find it in the dry goods section of Asian grocery stores in big long strips or a smaller bag of pre-cut squares. Either work fine. I prefer the little squares just because they are easier to work with in smaller recipes. There are lots of different dry seaweeds on the shelf. The one we are using here will say Dashima / 다시마 or Kombu if it is from Japan.

Process:

Remove the guts from the anchovies.

The guts in these bigger anchovies can be bitter so it is a good idea to remove them. I find it is easiest to split the fish from the back with a fingernail like this. The guts are the hard black mass behind the head.
Fish with guts removed
After cleaning all the anchovies there is a fair amount of guts. You can imagine that there is enough here to affect the final flavour if they are left in. Gutting them is quick and easy and definitely worthwhile.
Chop onion and garlic into big chunks.
Peel and slice radish into nice uniform pieces. These can be saved and eaten later.
Everything goes into a stockpot along with the 8 litres of water.
Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once the stock is rolling, reduce heat to medium and cover the pot. This will cook for 25-30 minutes. We will remove the kelp after about 10 minutes so set a timer.
About halfway through cooking (after 10 or 15 minutes max), remove the kelp (dashima). If you cook kelp longer, it will start to release tannins which can add unpleasant flavours to the stock. Afterwards, cover the pot and continue to cook for another 15 minutes.
When the stock is fully cooked after 25-30 minutes, remove the radish pieces.
Lay them out flat to cool. These radishes absorb all the flavours of whatever they are cooked with. These leftover radish pieces retain enough firmness and are so full of flavour that they are delicious to eat as is. Use them as a side dish. Or, dip them in your favourite twigim or tempura batter and fry them up.
Pass the stock through a strainer.
Discard the spent fish and veggies.
I divide my anchovy stock into yogurt containers and freeze them. Each container holds enough stock to make one big portion or two smaller portions of soup/jiggae etc..
These will keep in the freezer for a few months at least. I end up using them much faster.

Uses:

This stock is the base for many Korean dishes including sundubu jiggae, kimchi jiggae, noodle soups, etc. In almost any savoury recipe that calls for water, substitute with this stock to make it extra delicious. Dishes like Tteokbokki reach new heights of tastiness when made with a good strong anchovy stock.

In the heat of summer, I will even drink this stock ice cold as is. It is that delicious and refreshing!

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you. Thank you for reading TigerSalad : )

,

Makgeolli

On December 25, 2025 2 Comments - Cooking, Fermentation

What is Makgeolli / 막걸리 ?

Makgeolli is a Korean alcohol (or sool 술) made by fermenting rice with a natural starter called nuruk (누룩, sounds like noo-rook). I have heard it called “rice wine”, “rice beer” and “Korean sake” but it has very little in common with any of those. Makgeolli is its own thing. A few good ingredients and a complex, multi-layered, simultaneous fermentation by a large variety of bacteria and yeasts make this a uniquely Korean sool. It has its own distinct flavours, textures and history. It is unlike any other rice ferment.

The recipe below is not the most simple but the preparation and process are fairly straightforward. My goal was to make the recipe easy to follow so I have included lots of pictures and even some sounds.

Important considerations before you start

There are 2 stages to this recipe and, from start to finish, this brew can take anywhere from 3 weeks to a month. In Stage 1, during the first three days or so you will need to stir it up a few times. In Stage 2, you will need to stir it again for a few days after which it is mostly just waiting and tasting occasionally.

Each stage of this recipe takes several hours to prepare. In Stage 2, you will spend 5 hours just washing, soaking and steaming rice. It’s best to plan ahead so you have enough time to get through the process in one shot.

Temperature is important. You will need to find a spot that is room temperature or a bit cooler for fermenting this brew (20-25C). Higher temperatures can cause your brew to ferment too quickly and may cause some off-flavours. Cooler is always better.

Equipment

You will need a glass or pottery container to hold your brew. 8-10 litres is a good size.

You can find these glass jars at many Asian grocery stores or supermarkets.
These ceramic onggi jars are sometimes for sale in Korean grocery stores or markets.

I think most people use glass. I have ceramic onggi jars around the house so that is what you will see in the pictures but either will get the job done. You will also need a piece of fabric or cheesecloth and an elastic band to cover the top of your jar. This ferment needs to breathe and will release a lot of gas. A fabric cover will let it vent and keep insects and dust out.

You will need a steamer of some kind. Bamboo steamers are cheap and very useful. I have a medium size one with two decks that I will use to steam rice for this recipe. If you have a pot with a stainless steel steamer insert, that will also work. Lastly, you will need a piece of cheesecloth or other fabric big enough to wrap the rice in the steamer.

Ingredients:

There are only 3 ingredients here: rice, water and nuruk.

Nuruk is made by forming moist cakes of grain (usually some combination of wheat and barley and rice) and hanging them in open air to attract wild yeasts, bacteria and mold as they dry. These are then pounded into rough granules to use as a fermenting starter. Bags of this powder can be found at Korean grocers under the english name “Enzyme powder” or just look for the Korean name “누룩” on the bag. There is a picture of a bag of nuruk in the ingredients below.

You can make makgeolli with many different kinds of rice. For this recipe I am using a short grain sweet rice called chapssal (찹쌀). I think that this rice is most likely to make a successful and easy drinking first brew.

Here is what we need:

  • 500 grams sweet rice flour (this is just rice milled into a fine powder)
  • 2 kg sweet rice (chappsal)
  • 2.5 litres filtered or spring water
  • 250 grams nuruk plus another 250ml filtered or spring water to hydrate it
ingredients for making makgeolli
Sweet rice flour, nuruk and sweet rice.

Process:

The recipe is broken into 2 parts. In Stage 1, we will ferment the rice flour for a number of days (around 3). In Stage 2, we will add steamed sweet rice and finish the ferment over the next few weeks. A two stage recipe like this is called “Iyangju”.

Stage 1

rice flour and water
Measure out 250 grams rice flour and 2.5 litres of spring water.
mixing rice flour and water in pot over medium high heat
Combine rice flour with water in a heavy bottom pot and heat on medium-high while stirring constantly. This takes some time to come up to temperature but it is important to keep it moving so that it doesn’t burn. We want this to come up to boiling temperature. It will be thick and steamy when done.
Eventually, as the mixture nears the boiling point, it will get very thick. Once it is very thick, take it off the heat. The video here shows just how thick it should get. This thick rice slurry is called juk (죽), sounds like “jook”.
finished juk for first stage of makgeolli
Transfer the juk to a clean bowl and let it cool down to room temperature (no hotter than 25 celsius). Stir it from time to time to release some heat from the centre. This takes a long time, maybe a few hours. You can speed this up by putting the bowl into an ice bath and stirring until it cools.
weighing nuruk
While the juk is cooling, weigh out 250 grams of nuruk.
nuruk mixed with water
Add 250 ml of spring water and allow it to hydrate. At this point, give the nuruk a good sniff. I think it smells like a dusty antique book that was abandoned in a damp basement for years. If you get any other interesting impressions, please leave them in the comments.
steam sanitizing a clay onggi jar
In this picture I am sanitizing a clay onggi jar with steam. I have these jars around so that’s what I use. Most people will use a glass jar instead (8-10 litre/2 gallon capacity). Whichever container you use, make sure to wash and sanitize it by steaming, boiling or using a food safe brewers sanitizer like Star-san. We are looking to sanitize not sterilize so filling your container with boiling water and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes is fine.
mixing nuruk and juk
Once the juk cools to room temp (25C or below), combine it with the hydrated nuruk in a clean bowl.
nuruk and juk after mixing
Mix very well. If you stir long enough, the thick juk will eventually become more liquid making it easier to pour into your container. This can take 5-10 minutes of stirring.
pouring mixture into onggi jar
Pour all of the mixture into your sanitized container.
first stage of makgeolli ready to ferment
It will rest in here for the next few days as the first stage of fermentation gets under way.
I like these clay jars because they don’t allow any light inside. I can keep them anywhere. If you are using a glass jar, try to keep it somewhere dark or cover it with a towel. The yeast and bacteria are happier away from light. IMPORTANT: place your container somewhere where the temperature is between 20 and 25 celsius. Higher temperatures can result in very fast fermentation and unwanted flavours. Room temperature or a little cooler is ideal. This ferment also needs air so, cover the top of your container with some cloth and seal it with an elastic band to keep out insects and dust. Do not put on a tight lid.
shows need to cover fermenting jar with breathable cover of mesh or cloth
I found this cover at a Korean supermarket. It looks like a mesh shower cap made specifically to fit these jars. Any piece of fabric or towel sealed with an elastic band works just as well.
stirring twice a day
Twice a day, open up the container and give it a good stir, making sure to get all the sludge in the bottom mixed in.
first bubbles show active fermentation
There will probably be a little raft of bubbles starting a day or so into the ferment. These are the first signs of life.
more bubbles the next day
This is after around 2.5 days. My brew is very active with lots of bubbles and a strong sweet scent. I dropped a microphone over the edge and put the cover back on and made a recording. The field recorder and mics are sensitive so they pick up every pop and fizz.
This is the sound of a very active ferment. It sounds almost like running water or something frying in a pan. This level of activity means this needs a little more time. Once it settles down, you can plan to start Stage 2.
This is a day later, about 3.5 days in to Stage 1. You can hear that the activity has slowed down quite a bit compared to the first sound file with just a little fizzing and popping. It is now ready for Stage 2.

Stage 2:

In this stage we will wash, soak, drain, steam and cool our 2kg of sweet rice. And, afterwards, we will add it to our fermenting container.

Start of stage 2 for makgeolli: washing rice
Place all the rice in a large bowl and fill it with fresh cold water.
Wash the rice by hand. Be gentle here. Try not to crush the rice or grind the grains too much. Just gently swish it around with an open hand from bottom to top.
pouring off water while washing rice
You will likely need to wash the rice at least 10 times. Mix it with lots of fresh water, dump out most of water, refill with fresh water and repeat…The goal is to wash it until the water is mostly (like 80%) clear. The first few washes will be very cloudy like this one and then gradually it will clear up with each wash.
clear water after 12 washes
I washed my rice 12 times and this is the last drain. You can see that it is much clearer than the above picture but there is still a little sediment. This is fine.
rice soaking for 3 hours in bowl of fresh water
Cover the washed rice with fresh water and let it soak for at least 3 hours at room temperature.
rinsing rice
After soaking for 3 hours, drain the rice into a big strainer or colander. Rinse it with fresh cold water.
draining rice for makgeolli
Let it drain for around an hour. It will still be damp but not dripping wet.
sample of a bamboo steamer
Prepare your steamer. I will use this double deck bamboo steamer.
lining bamboo steamer with cheese cloth
Whichever steamer you use, line the baskets with a large square of clean fabric or cheesecloth.
filling steamer with rice for makgeolli
Fill with rice. For best steaming, don’t pack them tight right to the top. The rice and steam need a little space to cook properly.
Fold over the cloth to cover the rice.
Bring water to a full hard boil before putting the steamer over it.
Once the water is rolling, cover with the steamer.
rice in steamer over pot of boiling water
If all the rice fits in a single steam basket (bigger than mine), set a timer for 40 minutes and let it steam hard. Make sure to start with enough water so that it doesn’t boil dry or check half way through and top it up. If your steamer has 2 decks like mine, set a timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, switch the top and bottom trays and set a timer for the remaining 20 minutes. Switching the trays will make sure the top and bottom rice steams evenly.
While the rice is steaming, prepare a cooling tray by lining it with a fuzz-free towel or cloth. Wet the cloth in water and squeeze it out as hard as you can so that it is just damp not wet. This will keep the cooling rice from sticking to it. I am using a baking sheet covered with a linen tea towel.
After 40 minutes, remove the basket(s) from the steamer. The rice should be cooked but dry. It will be translucent and have a bouncy texture when you chew it. Korean brewers call this steamed rice “godubap”. It will fuel the fermentation for Stage 2.
finished rice cooling on tray
Empty the the steaming baskets onto the tray and spread the rice out to cool to room temperature. This will happen pretty quickly, 10-15 minutes. Rice will stick to the rice basket cloths..do your best to pick it off by hand but don’t worry if you can’t get it every grain. The rice should not stick to your damp towel cooling tray.
adding steamed rice to the brew container
When the rice has cooled to room temperature, add it to the fermenting container.
It will seem very full and dry but over the next few days the rice will break down and start to liquefy as it ferments.
Stir it very well, seal the top with cloth and elastic and return it to your cool and dark fermenting spot.

Stage 2, Day 1

brew after 1 day
The rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid. It looks just like a pile of cooked rice. Over the next few days, this will change as the rice gets broken down. Listen to this:
It is bubbling and fizzing. Not as much as in the first stage but still sounds pretty active.
It feels just like very wet cooked rice. Continue to stir twice a day…

Stage 2, Day 2

brew on day 2
The rice looks softer and wetter than the first day.
After stirring, you can see how the rice is starting to breakdown and liquify. It looks like hot oatmeal.
Moderate amount of bubbling…it has a thicker sound to it.

Stage 2, Day 3

brew on day 3. Rice is plump and breaking down
The rice is even more plump and wet. There is a somewhat thinner raft of rice on top and more liquid underneath.
After stirring, it is obvious that the rice has broken down and there is more liquid than solid in the mix. This is the last time we will stir this brew. Clean up the sides up your container as much as possible above the brew. Use a rubber spatula or a damp cloth to give it a wipe. There is an alcohol smell now. I can also taste alcohol on the spoon after stirring.
A steady moderate amount of bubbling.

Now we wait

For the next 2 to 3 weeks or so, open up the jar every few days and listen for activity and monitor any changes on the surface. Smell it and taste it for alcohol strength by sticking a spoon or chopstick into the mix.

The Match Test

By lowering a lit match into your container, you can get a visual cue for how much fermentation is going on. An actively fermenting brew will give off carbon dioxide. This will snuff a match quickly. The brew below is around 10 days into Stage 2. The match test shows that it is still actively producing CO2. The match goes out as soon as it gets past the rim of the jar. Eventually, as fermentation slows, you should be able to lower a match right to the surface without it going out.

This is just a fun measure of how active the fermentation is.

Stage 2: 2 weeks after adding rice

The brew is starting to have a nice boozy sweet smell. There is a thin shiny layer of liquid forming on top of the rice mash.

Stage 2: 14 days after adding steamed rice.
Over the last 2 weeks, the bubbling has become much slower but the brew is still active.

Brew is showing signs of being done

We are now 18 days into Stage 2 (3 weeks total fermentation time measured from the start of Stage 1). The bubbling has practically stopped with very little activity (not enough to even get one bubble during a 10 second sound recording). The brew smells and tastes of alcohol. Compared to a few days ago, there is now a very clear layer of liquid on top.

brew is finished fermenting as indicated by clear layer of liquid on top of rice
In this picture there is a clear glassy layer of liquid above the surface of the rice.

The Match Test Take 2

Unlike the first time we did this, the match stays lit even if I hold it right against the surface of the brew. This is good indication that little to no fermentation is happening and the brew is ready for filtering.

Filtering the brew

This is a very useful tool in the kitchen. Premium kitchen stores sell them but they will probably be cheaper at a restaurant supply shop. This particular strainer is called a “fine mesh chinois”. The mesh is fine enough to strain makgeolli without filtering through a cloth or bag. Cloth filtering works great and is more common. I prefer this just because I have the chinois around and I find it a little less messy.
Before filtering give your brew a good stir to get the sediment off the bottom.
It should have a very creamy texture with little chunks of rice and nuruk suspended inside.
The onggi jar is awkward to work with here so I will dump everything into an open top container first.
Getting every last drop.
straining brew through fine mesh strainer
With my fine strainer over a second clean container, I can begin transferring the brew and slowly filtering it.
Milky liquid and fine sediment will pass through but the heavier, thicker remains will not.
The mesh will eventually clog up so you will need to stir it constantly and gently scrape up the inside walls of the strainer to keep the liquid moving through.
This will take a little time…
jigemi: the leftover solids from brewing makgeolli
When it gets really thick, you can gently press the contents of the strainer against the sides to squeeze out the last drops. What you are left with is a very damp rice mash called “jigemi”. Most people will toss this out but, if you have a look online you may find uses for this boozy mash. I recently learned that you can make another drink out of this called “moju”. I will probably try this in the future and post up a recipe.
bottling the finished brew
Once the straining is done, transfer your brew to bottles for storage. I recommend plastic soda bottles. They are safer. If your brew is still fermenting it will continue to produce gases which can break a glass bottle if the pressure gets too high. I like to use these plastic Perrier bottles. Before filling each bottle give your brew a good stir. This will keep the sediment even from bottle to bottle.
Mission accomplished. You can drink this right away if you like. Mine will go in the fridge for a few days.
picture shows the separation of clear alcohol and sediment after 48 hours
After a couple of days, the brew is starting to separate into a clear layer on top and a milky layer of sediment on the bottom. It will continue to settle over the next week or so.
This is around 2 weeks after this brew was bottled. There is now a layer of clear liquid above and thick sediment below.

Terminology around nuruk-fermented rice alcohol and how to enjoy your brew:

Depending on a few different factors, there a few different categories of rice alcohol. Without going into a lot of detail, here is a basic list:

  • Makgeolli: sedimented brew with less than 10% alcohol
  • Takju: sedimented brew with more than 10% alcohol
  • Yakju: clarified rice brew (the clear top layer in the above picture)

Our two-stage brew, long-fermented in a cool environment will almost certainly have more than 10% alcohol by volume. This means that it is a “Takju” and I think it is best to drink it as is. Gently turn the bottle over a few times to distribute the sediment and enjoy.

If you leave the bottles to rest, after a week or so, all of the sediment will settle to the bottom and there will be a very clear sediment-free layer on top. This is “Yakju”. You can pour it off slowly so as not to disturb the sediment and enjoy just the clear alcohol on it’s own. You can also pour it off, rebottle only the clear layer and age it indefinitely. It will change and develop new flavours over time.

If you pour off the Yakju, and dilute the sediment with fresh water, you will end up with a weaker drink in the under 10% alcohol range: this is Makgeolli. OR..you can also dilute your Takju with water to lighten it up and bring the alcohol concentration down…this would also be Makgeolli.

If I want something really refreshing and thirst quenching to drink with spicy food, I will often dilute my Takju with sparkling water. The brew is lighter and slightly fizzy and the flavours open up in a little different way…similar to the way an ice cube or a little water affects Scotch whiskey.

Commercial Makgeolli:

This looks familiar…

You have probably seen plastic bottles of commercial makgeolli at your local liquor store or in convenience stores in Korea. This cheap and tasty drink has it’s own charm but it does not have that much in common with a traditionally fermented brew like we have made. This commercial Makgeolli is usually fizzy, watery, has very low alcohol content and it surprisingly sweet, almost like a soda. It is sweetened with aspartame to make it more palatable and to prevent further fermentation in the bottle (and pressure related accidents while it is transported).

In contrast, our home brew has little to no fizz, a much higher alcohol content and is not especially sweet. In fact, it will lean closer to the dry and tart side with complex rice-y, boozy flavours and a thick creamy mouthfeel. You will taste and feel the alcohol very quickly. It is delicious! And, it is unlike anything else. Korean rice alcohol is entirely it’s own thing and it is next to impossible to compare it to any other brew.

The home made brew is thick, creamy, tart and strong.

Commercial brewers making traditional Korean sool

Over the last 5 years or so, some commercial brewers of traditional Korean sool have emerged. The first in the US was Hana Makgeolli, founded by Alice Jun. Alice and her team have produced a range of small-batch rice brews ranging from traditional Takju to, most recently, a potent full-strength Soju 60. I have linked a video below of Alice explaining the range of traditional Korean sools as well as Hana Makgeolli’s current offerings.

It was probably close to 10 years ago that I had the pleasure of meeting Alice in New York City when she was still developing recipes in her Brooklyn apartment. I got to sample an early brew “under the table” over Poke-bowls at a Manhattan SunriseMart. To this day, it is still one of my best New York experiences! Alice is one of the loveliest and most generous people I have met and she has a deep understanding of Korean rice alcohol, learning first-hand as a child helping her dad with traditional home brews. I highly recommend having a look at the above video for a comprehensive Sool School and if you are lucky enough to be able to try Alice’s brews in person, don’t hesitate to visit her shop and brewery.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them below. If you try this recipe and like the results, please let me know. I hope you enjoy making your own rice brew as much as I do. Cheers! : )

,

Samgyetang

On October 8, 2025 0 Comments - Cooking

What is samgyetang?

Samgyetang is ginseng chicken soup. “Sam” for insam (인삼), the Korean word for ginseng; “gye” refers to chicken; “tang”(탕) is a soup. It is a hearty and delicious soup that tastes great during chilly months. It is also surprisingly popular during the hottest days of the year in Korea where eating steaming hot food is believed to have a cooling effect on the body.

My first time…

The first time I ate this soup was on a chilly afternoon in Seogwipo City on Jeju Island. Hungry and cold, I was wandering around an area known for restaurants. It was the off-season so many restaurants were closed and most others were serving Jeju black pig samgyeopsal, something that is difficult to eat on your own. Feeling defeated, I decided to go to a nearby convenience store to at least buy some kimbap. On my way I spotted a small house with a sign that simply said “삼계탕” (samgyetang) but this little house didn’t look like a restaurant at all.

When I cracked the door open to peek inside, I was surprised to see an older woman sitting on the floor in front of her sofa, watching TV. I quickly apologized and tried to leave, but she got up and gestured for me to come inside. Hardly knowing any Korean, I simply said “samgyetang”? She nodded and gestured for me to sit on the sofa. She unfolded a small square table in front of me and then disappeared. I sat alone in this room, watching TV and silently wondering if I had made some kind of a mistake. But, a few minutes later, she came back smiling and put 2 or 3 dishes of simple banchan on the table in front of me. And, a little after that, she came back with a steaming black earthenware bowl containing a single small chicken in a bubbling broth.

I ate this delicious steaming meal as fast as I could without burning my mouth. The woman seemed pleased when she saw all the empty plates. I gestured to pay, she accepted my money with a nod and a smile and I was on my way.

That meal seems like a mystery to me to this day. Was it really a restaurant? Was it a dream? It seemed like some kind of a magical chapter in a book. Someday I will return to investigate. These are the best kinds of travel experiences. There is something deeply lonely about traveling by yourself, but I think that it also opens many doors that may not have otherwise materialized at all. Like the door to this little house where I first ate samgyetang on a chilly afternoon on Jeju Island, perched on the edge of a sofa watching TV.

Ingredients

I made this recipe in a single large pot with a small whole chicken to eat family style. If you prefer, you can also make 2 separate portions out of this using the same amount of ingredients and 2 Cornish hens instead. It looks prettier when you serve each person their own whole bird and it is a lot less messy. Chickens are quite a bit less expensive and easier to find than Cornish hens so this is what I usually use.

  • 1 small to medium chicken (or 2 cornish hens)
  • 15-20 whole cloves of garlic
  • 2 fresh ginseng roots
  • 4 dried red dates (jujubes/daechu)
  • 1 cup short grain rice (you can substitute with glutinous rice/chapssal)
  • 2 green onions
  • salt and pepper

I am always able to find fresh ginseng at Asian grocers. Same goes for red dates: you may see these called Chinese red dates, jujubes or daechu (대추).

***At the end of the soup recipe there is a recipe for dipping sauce to go with it. Scroll to the bottom for that one. You can make it while your chicken is cooking.

samgyetang ingredients
Raw ingredients.

Process

soaking rice
Wash and then soak rice for an hour or so.
splitting and pitting red dates
Split the red dates and remove the sharp pits.
dividing ginseng roots for samgyetang
Wash and divide ginseng into individual small roots. If they are thick pieces, you can cut them to make them more bite sized. I have seen some people peel ginseng but I never do.
stuffing chicken with rice, ginseng, dates and garlic
I usually prop my chicken up in a bowl so it doesn’t flop over and spill out. Stuff the chicken tightly with rice. Insert garlic cloves, ginseng root and red dates along the way.
Pack the chicken with the rice, roots, dates and garlic until the cavity is completely full.
I like to tie up the legs with butchers twine to keep everything inside but this is optional.
Place the chicken a pot large enough so that it can be covered with water. I am using a stoneware pot but any soup pot will do the job. You will probably have leftover rice and garlic/ginseng/dates. Add these to the pot around the chicken.
ingredients assembled for samgyetang. Chicken goes into pot
Add enough water to cover the chicken. It’s ok if it is peeking out a little.
Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a slow simmer. You can add a little salt now if you like. Maybe 2 teaspoons. Afterwards, each person can season to taste with salt and pepper at the table.
Cover the pot and cook for an hour. By this time, the chicken should be cooked through, the rice will be fully cooked and the garlic cloves should be soft.
finished soup
After an hour, this looks perfect.

Serving

Chop your green onions, put some on the soup and serve the rest at the table.
Serving family style samgyetang
Serve with sides of your choice. I am just having the soy vinegar dip and some kimchi. Salt and pepper on the table so everyone can season to taste.
If you are sharing a whole bird, everyone can tear off pieces with tongs and scoop out some rice and broth with spoons as we did here. If you serve a single hen per person, it is a little less savage and messy (and maybe a little less fun).

Soy and vinegar dipping sauce

Ingredients

  • 100ml (around 6 tablespoons) brewed soy sauce
  • 50ml (around 3 tablespoons) white vinegar
  • 12-13gr (1 tablespoon) white sugar
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • 1 green long chile or jalapeño

I like regular harsh white vinegar for this recipe. You can substitute rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar but I would avoid using wine vinegars. Use regular brewed (Japanese style) soy sauce, not Korean soup soy sauce. Use an equal amount of honey if you prefer it over white sugar. You can leave out the chili altogether but, I would recommend just taking the seeds out if you don’t want any spice. The “greenness” of the chili adds alot of flavour here.

Process

ingredients for soy vinegar dipping sauce for samgyetang chicken
Raw ingredients.
Cut onion into 1cm dice. Slice chili. Remove seeds here if you don’t want any spice.
finished soy vinegar dipping sauce
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Let this sit for at least 30 minutes before you use it. Leftover sauce will keep for a long time in the fridge. It is delicious with almost anything including as a topping for plain white rice.

This is one of my favourite soups. Hot and satisfying, it is especially good when you are feeling a little sick or run down. It is one of those meals that seems to instantly fortify the body much like my other favourite seolleongtang.

If you need a homemade kimchi recipe to go with any of your Korean cooking, click here.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below. Thanks for reading.

, ,

Vegan Napa Cabbage Kimchi

On September 9, 2025 0 Comments - Cooking, Fermentation

This is a tested recipe for anyone who does not eat meat, anyone with shrimp allergies or anyone who does not like the fishy taste of fish sauce. Once this recipe ferments, you will have a tasty vegan kimchi that you can use just like any other kimchi. It is a variation on a cut kimchi recipe that I posted previously. If you are interested in making a kimchi with all the seafood included or if you are interested in more information about kimchi in general, you can find that by clicking here.

Ingredients

  • 1 large (2kg) Napa Cabbage
  • 80 grams/3oz (around 1/2 cup) Diamond Kosher Crystal salt for brining
  • up to 2 Tablespoons kosher salt for seasoning (not for brining…save this for later)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 275ml (1 1/2 cups) water
  • 1/4 cup rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar or maesil plum syrup
  • 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves (around 20)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger peeled and sliced
  • 1 white onion peeled and chopped
  • 1 asian pear or apple peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 up to 1 cup (30-120 grams) korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
  • 2 bunches (12 or so) green onions sliced
  • 1 cup carrot matchsticks
  • 1 cup korean radish matchsticks

Try to weigh your salt rather than measuring by cups. Diamond Kosher is a popular salt in my area. If you live in the US, you may be using Morton’s. This salt is much saltier by the cup. Same goes for sea salt if this is what you are using. Whichever salt you use, it is better to weigh it. Avoid using table salt.

Rice flour/rice powder is just finely ground sweet rice. Mochiko is a popular brand but any brand will work.

Korean chili flakes are all very different from batch to batch. Some are mild and fruity and some are sharp and very spicy. It is better to start with less, taste, and then add more if you want it spicier.

Process

Cabbage preparation

Quarter the cabbage and chop off the stalks.
Slice into big-bite-sized pieces.
In a large container, rinse the cut cabbage in fresh cold water.
Drain it for a few minutes before salting.

Brining

In a container large enough to hold all the cabbage, salt the cabbage in layers and mix it up well by hand. Use all 80 grams of kosher salt for brining but hold back the extra 2 tablespoons for seasoning until later. This is the brining stage. This will take about two hours. Mix the cabbage by hand every 30 minutes or so. Try to move the leaves from the bottom to the top. The cabbage will wilt and produce a good amount of water.

Making the kimchi paste

While the cabbage is brining, make the kimchi paste:

Combine the water and rice flour in a pot over medium high heat. Stir constantly until the slurry get very thick and starts bubbling a little. Afterwards, set it aside until it cools to room temperature.
Peel and chop ginger, asian pear (or apple), onion and garlic. Place them in a food processor and mix into a uniform sauce.
While it is running, add the soy sauce.
It should look something like this when it is done. If you don’t want to use a food processor or blender, you can also chop these ingredients by hand. It does not have to be this smooth.
Add maesil plum syrup or white sugar to your cooled rice flour slurry. I am using maesil plum syrup because I have it on hand but white sugar works just as well.
Mix in the sauce from the food processor.
Add in the chili flakes. Start with a small amount, taste it and then add more if you want more spice. You can taste and add more now or later in the process. Chili flakes can be mild or very spicy so it’s hard to give a fixed amount to use. Depends on your preferences and the chilis you have. As long as you like the flavour, you have done it right.
Mix well and give it a taste to judge the heat levels.
Cut the carrot and the Korean radish into matchsticks. I used this Japanese Benriner brand veggie slicer but you can use a knife instead. They don’t need to be perfectly uniform. Slice the green parts of the green onions into 1-2cm pieces.
Combine the veggies and paste.
Mix well, let it sit for a few minutes, and taste it again. This is a good time to adjust the spice level AND the salt level. If you think that the paste is a little bland, season with small amounts of salt until you like the flavour. In a regular kimchi recipe, brined baby shrimp and fish sauce add a large amount of salt. Because we have left them out, we have to bring up the salt level a little in other ways. The soy sauce will do some of the work, but you will probably need to add a little salt here as well. I ended up using around 2 tablespoons but you do not have to use this much. It better to put less now and add some later on, even days later. Once it is too salty, it is nearly impossible to fix.
The kimchi paste is done. Once the cabbage has finished it’s 2 hour brine, these will get combined.

Put it all together

Once the 2 hour salting time is up, wash the cabbage 2 or 3 times in fresh cold water.
Put it into a strainer and allow it to drain completely. This can take 10-15 minutes. Wait until no more water is running out of the bottom of the strainer.
Cabbage and paste can meet.
Mix them together and taste it again. Adjust salt and chili if you think it is necessary. If it tastes ok, you are done!
I am using a stoneware onggi jar to ferment this batch of kimchi. I have them around the house so this is what I usually use. Mason jars or a glass storage container can work just as well. You can also use plastic containers but keep in mind that they will probably always smell like kimchi after you have used them. Whichever container you choose, make sure to leave the lids loose so that fermentation gasses can escape.
Leave your container at room temperature until the kimchi is fermented to your liking. This could be as little as overnight or as long as several days depending on the temperature of the room. Taste it a couple of times per day. When the kimchi is nearly as sour as you like, store it in the fridge to slow down the fermentation. If you prefer fresh crisp kimchi, you can refrigerate it right away.

Now what?

For ideas on what to do with your kimchi take a look at this post.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!

, ,

Seolleongtang

On August 28, 2025 0 Comments - Cooking

Seolleongtang is the first meal I ever ate in Korea. After a 15 hour flight and a long train ride, I finally arrived at my Insa-dong hotel sore, exhausted and hungry. The closest restaurant was directly behind the hotel, attached to the parking lot. This unassuming restaurant turned out to be one of the oldest in Seoul: Imun Seolleongtang. I had a big hot bowl of this plain milky beef soup and within an hour I felt completely refreshed. This simple soup seemed to erase my body’s memory of being crushed in an economy seat for the last 15 hours. It was like magic.

Since then, I have been back to Korea many times and I always start and finish my travels with this simple meal. Imun Seolleongtang has since received Michelin recognition and so it is busier (and more expensive) than ever with lots of tourists coming in to snap photos for instagram and tiktok. The staff seem to take it in stride, brisk and efficient, though maybe somewhat less friendly than I remember nearly 10 years ago. Also gone is the sloppy bucket of juicy and chunky kkadugi in the middle of the table and the big basket of chopped green onion. These now arrive in less bottomless portions after you order. But, even though some things have changed, the food is still as delicious as I remember and I still go to Imun as well as another smaller family run Seollongtang restaurant nearby.

Homemade seolleongtang

Seolleongtang always seemed kind of mysterious to me. Where did that milky colour come from? How was this simple soup so nutty and delicious? It arrives at the table completely bland and unseasoned but the addition of a little salt and pepper, kimchi juice and green onion turns it into something deep and complex and unforgettable.

Like a good food detective, I decided to launch a full investigation. After much reading and video watching, I discovered that the secret is really in the style of beef stock, in the process rather than the ingredients. The recipe below is a two-part process. First you will need to make the milky bone broth. Once you have this broth on hand, turning it into finished seolleongtang is a very simple and quick process. You can find the complete recipe for the beef bone broth by clicking here.

Ingredients

*this is for one big portion or 2 smaller portions

  • 1 litre Korean milky beef bone broth
  • 250gr beef brisket point
  • cooked white rice
  • cooked somyeon/somen noodles
  • 2-3 green onions (scallions)
  • salt and pepper

I used brisket point. You can use any beef you like. Tougher cuts will take longer to soften up and more tender cuts will take less time. I like brisket because it is somewhere in between. It has the deep beef flavour of a tougher muscle but is slightly more tender so takes a little less time to cook. If you like, you can soak the meat in water for a few hours to remove some of the blood but, this is optional.

Process

raw seolleongtang ingredients
Raw ingredients. This is leftover rice from yesterday. I am cooking a whole portion of noodles but probably will not use them all in here.
sliced brisket point
Slice beef into thin bite-sized pieces. Note: if you are making seolleongtang and the bone broth on the same day, you can cook the uncut chunk of meat directly in the broth and slice it after it is cooked. Either way will work. I think that slicing the meat first and then cooking might give it a slightly drier texture but I don’t think it makes that much difference in the end.
cooking somen noodles
In a seperate pot, precook your somyeon according to the directions on the package. The ones I am using take around 3 minutes.
Drain the noodles and rinse them with cool water.
Warm up the beef broth.
Add in slices of meat. Cover the pot and simmer the meat in the broth until it is as tender as you like. I let this brisket go for about 30 minutes.
Add noodles. You can put as many noodles as you like.
assembling finished seolleongtang
Scoop in some rice. You can also serve a bowl of fresh rice on the side. I usually end up putting most of it in the soup anyways so I will add it now.
While the above ingredients are warming through, slice up some green onions.
Once everything is warmed through, it is ready to go. Serve it with kimchi, salt, pepper and green onion on the side. As you add salt, you will notice that the bland broth suddenly comes alive with rich nutty sweet and beefy flavour. Add some pepper if you like. You can also add in some kimchi juice if you want to give it a little spice or acid. This is usually served with a juicy kkakdugi and this radish kimchi is a perfect accompaniment to this dish. Some time ago, I made a batch of watery kkakduki to eat with seolleongtang but I ate it all before I got around to cooking this. Cabbage kimchi is also good. You can find the kkakdugi recipe by clicking here. This doesn’t look too impressive at the table does it?
All the good stuff is hiding in the milky broth.
a look at the finished and seasoned soup

The verdict?

This turned out to be very very good. Maybe 4 out of 5 stars. One star off because, as good as it is, it doesn’t quite measure up to the flavour of Imun Seolleongtang in Seoul. But, honestly, I can say the same thing about all Korean food made outside of Korea. There is always a little something missing when you make these dishes yourself or, eat them in restaurants back home. I think a big part of this is the high quality of ingredients in Korea but, there is also generational knowledge and experience that adds flavour to these dishes and makes the magic hard to replicate. Imun Seolleongtang has been making this same dish for over 100 years and legend has it that the same stock pot has been continuously boiling fresh bones every day for the whole time!

Having said that, I am really happy with the way this turned out and I feel just as refreshed after eating a big hot bowl of this flavourful soup. 시원하다!

If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the space below. Thanks for reading!

, ,

Beef Bone Broth Version 2: Hard and Fast

On August 26, 2025 0 Comments - Cooking

Korean Beef Bone Broth vs Western Versions (hard and fast vs low and slow)

Some time ago, I posted a recipe for beef bone broth (stock) that involves a very long cooking time at a very gentle simmer (click here for this low and slow version). The result is a mostly clear, brownish, meaty and gelatinous stock. This is most often what chefs make in a western kitchen…it will typically be used as a soup or sauce base.

This recipe is almost identical in ingredients and process. The main difference is that this recipe cooks at a harder rolling boil for a shorter time. Even though the steps are almost identical, this small change results in a completely different stock. This one is just as gelatinous but, it is a silky opaque white colour with a nutty and delicate flavour. This stock is a base for dishes like mandu-guk (dumpling soup) or seolleongtang in a Korean kitchen. And, I think this is the version that most people think of when looking for “beef bone broth”.

Ingredients

  • 4kg (almost 9lb) beef marrow and knuckle bones cut into pieces.
  • 1.2kg (around 2.5lb) cow foot cut into pieces
  • water

The Korean grocer in my neighbourhood usually has beef bones already cut up and frozen in bags ready to go. If you don’t have access to something like this, any butcher should be able to sell you beef bones for stock. A separate Halal butcher in the neighbourhood stocks frozen cow feet which he chops up for me on his meat saw. Cow foot adds gelatine to your stock which will give it a rich mouthfeel. If you can’t get cow feet, you can leave it out and substitute more bones.

The weights above are a guideline. You can make this as big as the biggest pot you have to hold the bones. I have a 12 litre stockpot and this is a good amount for me. The ratio of bone to cow foot does not have to be exact but I wouldn’t use more than 20-25% foot to bone.

There is no salt in this recipe. Season the stocks as you use it, depending on the dish you are preparing.

Process

This recipe is a slightly abbreviated version of the slow-and-low stock recipe. The process and ingredients are almost exactly the same so I have left out a few of the more obvious photos. If you want more detail on any step, just reference the recipe at this link.

Wash and soak bones

beef bones soaking in water
Rinse the bones and cover them with cold water. You can see the hip bones on the left and cow foot on the right. You don’t have to separate them. I kept them separate so that you can see what each looks like. Soak them for a minimum of 6 hours or so. Better still, cover them and leave them in the fridge overnight. If you have time, change the water every few hours (this is optional).
After soaking, blood and other impurities will leach out into the water and it will be noticeably red. Pour all the water off and rinse the bones a few times.
beef bones after soaking
After soaking, the bones will look more pale pink than red.

Blanching the bones

Place all the bones in a stockpot that has enough room for the bones plus a few centimetres of water plus some extra room for boiling. I am using a 12L pot here.
raft of blood from blanching of bones
Bring the water up to a full rolling boil and let it go for around 5 minutes. During this time, any remaining blood will leach out of the bones and coagulate into a brownish floating mass on top.
rinsing bones in sink
After 5 minutes of boiling, dump the bones and the dirty water and give all the bones a good rinse with fresh cold water. Wash your stockpot too.

Making the stock

Add bones back to the clean pot, cover with fresh cold water. Bring the heat up until the water comes to a steady roll. This shouldn’t be boiling at full speed but the water should be actively rolling all over the surface.
This is what a good medium rolling boil looks like. This is critical to the success of this stock. With the stock rapidly moving, some fats, collagen and proteins will emulsify with the water. This is what gives this stock it’s characteristic white colour and nutty flavour. Make sure the stock is moving well without boiling over.
boiling the beef bone broth
Boil the stock uncovered for around 8 hours (more is ok if you have the time). It will evaporate pretty quickly so every hour or so, add back enough boiling water to keep the water level up. I boil a full kettle of water to top it up. If you use cold water, the stock will most likely stop boiling and it will take time and attention to bring back up.
An hour or so in and you will notice that the stock is becoming milky. This is a great sign.
It is so opaque that even in a shallow spoon, you can’t see through it.

After 8 hours or so…

Remove the bones from the stock and strain the liquid.

bones strained out of broth
If you look at these bones compared to the bones from the other recipe, you can see that these bones still have some life in them. At this point, you have the option to put the bones back in the pot, cover them with fresh water and repeat this whole process. After another few hours you will get a second stock that is a little thinner and milder in flavour. In pro kitchens, we call this “remi”, short for “remoulade” in French (basically means reboil). Once this is done, you have the option of having 2 separate stocks, one richer, one more mild OR you can choose to blend them together for something in between.
These bits of connective tissue and marrow were strained out of the finished stock. Everything here is edible. If I were making seolleongtang today, I would use them in the soup. If you don’t like eating this kind of thing, just discard with the bones.
Here is the finished stock in a small glass beaker. It is thick and milky.
Cool your stock in a sink or ice bath until it is room temp or below. Refrigerate overnight.
removing fat layer from finished bone broth
Once the stock is cool, remove the hard layer of fat from the top. This is pure clean beef fat. You can use it for frying and it stores for a long time in the fridge or freezer. Optional, of course.
You can see here that the stock itself is nearly as white as the fat layer.
Good solid jiggle…cow foot adds a lot of bounce to a stock.
At fridge temperature, I can easily stand a spoon up in the stock. It is that firm. The colour is just beautiful.
broth prepared for freezing
I usually portion my stock into yogurt containers, cover with plastic wrap and lids and freeze it. The yield from this recipe was around 6 litres of rich delicious milky beef bone broth. If you reboiled the bones, you would have twice as much. Unfortunately I didn’t have time or freezer space today. Next time for sure!

What to do with your bone broth (stock)

This is the essential milky base for Korean soups like seolleongtang (click here for recipe), doganitang or mandu guk. However, you can also use it as a base for almost any soup where you want good body and deep beef flavour. You can even drink it as is or add just a bit of cooked rice and chopped green onion for the simplest, easiest to digest, healthy and protein rich meal.

If you have any questions or comments or if I spelled Seolleongtang wrong, please let me know in the space below.

,

Applying for a Date

On July 14, 2025 0 Comments - Language, Uncategorized

Beyond the first definition

If you ask a native English speaker the meaning of a word in English, you may get a few different answers. Take the word “date” for example. What does this word mean? One person will say that it is the number of a particular day in the calendar, as in July 15th is todays “date”. Someone else might say that a “date” is a social appointment where you meet up with someone to do a specific activity…like go to a movie. Another person might say that a date is a sweet fruit with a pit in the middle…as in “date” squares. A single word can have several different meanings. The same is true in other languages.

I have been learning Korean for several years and a lot of my vocabulary consists of words for which I know only one basic meaning. I think this is normal in language learning. More exposure to the language over time will show these words in unfamiliar contexts. Then, you look them up and discover new meanings. This is progress.

Shin-cheong (신청하다) means “to apply” for something

***I don’t think romanizing Korean words is very useful but I’ll do it here so you can recognize the word in this post and get an idea of what it might sound like.

I learned the word shin-cheong/신청하다 many years ago. It was in a vocabulary list that gave a single definition: “to apply for something”. For example… to apply for a job or a passport or a credit card. Ok…I got it. “Shin-cheong/신청하다” means “to apply for”. I remembered this word.

What else could it mean?

While studying recently, I listened to a conversation in Korean online where a man asked a female coworker to go out for a drink after work. She was surprised so she questioned him in Korean: “What? Are you asking me on a date??”

Now…in this situation, she used the word “shin-cheong/신청” in place of the english verb “asking”. “데이트 신청을 해요?” is what she said in Korean (don’t worry if you can’t read this).

So..with my limited understanding of the word “shin-cheong/신청”, the translation in my mind sounded like this: “Are you applying for a date with me?”

This made me laugh and I knew that I was misunderstanding something. Of course, I looked it up and found that “shin-cheong/신청” also means “to make a request/ask for something”. This meaning is commonly used in dating to “request” that the person go out with you. In others words “ask them out”.

Why not “apply” for a date though?

Then I started to think that maybe applying for a date was not a bad idea. It has to be better than embarrassing dating apps and online algorithm match-ups.

I drew this don’t steal my art AI bots

I imagined it like this:

If you see someone you want to date, you would simply submit an application to them, like applying for a job. Dating is work, isn’t it? The application could give your name, birthdate, contact information, hobbies, life goals, core values, expectations etc.. A good application could even include references from people you have dated in the past who will confirm that, although it didn’t work out, you don’t seem crazy or dangerous. A good cover letter stating why you are interested in dating the person could increase your chances of getting a callback.

So, in this imaginary world, it would be perfectly normal to walk up to someone you find attractive and hand them an application. The social convention would require that the person accept the application without judgement or emotion. Maybe there would be just a few polite questions or a little small talk. The whole exchange should take no more than a minute. Later the person can choose the most promising candidate and set up an interview (Isn’t a first date really an interview?)

How is this better than online dating?

First impressions or “gut reactions” are a kind of animal instinct we all have. I think these impressions are pretty reliable and accurate. If someone meets you face to face and hands you an application…simply by meeting them physically, you are learning things about them on a subconscious level. Important information is being exchanged, even in those few seconds. This is where online dating sites and dating apps fail.

Sure, you can flip-and-find someone online who has a cute picture and sounds amazing in their self-promotional blurb and set up a date with them. Then you probably find out that they are not at all what you expected. This is such a waste of time. Wouldn’t it be better to have a quick meeting first and then get the details to consider afterwards? Maybe get a few applications to compare..call a few references?

In the world outside my imagination…

I suppose this would probably never work..no room for advertising. It was just a cute and funny idea that popped into my head when I failed to translate accurately.

“Are you applying for a date with me?”

“Why, yes..thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely (your name here)”

I guess online dating apps are the new normal and they are here to stay. We have been trained over the years to filter all of life’s events through our devices. I suppose it works sometimes. But, I still believe that the best way to meet someone is to meet them, face to face, out in the world. And listen to your instincts.

If you have any questions or comments or if you would like to submit an application, please use the form below.

,

Billy Carter Red: 10 year anniversary

On June 18, 2025 0 Comments - Music

UK 2018

In the spring of 2018, I travelled to Brighton UK to attend the Great Escape music festival. I had come to see Say Sue Me, one of my favourite new discoveries as well as 3rd Line Butterfly, legends from the early Korean indie scene. These two bands along with Adoy and Billy Carter were scheduled to play at a Korean Music Spotlight event. I had never heard of Adoy or Billy Carter so, in the weeks leading up to the festival, I did some reading online and listened to a bit of music from both bands.

Adoy had a laid back, smooth R&B sound that I just couldn’t connect with. And, I wasn’t sure about Billy Carter who were often described as a “blues band”. Usually, when I hear “blues band” I immediately get suspicious and think that I am not going like it. I do like old lo-fi blues but most modern takes on the genre are not interesting for me. I wondered what kind of blues would come out of Seoul?

As I would soon find out, describing Billy Carter as a “blues band” left a lot of elements out of the equation. Yes, they had solid roots in blues but they were so much more than that. The Billy Carter lineup at the time was Jiwon Kim on vocals and keys, Jina Kim on guitar and vocals and HyunJoon Lee on drums.

The Windmill Brixton

The first time I saw Billy Carter, they were opening for Say Sue Me at The Windmill Brixton in London UK. I didn’t have time to listen to their records much beforehand so I was hearing most of their songs for the first time. But even after just one show, I knew that I was interested in seeing more of Billy Carter. After their set, I met Jina and Jiwon while i was buying a t-shirt at the merch table. I remember getting the impression that they were not interested in talking to me. I think we were a little suspicious of each other : ) It makes me laugh now when I think about it!

Billy Carter play Windmill Brixton
Billy Carter, Windmill Brixton 2018, on Say Sue Me tour. At this time, they were label mates on Electric Muse in Korea.

The Great Escape Festival 2018

The day after the Windmill gig, I got to see Billy Carter play at a little club called Volks as part of the Great Escape Festival. This club was off the main drag near the beach. When I got arrived, there were probably less than 30 people in the place, almost all men. Even before the band got on stage I felt a bit nervous for them….”Why aren’t there more people here? Why isn’t it darker in here? Why is it all old men?” When I go to shows, I almost never worry about the band being shitty. I often worry about the audience or the venue being shitty instead. This was what I was feeling here…

The band set up, had a quick sound check and then launched right in. From that point on, I don’t think that I blinked the whole time. The musicianship was incredible, the singing powerful. The band played in front of 30 people as if they were headlining a stadium. I was really floored. For most of the songs, there was only drums (by the excellent Hyun Joon Lee) and Jina’s guitar. Jiwon added keys and melodica here and there. But the sound, especially from the guitar, was massive! I couldn’t understand how these three people could make so much great noise together. And the physicality of the band….they never stopped moving, jumping, dancing…

Billy Carter play Volks in Brighton
Billy Carter at Volks. Great Escape Festival 2018

As the band was packing up, I went out for some fresh air and wondered how I could describe the show I that I had just seen. For some reason, the word that came to mind was “demonic”. When I was watching these musicians on stage, they looked like they were possessed. Not in some affected theatrical way. Instead, they seemed to truly love and believe in the music they were making. They were possessed by their own art. It was contagious. I felt it too.

While I was outside for a smoke, I happened to see Jina and Jiwon come out of the club and light up. Now, I am not exactly a shy person but, after seeing what I just saw, I have to admit that I was a little bit afraid of these two! Eventually curiosity overcame fear and I walked over to say hi. We had a cigarette together and ended up having a really nice talk about everything from music to human rights in Korea vs Canada (my home). I remember Jina saying how much she would love to live in a place like Canada and feeling pretty proud about that.

I was able to catch Billy Carter one last time that weekend. This show was an official Korean Music Showcase full of industry people. The lineup included 3rd Line Butterfly, Billy Carter and Say Sue Me. It was an epic show for me, one I will never forget. I was thrilled to see these bands together in such a small space. At the end, I did a little tour around to say farewell to everyone I had met over the weekend. Just before I left, Jiwon (who I was mildly afraid of the day before) ran over and gave me a huge hug. So much for being scary haha..

The Great Escape 2018 was a pivotal event in my life. It reignited my love for live music and introduced me to artists that I might otherwise never get the chance to see. Billy Carter was a big part of that experience and I have been keeping up with them and their new projects as they continue to evolve as artists and activists. They will always occupy a warm place in my heart.

Billy Carter at Great Escape Festival Brighton UK 2018

Happy Anniversary!

Billy Carter Red CD
Billy Carter The Red EP

The Red EP 10th Anniversary

The first Billy Carter EP was released 10 years ago this summer. This 5 track introduction to the band is probably the grittiest sounding of all their releases. It is one of my personal favourites and, I think, one of the most important Korean indie rock records of all time. Today, I still listen to it with the same joy as I did the first time I heard it many years ago.

The title track “Silent/침묵, starts with a simple drum beat that soon gets swarmed with dirty fuzzy guitar noise. This gives way to a sticky and aggressive guitar riff that is a signature of Jina Kim’s sound in the studio as well as in live performances. Jiwon Kim’s soulful vocals power through it all and add to the high voltage blues assault. After a couple of choruses, the song itself suddenly goes silent. A ripping single note fuzz attack opens it back up over rising drum beats and wailing vocals that carry the song to the end. It sounds like a demonic chant. The lyrics are an indictment (in Korean language) of the tendency towards silence in the face of sadness and injustice. You can hear the blues influences in this song. But, the punk rock (bordering on metal) noise and riffing takes it to the very hard and ragged edge of anything I would think of as a blues.

Lost my Way, the second track, is definitely rooted in 12 bar blues. Jina’s guitar line defines the pace of the song as much as the drums. This is real rhythm guitar playing, keeping pace with, mirroring and complimenting the drum track. Because the sound is already so huge, it’s easy to forget that there is no bass player here. Jina’s guitar playing does double duty in holding down the basic rhythm of the song (a layer of sound normally provided by the bass guitar) and providing fun and energetic riffs and chords as well. This is one of the best parts of seeing them live and I have often wondered how it is even possible for a band to make so much satisfying noise with just a guitar and drum kit and some occasional keys and melodica. Jiwon and Jina share vocals on this track both alternating lines and harmonizing. Their singing styles are different but also complimentary. They sound great together, like two friends singing at the top of their lungs on the way back home from a bar at sunrise after many drinks and smokes. This song starts loud and frantic and just gets louder and more raucous as it rolls along. A fun track beginning to end.

The third track, Time Machine, pulls back the volume and intensity, but only just a little. A sad and lonely harmonica gives way to Jiwon’s powerful smokey slow blues style and Jina’s choppy guitar chords and low note grinding riffs. The lyrics seem to be reflection on past personal and family trauma and its’ lasting effects. “If I got a time machine, would go back and tell my dad not to cheat on his wife..If not, your daughter can never believe her men in her life.”. These are personal and direct lyrics, the sort that would come up later in the bands’ career especially on their last full length release Don’t Push Me. The guitar noise builds steadily as the song progresses, occasionally disintegrating into dissonance and broken rhythms adding to the sense of hopelessness and desperation that threads through the whole song.

Spring (봄), the second to last track, starts with a Johnny Cash style freight train Boom-chicka-boom rhythm guitar that bounces along until the vocals begin. This time Jina takes the microphone while playing a fun delta blues kind of guitar melody (so fun that I had to learn to play it myself). Jiwon adds a few sweet harmonies halfway through. Then, at about two minutes in, just as you are starting to think that Billy Carter decided to give you a nice easy listen, the song bursts open in a nuclear storm of guitar noise and full throttle screaming. Once the dust settles, Jiwon takes her turn at a verse and the guitar melody finally unwinds to the sound of birds tweeting in the spring sunshine. My Korean is not good enough to understand most poetry and metaphor. I suspect that the lyrics are much darker than the music might lead you to think. Somehow, I feel like they may be referencing environmental destruction or emotional disappointment here but… I can’t be sure. I will have to ask next time I get a chance!

The EP closes out with You Go Home. It features big juicy guitar riffs chugging along as Jina and Jiwon take turns singing about what sounds like a very messy end to a night of heavy drinking. A universal experience I think, especially in Korea : ) The song winds up with shouts of “Go Home!”, “잘 가!” “안녕!” “annyeong!”. For some reason at the end of this one I can feel the bone chilling cold of stumbling home on an icy winter night, full of beer and soju, howling wind making my cigarette burn down at double speed. BRRR!!

After The Red

In addition to The Red, Billy Carter have released three other EPs titled The Yellow, The Green and The Orange. Each one goes in a slightly different direction musically but they are all unmistakably Billy Carter. I love each of them and would have a hard time picking a favourite.

Billy Carter has also released two full length albums, “Here I Am” in 2016 and “Don’t Push Me” in 2020. “Here I Am” is a fantastic listen that I think is closest to The Red EP in overall feel. “Don’t Push Me” saw the band move in a slightly different direction. The music maintained the same urgency but the lyrics became much more openly political and straightforward, addressing human (and animal) rights issues in a very direct way. It was a hugely influential album for so many people that I know including my daughter, who lists it as one of her favourites of all time. The album showcased Billy Carter at the peak of their powers as musicians and social critics. Unfortunately I was never able to see any live shows after this release but maybe sometime in the future…The band has been on hiatus since this release and I am not sure if they will ever resurface again as Billy Carter. Even if they have played their last show, I think they have left a collection of songs that any band on earth could be proud of and I am very happy to have had the pleasure of seeing them live even a few times. Happy Red Anniversary Billy Carter!

,

Bossam Leftovers: Pork and Vegetable Udon

On May 21, 2025 0 Comments - Cooking

Bossam Part 2:

Earlier I put up a recipe for a simple bossam. Towards the end, I mentioned that if you go easy on the salt in the braising liquid, you can use it to make another delicious pork dish. This is what I have done with the leftover braising liquid from that recipe: Pork and Vegetable Udon. This recipe made one huge portion but could very easily make 2 portions by adding more noodles.

Ingredients:

  • Leftover braising liquid from Bossam recipe
  • Leftover pork meat (if any) thin slices
  • 1/2 onion sliced thin (the other half of the onion from the Bossam recipe)
  • 3 cloves garlic sliced thin
  • 2 green onions/scallions chopped
  • 1 fresh green chilli pepper sliced into thin rounds
  • 1/2 zucchini sliced thin
  • 1/2 package of enoki mushrooms
  • 1 cup green cabbage sliced thin
  • 1 or 2 portions frozen udon noodles

I am using vegetables that I have in my refrigerator at the moment. You can substitute just about any vegetable you would normally put in a soup. You can use different mushrooms too. Different noodles could work as well. I like these Udon noodles. I usually find them at the neighbourhood Asian grocery store in the freezer section. They are convenient because they are frozen in single portions. If you don’t have leftover pork meat, don’t worry. The braising liquid has plenty of delicious pork flavour on it’s own. Sub in some extra mushrooms. I had enokis on hand but sliced king oyster mushrooms are even better!

Process

Bossam leftover liquid and pork meat
This is my leftover meat and braising liquid from bossam pork which I stored in the fridge overnight. Before you start, remove the hard fat layer and toss it out. Make sure to strain out all the solids as well.
Warming up leftover pork in braising liquid
Warm up the leftover pork in the liquid.
Raw vegetables and udon noodles for Pork and Vegetable Udon dish
Raw vegetables and frozen noodles. In the end, I could only fit one portion of noodles in the pot I was using.
All vegetables thinly sliced on a red cutting board
Thin slice onion, cabbage, garlic, zucchini, chilli pepper and green onion. Pull apart enokis into smaller bunches.
Cooking onion and garlic in black stoneware pot
Cook onion, garlic and white part of green onions in a bit of olive oil until soft and translucent.
Adding cabbage and chiles to the pot
Add the cabbage and chiles. Cook until soft. You can even brown the cabbage a little for some extra sweetness.
Enoki mushrooms and sliced zucchini go in the pot
Layer in the zucchini and enoki mushrooms.
ladling warm braising liquid over the cooking vegetables for the Pork and Vegetable Udon
Ladle in the warm leftover braising liquid until everything is covered. Leave some room for noodles later.
Like this….
Simmering the Pork and Vegetable Udon
Simmer for 5 minutes or so until all the vegetables are cooked through. Now is a good time to check the seasoning. Add salt if you like. Mine was ok without extra salt.
Adding in one frozen portion of udon noodles to the pot
Drop in the frozen udon noodles. Sink them in the broth and let them cook for 2 minutes or so. The package says to cook them in their own pot of boiling water but I find that this works fine and makes less of a mess.
This is the finished dish: pork and vegetable udon
If you have leftover pork from the original recipe, slice it thin and layer it on top. Add the fresh green onion tops.

This took almost no time at all…

I think this probably took around 15 minutes to make. The leftover braising liquid from the bossam recipe is a perfect, rich and complex broth to cook vegetables and noodles in. This was a delicious meal that used up every last leftover from the previous night.

If you have any questions, comments or other ideas please leave them below. I always look forward to hearing from you.

, , ,

Bossam Braised Pork Belly

On May 19, 2025 0 Comments - Cooking

This is a very basic version of bossam. The main event here is the meat. Fresh pork belly is braised in a liquid made with strong aromatics to flavour the meat and to soften some of the gamey aroma of the pork.

It can be served with kimchi and various sides, wrapped in a leaf of cabbage, perilla or lettuce.

There are a couple of good recipes here and here which include all the components for a more traditional Korean preparation with pickled Napa cabbage leaves and spicy shredded radish. This is a delicious way to eat it but I am going to do something a little different with things I already have in the refrigerator.

Ingredients for Braised Pork

  • 1 kg (around 2.5lb) pork belly
  • 1 small chunk (25gr) fresh ginger sliced
  • 12 garlic cloves roughly chopped
  • 1/2 onion
  • 2 green onions roughly chopped
  • 30ml / 2 tablespoons doenjang
  • 15ml / 1 tablespoon instant coffee
  • 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1.5 litres / 6 cups water

Other Ingredients:

Once the pork is done, you will need something leafy to wrap it in. You may also want to add other fillings to your pork wraps. This can be anything from kimchi to fresh crunchy veggies. Sometimes I even like a little bit of nice mustard in them. This time around, I will use:

  • red leaf lettuce, washed, dried and separated into leaves
  • perilla leaf (kkaennip) washed and dried
  • napa cabbage kimchi
  • Korean radish kimchi or (kkakdugi)
  • pan fried anchovies with peanuts (myeolchi bokkeum)

Process

ingredients for bossam braised pork belly
Raw ingredients
aromatics in pot for bossam
Place onion, ginger, garlic, coffee, doenjang, green onion and peppercorns in pot
adding water to aromatics
Add 1.5 litres of water
Stir well and bring to boil
cooking aromatics in water for 10 minutes
After it boils, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes covered
adding pork to the braising liquid for bossam
Add pork belly
showing how pork belly should be covered
Make sure there is enough water to fully cover the meat.
Simmer covered for around 1 hour or until pork is tender. Make sure to cover it so the liquid doesn’t reduce too much.
Cool to room temperature. Taste the broth. This one is very good, not too salty to reuse for another meal.
Slice thinly with a sharp knife. Taste a piece and if it needs salt, you can add a little now. This tastes salty enough so I will leave it as it is.

Serving

Serve the pork slices with sides of your choice and leaves to wrap it with.

I am using red leaf lettuce and perilla leaves, kimchi and myeolchi bokkeum…and a bit of Czech mustard : )
Perfect bite

What about the leftover braising liquid?

Store any leftover meat in the braising liquid. Reheat it covered in the liquid as well.

The first time I made this, I noticed that the leftover braising liquid is actually very tasty. You can’t really notice the coffee as a distinct flavour. The liquid is just a warm and delicious pork and doenjang flavour. The only problem is that it is a little too salty.

The next time I made it, I decided to remove extra salt from the recipe, using doenjang only as the main seasoning. The meat is still delicious and can be salted a little after cooking if you think it needs it. But, keep in mind, you are also eating this with kimchi or maybe salted shrimp or other well seasoned add ons so very salty meat is not so necessary.

Once you reduce the salt, you are left with a delicious pork soup base. When the meal is done, I usually strain out all the solids and refrigerate it. The next day I combine it with shredded cabbage, the other half of the onion, mushrooms and frozen udon noodles, a little of the leftover pork and chopped scallions. It is surprisingly delicious! Find that recipe here.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Look forward to hearing from you.

,