Korea's most beloved food packs refreshing heat and hearty flavors.
The distinctive taste of kimchi is familiar to anyone who has tried Korean food: the crunchy and cool cabbage leaves or chunks of daikon; the chile paste that burns the tongue; the pungent aroma, redolent of garlic and ginger and touched with a hint of the sea. In Korea, that spicy, earthy-tasting dish of fermented vegetables is on the table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and everything in between.
Kimjang is a big deal in Korea, but paechu kimchi is just one of literally hundreds of kinds that can be made throughout the year. Other popular versions include those made with daikon, cucumber, oysters, and more. I have tasted subtly flavored kimchis made from mushrooms or burdock root, light and crunchy ones made with soybean sprouts, meaty ones made with tender chunks of pumpkin, and luxurious ones made with young octopus.
The observance of kimjang every November entails hard work. I had no idea how time-consuming the ritual can be until last fall, when I traveled to Seoul with an old friend, Jeong-eun Park. At the home of her mother, Yeong-ae Kim, kimjang lasted for several days.
At Yeong-ae's apartment, the mixing, seasoning, and storing continued into the afternoon, and as the day wore on, various female friends and relatives of Yeong-ae's arrived to help. To this day, kimchi making is women's work, and kimjang is a time to visit and catch up. It seemed to me something like a quilting bee: as they worked, the women laughed and gossiped: about the cousin who married the ugly girl, the neighbor who spent all her husband's money.
Of all these regional variations, the most renowned kimchis come from Korea's three traditional culinary capitals: Gaesong, in what is now North Korea; Jeonju, in the south; and Seoul, more or less right in the middle of the peninsula. Gaesong, which was for centuries the Korean capital, is famous for subtle, nuanced flavors and lightly braised meats and seafood; cooks there have long favored delicate water kimchis made from vegetables steeped in beef broth.
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