Register

Korean Food

Chill out and chat with the foodie community or swap top tips.
NOTE: THE CURRENT CHATTERBOX IS IN THIS FORUM
Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:06 pm

I wasn't feeling hungry, so didn't have anything there, but took a pic of the Korean Foodstall in Watford Market.

Click pic for a blowup to read the menu. Veggie bibimbap, not beefy, I do like my beef...

Image

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:53 pm

Intriguing book, a comic strip Korean cookbook!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cook-Korean-Co ... 1607748878

I've already got one comic strippish cookbook, Len Deighton's Action Cookbook, although that is only semi-comic strip really, as it also has pages of typematter.

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:54 pm

My initial reaction to the new "Korean" foodstall was excitement. I don't want to be critical, but having thought about what's on offer, I feel I have to be.

Firstly when I look closer at the menu, I see that two of the dishes are not Korean, but Japanese, and as such they are taking business from the existing Japanese Sushi bar inside the market, which already provides Japanese food to a very high standard, absolutely head and shoulders above the best the new stall can do, and already highly recommended by Kavey and myself.

So we are left with two "Korean" dishes, Bibimbap and Korean Fried Chicken. The KFC looks like sweet and sour balls, with the merest hint of sauce, whereas the bibimbap looks like it's got kimchi flavour sauce rather than actual kimchi in it. They could at least have left the kimchi "loose" on top of the rice, but it doesn't look as if there's much kimchi there anyway. That's not on, as I know how cheap and easy it is to make.

I think we have some bandwagon jumping here, I could make a fortune selling six chicken balls or a fried egg with a cupful of rice at a fiver a time.

--------------------------------------

OH DEAR ME. Since writing that first bit, I was suspicious, and did some research on the images on their facebook page. They are all "borrowed" images, here's what I discovered:

Their Bibimbap pic came from here, it's a "photo recipe" page, and it looks like there's NO rice in it:
https://www.menupan.com/Cook/CookBoard/ ... p?ID=49739

Thier Katsu Curry pic came from here:
http://japan.recipetineats.com/katsu-cu ... en-cutlet/

Korean Fried Chicken here, couldn't find it via Google, but tracked it down because they left the image URL on the pic!!!! Sadly anaemic, not very gochujangish-looking.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDawHfwIwGn ... =lotusms12

Their "Kimchi Soup" came from here. Looks like Heinz spaghetti with raw veg:
http://sotaynauan.com/meo-hay-an-mi-tom ... oi-co-the/

Here's a tip: if you are going to pinch images and fob them off as your own, why not use GOOD ones?

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:54 pm

Oh dear! Those photos don't look very appetising! On one photo, it looked like they were using diced pork luncheon meat.

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:48 pm

Well spotted! I've translated it on Google Translate below, and it IS spam!!!! Especially weird as Mark was talking abour Kimchi, Hot Dogs and Spam in another thread...

Isn't technology mind-boggling? What also amazes me is "image search", where you link to a picture and it finds all the similar images on the web. That's how I identified these four fake pix.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translat ... edit-text=

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Tue Nov 14, 2017 9:31 pm

Yes, I sometimes use Google Image Search and Google Translation.

I have a can of Spam in the cupboard, which I bought some time ago for old times sake, but it's staying there! :thumbsdown

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:17 pm

Yep, best place for it, at the back of the cupboard! I've still got most of that huge batch of kimchi in the fridge, so I'm making kimchi stew tonight, but spam and hot dogs need not feel afraid, I already have pork and tofu prepped up. Slightly scared to smell the kimchi (it's the batch I made with baby shrimp) as it's four weeks old now, but it still seems good.

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Wed Nov 15, 2017 11:31 am

Good luck with that kimchi then! :thumbsup I think that because of my age, I am reluctant to make kimchi, but I'm sure that it's very safe.

User avatar
Posts: 396
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:55 pm

Re: Korean Food

Postby kavey » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:47 am

Uh oh, that doesn't sound good.
That said, ALL the Korean restaurants in New Malden have Japanese dishes on the menu, as Japanese food is popular in Korea, so I understand. It's just considered a normal part of the menu, like many British food pubs have curry on their menus and still get touted as British food rather than global...
But I've not been up to Watford for ages. We went a couple of times last year (to see Grandpa's Sushi in their new location) and despite not working there for a good few years and therefore no longer being in once or twice a week as I once was, the owners recognised and greeted me with warm recognition, which was surprising and very touching.
I'm spoiled with my Korean food, this week I had a fabulous yukgaejang and a mouth burning squid in spicy sauce thing. YUM!

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sat Nov 18, 2017 11:34 am

ALL the Korean restaurants in New Malden have Japanese dishes on the menu
But to have only two Korean dishes on the menu? And neither of those looks up to scratch, even with a "borrowed" pic...

I wonder if the place on your blog still do the cookery classes? They look good value for anyone in the Finchley area who may be interested, I've linked to your blog article from 2014 too.

Korean Cookery Classes
http://www.edibleexperiences.com/p/1123 ... Restaurant

Kavey's Korean Cookery Lesson
https://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/10/yijo- ... asses.html

The squid dish sounds intriguing. That's the big hole in my culinary expertise, seafood cookery. The sum total of my seafood consumption this year (apart from processed fishy things in oriental food) is the occasional fish and chips; sardines on toast for breakfast a few times, and a few frozen prawny fryups. Not good enough, but it's so bloody expensive.

User avatar
Posts: 396
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:55 pm

Re: Korean Food

Postby kavey » Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:45 pm

Sakkarin wrote:But to have only two Korean dishes on the menu? And neither of those looks up to scratch, even with a "borrowed" pic...

Yeah that's just bollocks!!!! All the New Malden ones have extensive menus and a handful of Japanese dishes on them as well, but a tonne of Korean ones of course!

Sakkarin wrote:I wonder if the place on your blog still do the cookery classes? They look good value for anyone in the Finchley area who may be interested, I've linked to your blog article from 2014 too.

I don't think they do. Not long after the restaurant launched they took on a general manager, I had met her once via food blogging but didn't know her well, but anyway she had a personal interest in Korea, visiting regularly, learning the language and food. She was the one who helped the owner/ head chef set up these cooking classes, managed the bookings and everything. To cut long story short, she left, as did most of the regular staff, and the service fell down very badly after that. We gave it a few more visits and then gave up. I may need to go back and add an addendum to those old posts. I don't think they do classes anymore without her there to organise them.

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:46 pm

Apparently Gordon Ramsay has "Fallen in love with Korean food". In the process he's become "brand ambassador" for a Korean beer (no doubt for a 5 or 6 figure sum. Or maybe 7, perish the thought). "Bloody fresh" he calls it. Interesting choice of words, allows him to say that he's not endorsing it, as fresh just means the bottle was opened very recently.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... an-beer-ad

Posts: 1266
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 10:35 am

Re: Korean Food

Postby Lusciouslush » Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:05 pm

He's such a tart.................!

And soooooooooooooooo gets on my (***'s ) nerves!!

User avatar
Posts: 4139
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: Korean Food

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:16 pm

Did homemade bibimbap again last night, topped with pork bulgogi

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:33 pm

I've made it three times this week, using beef skirt, a little of which goes a long way. I've settled on an "all-in-one" method, not entirely authentic, but I feel it keeps the spirit of it. Each time I use slightly different veg. Note the slightly squidgy short grain rice!

Image

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:23 pm

Update on the dried rice cakes I mentioned in this post.

It's the first time I've tried them, and they've been soaking for 36 hours now, and although they have softened a bit (they are as tough as plastic to start off with) they are still the consistency of leather. Not sure if they'll ever be edible! I'll have to check out Sunflower's site to remind myself how she dealt with them.

So firstly, soaking dried peas and beans for just 8 hours will now seem like fast food. And secondly, if the original fresh cylindrical rice cakes are weird, these are way weirder.

FOLLOW UP:
Aha, seems like Sunflower didn't have a good experience with the dried ones, she's opted for semi-dried ones. Oh well, I'll carry on regardless with the ones I'm soaking. Sunflower's recipe looks's good.
http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.co.uk ... -cake.html

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:08 pm

Well that was my best meal of the year so far!

Beyond 24 hours, the rice cakes didn't really change much in "floppiness", but tossing them into hot water and bringing it back to the boil does the trick pretty much instantly, and the were very edible, softer than the previous Korean rice cakes. In the end I used Sunflower's recipe, and to be honest, it's cheating putting it here, because the dish is not really Korean at all, and they don't really seem to use these flat rice cakes anyway.

Last minute dash for ingredients, but Tesco had run out of chinese leaves/pak choi, so I substituted some very finely sliced white cabbage (to imitate the white parts) and some lettuce (to imitate the green parts). Apart from that, it was a bit of a kitchen sink job, with pork, prawn and fried tofu as the "protein", and fresh and dried mushroom, red pepper, spring onion, carrot and an oyster saucy sauce.

Image

User avatar
Posts: 916
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:33 pm

Re: Korean Food

Postby Pampy » Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:46 am

The plate of food looks really appetising and very colourful. The prawns look plump and tasty.

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:07 pm

Thanks. I have to confess that I usually overdo prawns, seafood is not my forte :-(

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:25 am

It looks very very appetising, Sakks! Who cares whether or not it's Korean! :lol: What are those long pieces with rounded ends?

I'm not happy with the prawns that I buy. Some of them seem a bit water-logged. Where do you get yours from?

PreviousNext

Return to Food Chat & Chatterbox

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests