Experimenting
So lately I've been on an Asian cooking kick.
I recently acquired a Korean and Japanese cookbook and decided I would try out a few of the recipes as well as some random assortments I found online.
I tried making Jjajangmyun for dinner Thursday night. Unfortunately, this experiment didn't really pan out. The meat was tender and juicy, the vegetables were cooked just right, and the sauce was nice and thick. I even served it over buckwheat/yam noodles and put julienne cucumber on top as garnish with half a hard boiled egg (in the shapes of hearts and stars). It looked wonderful and smelled fantastic, but it didn't taste that good. The noodles, in my haste, were cooked much too long and weren't drained soon enough so they were so mushy they just fell apart. The only black bean sauce that they had at the store had garlic in it, which may be why the sauce didn't taste very good, but I also used beef instead of pork for the meat. I also put out a dish of chopped kimchi, which did actually make it taste better, but still not very good. Overall, not great. I do want to try making it again, but correctly this time, using pork and making sure I wait until I'm completely done to cook the noodles (which apparently only need about 3-5 minutes in the boiling water).
Last night, though, went spectacularly well. I got up all the ingredients to make Samgyeopsal (aside from the Ssamjang, perilla leaves, and raw onion). I made the Pa Moochim with one green onion and one leek. It looked great and smelled like onion, but tasted like a very fresh salad. I minced some fresh garlic and put that on the serving platter and had my brother cut the pork belly into smaller strips so it would be easier to cook over the indoor grill (acquired on eBay for $15, shipping included). I also had my sister julienne the kimchi which I had made Monday (it sat until Friday morning, at which time we moved it to the refrigerator). I also cleaned and set the lettuce on a separate plate and made Jasmine rice to go along with it. The Gireumjang was very easy to make and my sister added sesame seeds. It was, by far, one of the best Asian food experiences of my life. It was so delicious and it kept me full (almost uncomfortably so) for well into the next day, even though I didn't eat much of it. I would highly recommend Samgyeopsal to anyone.
Next week, Sukiyaki and Haejangguk.