With Korea’s main reliance
on side dishes it does mean that the main dishes aren’t as memorable when it
comes to the food experience. Of course
this doesn’t mean that they don’t exist but for some reason we always seem to
be getting the same dishes. I guess what
I am trying to say is that Korean cuisine doesn’t have much variety. Some of the main dishes include: bulgogi (marinated
beef), fish, fried pork, soups (big pots for the whole table to share), raw
fish, chicken, samgyeopsal, and dak galbi.
The last two are foreign to most people but they are the two biggest
main dishes us foreigners partake in and so I will describe them in further
detail. Of course that list wasn’t
exhaustive and I am saving some stuff for a future post talking about strange food.
Samgyeopsal is essentially
pork belly meat that is cooked on this grill that is right at the table. The meat itself typically isn’t marinated and
so to add flavor you take use of the side dishes and a few other things that is
commonly served with samgyeopsal. Pieces of garlic and green chilies are a standard side items to be eaten with the
meat. Plus lettuce leaves, sesame
leaves, or other kinds of leafy vegetables to make a lettuce wrap. Another thing to flavor the meat is a sauce
by the name of ssamjang. Ssamjang is a
chile paste type of sauce that can really be mixed with any type of meat. Not only meat but it’s not uncommon to dip
garlic into the sauce and eat the garlic raw.
One place in Boryeong has the option to have the meat cooked alongside this
heap of a “kimchi” style vegetable medley.
It’s not that bad because the juices from the vegetables flow over to
the meat side. For Thanksgiving this
year there was a group of us who went out for samgyeopsal because it is a
bigger dish that is usually eaten on a special night or on the weekend when
there is a lot of time for dinner. After
eating we proceeded to have a mini- snowball fight (I am sure we will have
bigger ones) while walking home.
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| samgyeopsal plus the sides |
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| ssamjang is the red paste in the middle |
Dak galbi is a dish that
is real good and we do eat it quite often.
Basically it is some chicken that is spiced up and cooked in this
skillet type pan. Besides chicken within
the pan there are usually other items including: mushrooms, carrots, scallions,
cabbage, sweet potatoes, onions, potatoes, sesame leaves, and sometimes a few
other things. One other thing that is
found in any Dak galbi place is a thing called dhuck. Now this isn’t the animal (there is another
word for the animal) but instead is rice cake.
Cooked in with everything else it usually does have a soft chewy
texture. Plus in some spots we know of
where to get cheese infused dhuck. It is similar to a mozzarella stick but with a different type of breading. This mixture of stuff is cooked together in
the same pan and then you simply eat out of the pan. Of course the side dishes are right there so
you can mix and match what different bites will go along with the dak galbi. Again here they do have lettuce, sesame
leaves, or other kinds of leafy vegetables to make your own bite size
wrap. I usually will put a piece of
chicken along with some of the other things in the pan and top it all off with the
ssamjang sauce.
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| dak galbi being cooked all together |
This has been a quick look
at a couple of the main dishes that is best eaten in a group because of the
quantity received from these meals. A
future post will look at a ‘diner’ type atmosphere food establishment or street
food. Here in Korea all the food is
pretty much fresh, so saying street food or ‘diner’ type food isn’t that
crazy.
Majority of yesterday and currently it has been snowing. This weekend is supposed to stay cool but by beginning of next week it will warm up to the mid fourties. Classes are still happening even though finals have already been taken. The 27th is the last day of classes until January 2nd when there is Winter school for some students. I will be staying in town this weekend. I am hoping for some good snow build up soon so that way we can go snowboarding. Pictures have been giving me issues to load so that is why its been a while for a post. I am pretty sure I have figured out the issue. Will write later.
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| The button to get servers attention (mentioned in previous post) |
