Off the southern coast of Korea lies Jeju (Cheju) Island, home to South Korea's highest mountain, Hallasan. With stretches of sandy coastline, lava formed beaches, and volcanic landscape, Jeju has been coined as Korea's Hawaii, and is often a destination for local honeymooners, especially when overseas travel has become so expensive.
It's varied ecology makes for tons to see and do - scuba diving, mountain climbing, lava-tube exploring, sun bathing, museums, waterfalls, gardens, and while the list goes on, we mustn't forget to include Jejudo's cuisine, which is so unique to the island it is almost impossible to find elsewhere in Korea.
We started out culinary adventure on Jeju at a restaurant just across the street from the Lotte Resort, and ordered Samyetang (Chicken and Ginseng Soup), but with an Abalone twist! Abalone is so ubiquitous in Jeju cuisine, as traditional Hanyeo (women divers) would bring back copious amounts in their catch. It is now so highly prized through Korea, Japan & China, that the locals say you hard get any in your meals. However, it was plenty compared to what we would get either in the states or Singapore, and exploited the situation by eating as much Abalone as we could in two days. Abalone rice porridge (chopped), Abalone Seafood Soup (2), Grilled Abalone (12)...
Samyetang with a Abalone
Abalone Soup
Grilled Abalone
Another specialty of Jeju is the Black Pig (Heukdwaji) native to Jeju Island. Black pork is tastier, and supposedly healthier than the regular pig, except that since we ate almost 1 kg of belly meat (bacon in you were wondering), I'm not sure the latter applies. We ordered it stir fried at our first meal, in the traditional Buta Kimchee style, but later the idea of Barbecued Pork Belly overcame us, and that's when we headed to Han Young, the best Black Pork joint on the Island.
Kuro-Buta Kimchee
In mandarin, belly pork is known as "5-flower-meat", because of the five alternating layers of fat and meat. Notice that if you look closely, there are three layers of fat, and only two of meat.
A Closer Look
On the charcoal grill, the fat caramelizes and brings out a lovely smokey flavor, while the meat cooks slowly with the melted lard coating it. Feeling sick just by looking at all the fat? Close your eyes while you eat it, and I promise, there will be no looking back! We loved it so much, we went back for dinner the second night!!
On the Grill
Slowly Caramelizing Bacon
Down to the last few bites
As far as the island seafood goes, we sampled sea urchin soup (Seonggeguk) and grilled Galchi or Hairtail (usually called Belt Fish in other parts of the world), at a restaurant neighboring Han Young, and owned by the same folks as well (surprise). It seems that world-wide, all cultures have discovered that the best way to serve mackerel is salted, sun dried, and then broiled, which is exactly what we at Jeju, another traditional dish. It was the best broiled mackerel I had since we were in Naxos, where we had exactly the same thing as the proprietor convinces us that the dish was "Naxos Specialty". Crispy skin, oily flesh, salty flavor - need I say more?
Salted Mackerel
I survived the whole eating experience by doing other not-quite-as-interesting stuff, that I will mention anyway for the sake of hopeful travelers. This is a food blog ok? Daryl and I climbed Mt Halla mid way, which was about a 9 km round trip, and took about 4 hours, and as if that climbing wasn't enough, we visited went up and down more stairs to visit Cheonjiyeon Waterfall (Pokpo), which has 3 gorges, and is the only waterfall in Asia to fall directly into the sea.
No where near the top
Daryl was there too!
First Pond with weird turquoise water
Second Falls
Third Falls - I think they don't let you go down because there's a giant eel that lives in the pond. It's even certified!
We also hung out a bit at Jungmun, checking out tide pools, mussels and trying to go into the water (that was me, and I made it half way). I also managed to do some running, where I got lost and ended up running on the beach back to the Hyatt, which I will never do again (beach running, not getting lost).
Daryl tired after his year's worth of exercise
Steaming I think, works best
The beach!
It was a great side trip to take from the city, but I'm pretty sure that 2 days is about all my cholesterol can handle. I think I'll wait to recover a couple of years before going back again!
Sneak Preview of More Seoul Culinary Adventures: Hanu, Toro (??!!!), and Hanjeongsik (Imperial Cuisine)
We took the early morning (7:45am) bullet train to Busan, and arrived at 10:30am, just in time to visit the famous Jagalchi fish market, while the action was taking place. I've a penchant for fish markets - Tsukiji of course being my best experience. You seldom get a chance to see live meat being sold (although when I was growing up in Singapore, I do remember the chickens being slaughtered fresh at the market), but seafood, well that's a different story.
Going to a fish market is like having the evidence that your food is keeping it real. You've seen it squirming and slithering in the water, and can be sure that it's not made of some starch and veggie oil that imitation meat is made of these days. Eww.
Growing up in Asia, I've been spoilt with some of the freshest seafood, and I'm a real snob about it. The idea of "fresh" is much different in the East. Most restaurants, even the everyday non-special-occasion ones, had tanks which lined the side of the restaurant, and patrons would pick out the specific fish or shellfish that they wanted to restaurant to prepare. Fresh is not just freshly butchered; it means swimming and alive.
Here's a great live example of an octopus running away
So back to Jagalchi -
A fish market gets it's credence from three things, location, patron attitude and... odor! If you think about the World's greatest fish markets,Tsukiji, Fulton Fish Market, or La Boqueria, they all fall within walking distance to the water, where the fish boats come in. This is the case with Jagalchi, which is right by the Busan port.
Red boots drying out with the fish
If you have some misconception about how local culture supersedes fish market culture, now's the time to forget about it. When it comes to fish markets, people all around the world behave the same way, with pushing, shoving, shouting, and no respect for personal space. It's like some base instinct that awakens the moment that fresh fish smell wafts up your nose.
Which brings us to the smell - well, need I say more? Since it's spring, the weather is still slightly cooler, but I can imagine that in the summer months, even the freshest fish today is rotting tomorrow, and quickly in the heat!
The fish mongers themselves are generally older Korean ladies, who despite the rough and gunky job, always come into work with bright pink lipstick and makeup! You see them stripping the skin of eel, gutting monkfish liver (ankimo is a delicacy) for display, or just filleting fish for the regular folks who are too squeamish to do it themselves.
Gutting Monkfish
Their weathered faces reminds me that this could be a dying culture, as not many of the younger generation find careers like this appealing, and would much rather have comfortable jobs in offices or retail shops, and who can blame them?
Here's an awesome picture of a fishmonger hanging sting rays out to dry on the roof. Check out the tall office buildings signifying a totally different world behind her.
The fish is sold to both retailers and wholesalers, freshly slaughtered (most fish), slithering in their buckets of water (other seafood like shellfish, octopus, calamari, etc), or cured by drying, salting or other korean methods. A great example of unique preservation - live blue crab soaked in soy sauce, chili and pepper, left to drown in the saltiness. Never tried it, but I bet it taste awesome.
Soy Preserved Blue Crab
Some of the "weirder" creatures include sting rays, shark, octopus of many sizes, some kind of sea squirt which resembles a sea cucumber, a sea slug that looks like a giant fatty worm with no eyes and a long nose/mouth, sea urchins (weird to some), and ugly monkfish (for those that have never seen a monkfish).
Big Octopus
Baby Octopus
Can someone tell me what this is?
I'm not sure that this is sea cucumber
You don't visit a fish market until you've eaten there, so after we trapaised around for about two hours taking pictures and annoying the fish mongers since we refused to buy anything, we finished our Jagalchi tour with lunch at a restaurant where you can pick your own fish. I think we were a little confused, as we were supposed to only pick one item, but ended up picking about 5 things too many.
I must say that this probably qualifies as my weirdest meal, as three of our selected items arrived on our plates still moving. No kidding. I had picked out a baby octopus about the size of my hand, thinking that I would get this barbecued. Yeah. The octopus arrived on my plate chopped up, and still moving, it's suckers clinging tightly to the plate so that we had to pull very hard with our chopsticks to get it into our mouths, and even then, it would cling to our silver chopsticks, as if very explicitly fighting to not be eaten, even if chopped up. Here's a video:
Among the other still moving things - Abalone and Eel. The abalone was also sashimi style, sliced very thin, so that it was crunchy.
The end bits were still wriggling, but no where as cruel as when I watched our abalone slowly die on the grill in Japan before promptly spreading butter on it. The eel arrived all chopped up, and tossed in a kimchee dressing on a plate, the eel segments writhing and dancing around, looking like miniature human toes without the nails. Actually, it really was as gross as it sounds. Fortunately, this was wrapped up in foil and then toasted on an electric stove before being consumed. I'm not sure if I would be able to chew on something so thick if it was still moving.
Uncooked eel segments
I suppose after the above, the rest don't sound half as interesting, but I'll tell you about it anyway. We also ordered two small striped fish, sashimi style, and three sea urchins (for $8 total), which was so fresh tasting, if you didn't like uni, you'd like it then.
Korean Sashimi!
Me being very amused at the overflowing Banchan
Along with our banchan side dishes, the service included a hot plate of sizzling octopus and shrimp, a grilled pike mackerel (very very fresh), and also fried tempura.
They say that food can really change your life, and I'm putting it on the table. This was definitely a meal that will change mine. Here's to moving parts and being adventurous, but it's not for the faint hearted - no.
Next on the itinerary: From Busan to Jeju, the Island of Abalone porridge and Black pig
We arrived in Seoul after a long 12 hour flight, and Sung was kind enough to pick us up. Incheon airport is at least 60 minutes away from Seoul proper - it's not as far as it sounds, since the speed limit is 60 mph. Hungry even after having chicken chigae & chap jae just before landing, Sung took us to a "Homestyle Korean Food" Restuarant on a trendy little street in Apgujeong, lined with Korean Fashion and cute shops that remind me of Harajuku.
We had green onion pancake, korean gyoza,and two cold noodle dish - potato starch noodles in a meat broth, and Somen in a soy bean broth. It was simple, satisfying, and a perfect way to start our holiday!
Our first dinner put us into a food coma pretty quickly, and a 10 hour sleep followed. On waking up, I was hungry already (no prizes there), and tried a funny little yellow melon that's native to Korea before we headed out for brunch.
A funny melon they call "Korea Golden Melon"
Queen's Park is owned by the Paris Croissant & Baguette people, (one of the largest bakeries in South Korea) and the restaurant specializes in fresh and seasonal cuisine. The food was OK for the price, but their homemade jam really impressed me most . It was full of this natural fruity flavor, and not too sweet, almost as if they only used the naturally occurring sugar in the fruit. We had apricot & blackberry.
Brunch Appetizer - Butternut squash soup and Gravlax
To walk off lunch, we did some shopping, and then headed to the Shilla Hotel for a much needed massage. The spa itself was beautiful, but the therapist was so-so, and for dissatisfaction (on the comment card), they gave me a 10% discount.
The massage really worked up an appetite - I'm not sure why, I was just lying there... But Sung, remembering how partial I am to Kalbi, took us to her family's Kalbi place, Sung-Won. (Ok that's funny, I just realized that that's part of her name too.) It was like the most delicious Kalbi I ever had in my life. The beef was tender and the flavor was so much of the meat, and less of the marinade, which I guess is the way it should be! I'm not sure I'll ever be able to face Kalbi the same way after this! I ate my fill, needless to say.
Before
During
After
After many
So - Korea, Day 2, and I can already check off one of the things I came here to do: Eat good kalbi
In anticipation of the major food fest that I'll be getting when I get to Korea, I whet my appetite last night with a healthy home cooked dinner. I had some leftover produce anyway, and wanted to use it up. Fridge inventory check revealed - 1 bag of Bloomsdale Spinach, 2 avocados, and chicken breasts.
Pantry staples that contributed to this meal - Quinoa, Garlic, Anchovies, Olive Oil, Lemon Juice
From the Garden - Thyme
After setting quinoa on the stove, I made delicious green goddess dressing by mincing up the garlic, and then combining that with the avocado, lemon juice, olive oil & anchovies in the food processor (10 minutes). Then, I marinated the chicken breasts in some balsamic vinegrette, the garden thyme, olive oil & salt, before firing up the grill. Once the chicken breasts were marked on both sides (10 minutes), I closed the hood then went back to cook the spinach.
I love spinach because it's absolutely so healthy, delicious, versatile, and best of all, easy to cook. In a large sauce pan, a splash of water, add all the spinach and then cover for about 10 minutes. By the way. this timing works for farmed spinach, but if you want to get that wilty stuff in a bag, then cover for 1 minute instead.
Just when the spinach was done, the chicken was ready to come off the grill, and the quinoa was also well prepared and fluffy.
It's amazing what a good sauce can do to zazzle up some simple ingredients, and it doesn't always have to take a day to make!
Here's the recipe for a green goddess dressing
Green Goddess Dressing
Makes 1 cup
2 ea Avocados 2 fillet Anchovies 3 ea Garlic Cloves, minced 1 tbsp Lemon Juice 1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
If desired, 1 egg yolk for added richness
1. Pulse all ingredients except oil in a food processor until smooth 2. With processor running, slowly add the olive oil in a stream until incorporated 3. Add salt & pepper to taste
If making ahead, cover tightly with plastic wrap to prevent browning
So, as I mentioned earlier today, I'd be cooking dinner. It's a rare occasion that I do decide to cook on a weeknight. Usually it's leftovers from the weekend or something that we're nuking up; otherwise, it's some brown rice or quinoa with steamed veggies - nothing particularly exciting from Chef Laura's kitchen.
However, I was inspired by a certain friend who had offered to cook dinner for their date, and decided I'd treat Daryl to a delicious weeknight meal, even if it wasn't as lavish as the one we had on a Monday night a few weeks ago at Aqua.
Anyway, I even planned in advance (like one day) - we had this rack of lamb in the freezer that I decided to use, plus fresh baby asparagus tips from the market on Sunday. Remember that romesco sauce I made the other day for the Gigya party? Well, no time like the present to use up leftovers.
I haven't exhausted my use of the grill yet either, and have learned some tricks. Turns out that roasting potatoes on the grill take about half as long as when you do them in the oven - so I did that first. I wrapped some assorted baby potatoes (purple peruvian, fingerling, banana, ruby crescent) coated in the romesco sauce, in foil, then stuck them under the hood for about 25 minutes, which was just in time for Daryl to get home and for me to prep the rest of the ingredients, which wasn't that hard anyway.
I'll be writing more about my little farm soon, but currently while everything is kind of just shooting up in Spring, my herbs are just thriving! I only snipped off a sprig of rosemary and some mint, since they are still baby plants and i don't want to kill them just yet. (I'm really excited about our first batch of tomatoes & veggies though!)
I sliced the rack of lamb into individual cutlets so that they'd cook easier, then brushed them with the minced herbs and olive oil. For the asparagus, I lightly dressed them in the balsamic vin that I had made last week for the roasted veggie salad - it really is a great marinade to have on hand, and you can get the recipe below.
Once Daryl got back, I got to grilling the lamb chops which were done in like 5 minutes, and then the asparagus, another 3.
All in all, it took 30 minutes to get the plate ready - Herb Scented Lamb Cutlets with Marinated Asparagus and an Assortment of roasted Potatoes with Romesco sauce. I also served it with the apple mint jelly that I made from Easter. The jelly is keeping so well, and it pairs up perfectly with so many things (lamb, beef, cheese plates, bread, etc etc), that I think I'll be doing some canning soon to have it as a staple in my pantry.
I'm really loving this outdoor grill/fresh food/gourmet dinner thing now; but I don't expect that I'll be cooking like this everyday that's for sure...
More to come soon!
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Use this to marinade meats, or for a quick salad dressing. It's a tasty sauce to always keep handy in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before using each time. Keeps almost forever.
Makes 1 Cup
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar 3/4 Cup Good Quality olive Oil 1 Tbs Shallot, Miced 1 Tbs Garlic, Minced 2 Tbs Parsley, Minced 1 Tbs Mixed herb like oregano, thyme, mint, basil, minced
Zest of 1 orange
Salt & pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a blender, until oil & vinegas form an emulsion Season to taste If mixture separates while in storage, shake well before next use
So - our grill is officially broken into, what with two back to back BBQs and all.
On Friday, the Gigya folks came over for a grilled lunch party (featuring New York Steaks, Chicken Breasts, sausages, homemade sauces: Romesco, Ramp Aioli, Apple Mint jelly), and then we played Catch Phrase courtesy of Patrick. End result? A recycling bin full of beer bottles!
And then, Saturday came along, and we had our VERY FIRST potluck. It was a Bring Your Own Favorite Food BBQ, where all our friends showed up with... well, their favorite food. Some spoils - Satay, Pineapple & Chicken Kebabs(if you haven't had BBQed pineapple, now's the time), sweet potato wrapped in foil
Chef Laura didn't do anything and instead, ordered food - like a burger, Kalbi, more Kalbi, and did I mentioned, Kalbi? (Watch out Korea, here I come...)
OK I lied. I did do something - taught Kevin how to grill burgers properly
For both BBQs, I made a dessert that was a hit with everyone. I daresay it will be on the "request please list" for future events. As I was thinking of what to make, I couldn't help but get S'mores out of my head. After all, what could be more quintessential at a BBQ than Smores? Also, I had been tinkering with marshmallows for a while now, and now feel like I have the perfect recipe - so I wanted to see if it would stand up to chocolates & graham.
It would have been too much of a hassle to have everyone roast their own marshmallows, so I figured that the more perfect thing would be to make a pie! They make graham crusts anyway, so it would be doubly easy, and as you know, I love it when things are easy. I poured chocolate into the crust as a filling, then topped the pie with homemade marshmallow that was then stuck in the oven to broil. Originally, I thought I made a mistake by using truffle chocolate, and put it in the freezer to set. However, when i took it out to serve, it made cutting the pie just a whole lot easier, and the frozen truffle tasted like ice cream!
Chef Laura cutting the sticky smores pie
I would use my homemade marshmallow for this, but if you have no time, you can just use store bought marshmallows to top the pie before broiling. Make sure to make this a day ahead to set the chocolate, and then freeze for at least another 4 hours before serving.
Tada! Doesn't that look absolutely sinful?
Smores Pie
1/2 lb Good Quality Chocolate 1.5 cup Heavy Cream 1 Tbs butter
1 ea Graham Pie Crust 1 ea Egg
1 batch Marshmallow topping (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 350F Brush the egg over the graham crust and bake for 10 minutes til golden Remove from oven and let cool Scald the heavy cream in a sauce pan, and then pour over chocolate Whisk to melt chocolate, and leave to cool to room temperature Whisk in the butter then pour chocolate mixture into pie crust Freeze overnight Using an oiled spatula, smooth Marshmallow over chocolate truffle filling Use spatula to form light peaks Broil in oven for 1 minute or until marshmallow is lightly brown
Homemade Marshmallows
1 packet Gelatin Powder (1/4 oz sachet) 2 ea Egg Whites 2 Tbs Cold Water
2 cups Sugar 2/3 cup Light corn syrup 1/4 cup Water 1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar 1/2 cup Rice Flour
In a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the gelatin powder over the cold water Leave to bloom about 10 minutes Add the egg whites to the gelation mixture and whisk until foamy & light combine the sugar, corn syrup and remaining 1/4 cup water in a sauce pan Bring to a boil, until about 240F, or until mixture is somewhere between the soft and hardball stage With the mixer running, pour the sugar syrup slowly down the sides of the bowl into the egg white mixture Increase to high speed and beat until marshmallows are fluffy
At this stage, you can then frost the Smores pie
If you'd like to store the marshmallows, spread them an oiled pan, and leave to set about 4 hours at room temperature
Combine the Powdered sugar & Flour together and dust set marshmallow with mixture. Turn out from Pan and dust flip sides Cut into squares, then drege in sugar mixture Store in airtight container for about 1 week
I made a californian burrito for dinner last night. It was the most delicious non-traditional burrito I've ever had. Don't get me wrong - I really love my carnitas, and salsa verde super burrito with sour cream, guac, the works, etc (secretly I even sometimes crave for chipotle, even though La Vics still comes up top). But last night's burrito, well, that was something else.
So what exactly is a californian burrito? In my books, it' a burrito that has ingredients that are decidedly californian, or exhibit properties of "californian cuisine", (which I define as a fine juxtaposition of flavors from east to west, but always firmly grounded on fresh and local produce).
Side note about the Burrito - when I was at Masa's there were these two servers, a pair of brothers, Hugo & Victor. Hugo once swore to me that the Burrito originated in California, because when he was in Mexico growing up, there didn't exist such a thing as the burrito as we know it, What d'ya know, maybe all burritos are californian after all!
Anyway, it started off with some cold grilled sancho seasoned chicken breast, that I had used to test-drive the new grill with. By the way, I was in a hurry to do the test run because this Friday we have a Gigya BBQ, and if the grill doesn't work, I'm pretty sure there would be a host of disappointment. Anyway, the grill worked perfectly, but then we had to leave for dinner & the Opera, so I stuck the grilled chicken in the fridge. I'm not even sure what possessed me to use sancho.
Sunday dinners are always a blur, and I usually try to make stuff out of leftovers, so this was no exception. Plus, in the afternoon, I made an awesome romesco sauce (which is another story in itself), and felt like that would stand in well for salsa! For your information, the romesco sauce is also for that BBQ which is happening later in the week.
Not to mention, I picked up a ripe hass avocado (now everyone knows there's nothing more californian than a hass avocado), and had a leftover tomato from the romesco sauce to make an awesome guacamole.
Back to leftovers, I had the shredded cheddar cheese from the previous week's sausage casserole, and also leftover tortillas from when I went snowboarding and made breakfast burritos for everyone. Yes, I know that was a while ago, but tortillas keep pretty well ok?
So anyway, I piled the sliced sancho chicken, guacamole, cheese and romesco sauce on a giant tortilla, rolled it up and then stuck it in the toaster oven at 450F for about 15 minutes, just enough to get everything hot.
And then, I bit into it.
Oh yum. The cheese was melted, and the romesco sauce was just all over the chicken so that it didn't dry out. Plus, that Hass Guac - mmmmm, the perfect rich mouth feel that you have to have with a good burrito. It was healthy too!
I think it'll be on the menu for a while.
Californian Burritos
Serves 2
2 ea Flour Tortilla 1 ea Chicken Breast, seasoned, grilled or roasted and sliced 1/2 cup Cheese Shredded 1/2 cup Romesco sauce or jar salsa Guac from 1 Avocado
Preheat the oven to 450F Seperate all the ingredients and pile them onto each tortilla shell Roll the tortilla up and stick it in the oven for 15 minutes
Here's how I make my guac: 1 Avocado, peeled, stoned & sliced 1 Roma Tomato, small dice 1 Garlic Clove, minced 1 Tbs Yellow onion, minced 1 stalk Green Onion, chopped Juice of half a meyer lemon (if possible, if not regular lemons are fine too) Salt & pepper
Mash the avocado, then mix in all the other ingredients well Generously season with salt
