Two foods that people have come to identify with Korea are kimchi, a fermented
vegetable dish, and bulgogi, a marinated meat dish. Whereas kimchi is a staple
dish that is eaten at every meal, bulgogi is more like a party food in that it
is generally eaten on special occasions and when dining out or entertaining
guests. Koreans tend to favor beef when entertaining or eating out, and bulgogi
is one of the most popular beef dishes and one that even non-Koreans find very
tasty.
Bulgogi The word bulgogi is commonly translated as
Korean barbecue, though it literally means "fire meat" as bul is "fire" or gogi
is "meat". Beef is most often identified with bulgogi, but even pork, chicken,
lamb, squid and octopus, for example, can be cooked bulgogi style as bulgogi,
like barbecue, is a method of cooking.
For the most common beef bulgogi, thin slices
of meat, usually tenderloin, are marinated in a sauce made of soy sauce, sesame
oil, minced garlic, sesame seeds and other seasonings, and then cooked over a
charcoal grill, usually at the table. The grilled beef slices can be eaten as
are or wrapped in lettuce along with slices of fresh garlic and green pepper and
a dab of soybean paste, red pepper paste, or a mixture of the two, all of which
are rich in vitamins, minerals and cancer-fighting substances.
In some restaurants, bulgogi is cooked on a
dome-shaped pan that is placed over a charcoal brazier or a gas range. The pan
has a trough around the edge to catch the tasty juice that cooks out of the meat
so that it can be eaten with one's rice. Bulgogi can also be cooked in a regular
frying pan or on an electric skillet but most connoisseurs prefer the
traditional charcoal fire.
For pork and other types of bulgogi, a little
red pepper paste is usually added to the marinade. This gives the bulgogi a
spicy taste and aroma.
Recently, people have been finding that bulgogi
is not only tasty and healthy but also very versatile. It has been adapted to
today's fast foods with some fast food chains adding bulgogi burgers to their
menus and a number of well-known pizza restaurants even adopting it as one of
their pizza toppings. Bulgogi is an ideal picnic food, and, with some slight
changes in the thickness and size of the meat pieces, it can become a tasty hors
d'oeuvre or buffet item.
Kimchi
Kimchi is a pungent, fermented dish generally consisting
of cabbage or turnip seasoned with salt, garlic, green onions, ginger, red
pepper and shellfish. It is low in calories and cholesterol and very high in
fiber. It is also very nutritious. In fact, it is richer in vitamins than
apples. Had the individual who coined the well-known saying "An apple a day
keeps the doctor away" been Korean, perhaps he would have said "Some kimchi a
day keeps the doctor away."
In fact, 100 grams of cabbage kimchi, the most
common variety, contains 492 units of vitamin A, 0.03 mg of vitamin B1, 0.06 mg
of vitamin B2, 12 mg of vitamin C and 2.1 mg of Niacin, a medium-size apple
weighing 130 grams contains only 50 units of vitamin A and only a trace of
vitamins B1 and B2, 3 mg of vitamin C and a trace of Niacin. Kimchi also
contains a number of organic acids, produced during the fermentation process,
that help sterilize the digestive tract and aid in digestion. Kimchi also
contains high levels of protein, calcium and iron that are derived mainly from
seafoods such as oysters, squid, shrimp and anchovies that are used for
flavoring. Kimchi is a good source of fiber and, depending on the ingredients,
may contain many of the nutrients and naturally occurring chemicals that can
help combat cancers of the mouth, throat, lungs, stomach, bladder, colon and
cervix.
Chinese cabbage, the main ingredient in the
most commonly eaten kimchi, has a higher protein content than many other
vegetables and a significant amount of minerals and vitamin C, and its green
leaves are rich in vitamin A. Radish roots, another major ingredient, are not
only rich in vitamins but also diastase, an enzyme that promotes the digestion
of carbohydrates. The radish stalks and leaves are also a good source of
calcium, vitamin C and carotene. Green onions, a must in almost every kimchi
recipe because of their taste and flavor, are a good source of vitamins and
minerals, especially calcium. Watercress, which is also rich in calcium and
vitamins A and C, is also used in most recipes for its rich flavor and aroma.
Indian mustard leaves, which are also widely used because of their aroma, are
rich in minerals, especially calcium and iron, and in vitamins A and C. Sponge
seaweed, which is known to be helpful in preventing heart disease, is another
common ingredient that produces a cool, crispy taste. It is especially rich in
calcium and iodine and has a unique aroma.
Garlic, which is eaten in many ways including
raw, is an essential kimchi ingredient as well as a mainstay of the Korean diet.
It even figures in the national foundation myth. Dangun, who, according to
legend, founded the Korean nation in 2333 B.C., was born of the union of a
heavenly god, Hwanung, the son of the God of All and ruler of Heaven, and a bear
who became a woman after eating 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort and
staying out of the sunlight for 21 days. Recent studies show that garlic may
help prevent stomach cancer and reduce blood cholesterol levels.
It is
the red chili peppers, however, that make kimchi a truly remarkable health food
and different from the ju and osinko of China and Japan that are often likened
to kimchi but are basically nothing more than Chinese cabbage or radish pickled
in salt. Chili peppers not only give kimchi its distinctive spicy flavor and
appetizing color but also contain an element called capsicin that prevents
kimchi from spoiling. It also checks the acidifying process to which vitamin C
is exceptionally vulnerable and keeps the vegetables fresh so that the eater
experiences the sensation of biting into fresh crispy vegetables. Capsicin also
has another remarkable property that is only activated in kimchi; it can break
down fats in the body. These properties and the large doses of vitamins A, B and
C make peppers truly remarkable.
But chili peppers have not always been a
major ingredient in kimchi. Koreans were not introduced to the chili pepper
until the late 16th century or early 17th century when Portuguese traders based
in Nagasaki, Japan, who, having brought it from Central America, imported it to
the country.
Early historical records of kimchi making do not mention
red peppers or garlic. Various spellings of the dish appear but they all share
the same meaning: vegetables soaked in salt water. One of the earliest, if not
the earliest, descriptions of kimchi making is in a work by Yi Gyu-bo
(1168-1241), a noted literary figure during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), in
which he describes the preparation of turnips for winter storage. A more
detailed description of kimchi appears in a recipe book written in the late
1600s but the first mention of kimchi seasoned with red pepper is in a cookbook
printed in 1765. Recipes closely resembling today's kimchi appear in two
cookbooks published in the early 1800s.
Regardless of when red pepper was added to
kimchi, it was an epochal event in Korean culinary history. The addition of red
peppers not only enhanced the taste of the otherwise salty vegetables and kept
them crunchy, but also turned kimchi into a healthy, vitamin-packed food that
can play a vital role in preventing disease. Of course, over the years kimchi
has become even more nutritional with the addition of more and more ingredients
such as carrots, pears, chestnuts, pine nuts, abalone and seaweed.
There
are basically two kinds of kimchi, seasonal and winter, with numerous varieties
of each. The seasonal varieties are made with whatever vegetables are available
and are for short-term storage. The winter varieties, made with mostly cabbages
and turnips, are for long-term storage to provide vegetables during the cold
winter months.
Baechu kimchi is the most common type of kimchi. To make
it, Chinese cabbages (baechu) are first trimmed, split down the middle and put
in brine to soak. When they are soft, they are rinsed in cold water and drained.
Meanwhile, julienne cut radish strips are mixed with a red pepper paste made of
red pepper powder and water. To this are added crushed garlic, salt, thinly
sliced green onions, and a variety of other seasonings, depending on the region
and the cook's budget, to make stuffing. The stuffing is packed between the
layers of cabbage leaves and each cabbage is wrapped with a few leaves. Finally,
the cabbages are stacked in a crock, jar or other appropriate container, covered
with salted cabbage leaves, pressed down firmly and covered.
The storage temperature of the gimjang kimchi,
as winter kimchi is called, should be well controlled throughout the winter to
prevent overfermentation and souring. The traditional way of doing this is to
bury the crocks of kimchi in the ground but, because this is not always possible
for urbanites, specially designed containers have come into use in recent years.
Winter kimchi is usually made in late November and early December when
the weather is quite cold. At the time, women gather in groups throughout the
country to turn mountains of cabbages and turnips into kimchi to feed their
families throughout the cold winter months.
However, kimchi is not made
in as great of quantities as it used to be. Today an urban family of five will
make 20 to 30 cabbages into winter kimchi whereas in the past it would have made
between 70 and 100. The decline in home production is due to several factors:
hot house vegetables are available year-round; apartment living makes
large-scale production unfeasible; and, factory-made kimchi can be purchased in
supermarkets as there are now many companies that produce it for local
consumption as well as for export.
In addition to being eaten as a staple side
dish, kimchi is also used in a variety of cooked dishes. The most common is
kimchi jjigae, a hot, fiery stew made by boiling kimchi with pork. Kimchi is
also stir-fried with thin strips of pork and eaten with fresh tofu or dubu as
bean curd is known in Korean. It is also dipped in a flour-based batter and
fried.
To most Koreans, a meal without kimchi, no matter how lavish, is
incomplete or even unthinkable. It spikes the rice, titillates the taste buds,
and, perhaps, keeps the doctor away. It is an ideal health food as well as diet
food and with its increasing inclusion on supermarket shelves around the world
and its designation as an official food at events such as the 1998 World Cup in
France, it is fast becoming an international food to be enjoyed around the
world.
출처. WWW.KOREA.NET
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For the most common beef bulgogi, thin slices
of meat, usually tenderloin, are marinated in a sauce made of soy sauce, sesame
oil, minced garlic, sesame seeds and other seasonings, and then cooked over a
charcoal grill, usually at the table. The grilled beef slices can be eaten as
are or wrapped in lettuce along with slices of fresh garlic and green pepper and
a dab of soybean paste, red pepper paste, or a mixture of the two, all of which
are rich in vitamins, minerals and cancer-fighting substances. )
In some restaurants, bulgogi is cooked on a
dome-shaped pan that is placed over a charcoal brazier or a gas range. The pan
has a trough around the edge to catch the tasty juice that cooks out of the meat
so that it can be eaten with one's rice. Bulgogi can also be cooked in a regular
frying pan or on an electric skillet but most connoisseurs prefer the
traditional charcoal fire. )
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