Ulsan Online

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K o re a n
F o o d
Living in ULSAN
by Deirdre Madden
So you’re new in town and you’re hungry. But the
only “Korean” food you’ve eaten before is rice, and
you have no idea what you want, or how to order
it. Before you give it all up and become best friends
with the Pizza Palm’s delivery guy, check this out.
And remember that your mother was right ? you
should try it. You might like it.
Kimchi
Basic Korean side dish to every meal. It’s pickled
cabbage spiced with gochujang (red pepper paste).
Sometimes other veggies are spiced and pickled,
too. Every ajumma’s is different, so try it in
different places. Mool kimchi is just kimchi in
water.
Bulgogi
Korean Barbeque. Strips of marinated meat cooked
on the table in front of you. Comes with an
assorted array of side dishes, mostly kimchi or
kimchified veggies. Sogogi is beef, dweggi gogi is
pork.
Sam Gyup Sal
Literally it means “three layers of fat” It’s basically
the same cut of pork as bacon, but it’s not cured.
I’ve heard it’s very good for your heart. Again, you
cook it on the table in front of you. The proper
way to eat it is to roll the cooked meat in the
provided leaves, along with garlic and sauce.
Donkas
Similar to schnitzel. Breaded pork cutlets served
with a tasty sauce and usually a side of white rice
and corn. One of the “fusion” foods, a mix of
Korean and western cooking. Deep fried and
served with gravy, it’s pretty western.
Kimbap
Rice (bap), ham, egg, and sweet radish rolled in seaweed (kim). You can also
find it with tuna (chamchi).
Dwonjan Chiggae
A slightly spicy soup filled with veggies, and sometimes various types of meat
and seafood. When I say slightly spicy, it’s comparable to a medium salsa back
home.
Mandu
Korea’s answer to dumplings. Dough stuffed with rice and meat (gogi), kimchi
or veggies. It’s then steamed. Served with soy sauce and pickled radish (moo).
Kimchi Chiggae
A spicy soup made with kimchi and other veggies. Kimchi chiggae can
sometimes be very spicy, so be careful. There can also be meat in it, so
vegetarians need to ask for it “gogi beygo”.
Sam Gyeh Tang
Basically it’s chicken and ginseng soup, but the chicken comes whole and
stuffed with rice and other goodies. Very tasty, and good when you’ve got a
cold.
Hay Chang Guk
Good Morning Soup. It’s the Korean hangover cure; a soup usually made from
pork-spine. I was told by one cook that it’s vegetarian...
Cheesy Rice(Cheeju Dak Yatche Bokumbap)
A stir fry of rice, chicken, veggies, cheese and gochujang (red pepper) sauce.
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