The Third Taste
by DongWon Song
I learned a new Korean word recently: 시원하다. It is transliterated into English as siwon-hada. The version I’m more specifically interested in is: 시원한 맛 (siwonhan-mat). The literal translation is something like to be cool or, in the second configuration, to be cool-tasting. This can be applied literally as in: this watermelon is 시원한 맛 because it is literally cold and refreshing and it’s a hot summer day and it is providing a sense of relief and refuge. But 시원하다 has a broader meaning too.
It describes the taste of coolness that comes from not only having eaten something delicious, but being full and satiated, and also having eaten something well balanced and something that is digesting well. It is the taste of not only good food but of feeling good in your body after. Watermelon on a hot day is 시원하다, but so is a hot bubbling kimchi stew full of sweet slices of korean radish, tender slivers of squash, perfectly chewy rice cakes, and unctuous soft tofu. Eating it makes you feel alive and whole and better, and after, you are full but not uncomfortably so, and your body is humming at a peak capacity to turn calories into energy and fuel. Doing the work of becoming more of yourself.
시원하다. To taste cool. To taste refreshing. To taste… right.
DongWon Song has written an incredible essay on 시원하다 - transliterated as siwon-hada, or the taste of coolness. Their reflections on language, balance, and cooking to find 시원하다 in their own life make for a truly amazing read.
This essay is accompanied by DongWon's recipe for jjigae, a flexible Korean stew base that will help you find your way to 시원하다.
Go read the essay and get the recipe here!
-gailey
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Easy Soondubu Jjigae Recipe (Spicy Korean Soft Tofu Stew)
This Soondubu Jjigae recipe will give you a delicious and easy Korean spicy soft tofu stew made with an anchovy broth. It’s loaded with pork and shrimp for the best kind of comfort food out there! If you’ve always wanted to make a delicious Korean dish, then this is the one you need to try!
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Seafood Soft Tofu Haemul Sundubu Jjigae
Indulge in the deliciousness of Haemul Sundubu Jjigae, the ultimate seafood soft tofu stew. A comforting dish that will awaken your taste buds. Dive in now.
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Some of the last 12 months' cookery
In 2022, after someone on a podcast said the most romantic guys knew how to cook, I began focusing on improving my cooking
Fried mackerel (above)
Osam bulgogi
Soondubu jjigae
Tonjiru
Nikujaga (I think there was too much broth, but it tasted fine)
Radish soup. There were also some other things in it
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Homecooking [June ed]
Hello all~
Another month, another homecooking post.
I have failed my reading again this month -.-” I’m close but not quite. .. As a result, I am falling behind my reading goal for 2002, which is reading 15 books in this calendar year. The one I’m reading right now is #7. I guess I’m not too behind but. .. I was doing so well in the first quarter!!
Anyway, homecooking dishes below:
Rice O_O with my mom’s braised pork, some sort of melon & fried tofu. Topped with seaweed :D
This is too much for 1 meal?? I don’t know. .. I felt it was a good amount. It’s avocado toast (literally, half an avocado + toast) lol & beef pesto pasta, with some mini cucumber slices.
Refilled my container of furikake with this one.
Various fish cakes + fish tofu + napa cabbage rice noodles.
My family ordered pizza from Domino’s bcos they were doing a promo. I forgot what the promo was but my bro got 2 2-topping pizzas.
This one was the pepperoni + Italian sausage.
Here’s the ham + mushroom.
Needless to say, I preferred the pepperoni + Italian sausage one haha crust was good too!
Silly me got this from Amazon. I don’t know what possessed me to buy it. .. I did night shifts XD anyway, I do not have a Tassimo so this pod was not suitable for my Keurig mini. However, I have pourover coffee filters! :D so I emptied the contents into those. Each pod for 1 cup. The coffee was good!
Breakfast: cheesestring, hard-boiled egg, crackers, with the fig jam. & can’t forget the coffee.
One of my lunches using the mushroom + sage olive oil from Evoolution. I basically tossed the ingredients with the olive oil with some garlic & parmesan powder. Yum!
Meal at work during night shift. .. This was so satisfying at 0230h lol
The 1st time I saw this design on the side of a Pepero box :O
At first glance, I thought this was Thai but it’s clearly not. . . Thanks to my friend who looked it up for me, this is Burmese. So random!!!
Pan-fried perogies are the best.
Kimchi pancake. The kimchi for this one was made by my coworker’s mom! Authentic homemade Korean kimchi just hits differently <3
. . . I did not like the texture of these . . . =/ it’s so weird!! I should try this in soup next time. Seriously, it was like. .. weird.
Oyster omelette. I’m getting better at making this!
Sundae-jjigae :O !! Why hadn’t I thought of this before? lol for the soup, I used: kimchi, salted shrimp sauce, chicken broth, & some green onions. This was REALLY good!
& here’s the last sundae in my bag of 4. I replicated what I made earlier in the month, ie: just regular sundae-guk that was perilla seed powder-based.
Below photos x5 were from father’s day dinner:
Prime rib~
Homemade bread
Veggies
Instapot pork with bro’s “speciality sauce”
Salad (featuring a corner of my appetizer)
Beef rice noodles <3
Dumpling sujebi. Finally picked up some more sujebi from Hmart wooooot!
Cold noodles. I remember last week during this week, we had like the hottest weather but it was been surprisingly quite cool this year. *knock on wood* let’s keep it that way! I really don’t like hot weather.
Believe it or not, this was my BREAKFAST (~0830h) after night shift haha was this too much??! It’s a bowl of butter chicken ‘soup’ (that I added some frozen spinach to), a fried egg, & a piece of naan bread.
I hope I don’t have any more nights this year. I should be done. .. I do less than most ppl so I’m grateful but I just don’t like them. However, I personally prefer night shift over evening shift, which is from 4pm-midnight. I feel like I have so much more time when working night shifts haha
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Gochujang-Jjigae (Gochujang Stew)
This recipe is great for a freezer clean-out since I usually have stuff set aside like zucchini or meat that are begging to be used. The spice level can be easily adjusted by increasing or decreasing the spicy ingredients. It's a great dish to get a whole lot of vegetables in and a great way to make a heap of leftovers too.
Note: I am not Korean myself, but this is how I've come to prepare and adapt this recipe for my own kitchen and what I usually have on-hand. I referenced a lot of different recipes online to compile this one and will link a few by actual Korean cooks at the bottom.
Ingredients:
1 pound meat of choice (Ground beef is our go-to)
2-3 potatoes, cubed
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1/2 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms (if dried, soak in water 1 hour in fridge before use)
1 package egg tofu or similar
Seasoning:
Minced Garlic to taste
3-4 tbsp Gochujang (adjust depending on heat preference)
1-2 tbsp Gochugaru
1 tbsp anchovy/fish sauce (can be replaced with soy sauce)
Soy Sauce (at least 1 tbsp)
3 cups liquid (Many options: rice-rinsing water is a traditional option as the starch helps bind the flavor to the ingredients. If soaking dried shiitake, use the soaking liquid as well. If none of these were saved, plain water or meat/vegetable broth/dashi can be used.)
Optional Add-Ins:
Baby Bok Choy
Onion/Spring Onion
Other mushroom varieties (enoki, oyster, etc)
Lotus Root
Tteok/rice cakes
Frozen dumplings
Noodles of choice
Prepare ingredients: cut vegetables and start rice, as this dish is served with rice.
Brown meat of choice in a good-sized pot with a little oil if necessary to prevent sticking. Garlic and soy sauce can be added at this stage if desired.
Once nearly browned, add gochujang and fry along with the meat the rest of the way. Mix in gochugaru once the meat is browned and the gochujang's cooked on.
Add soup liquid, anchovy sauce, and soy sauce and mix together. Add potatoes, mushrooms, and any other ingredients of choice that need a longer cook-time, and bring to a boil.
Simmer til potatoes are soft (10-15 minutes), then add zucchini, tofu, and shorter-cooking ingredients like greens or rice cakes.
Give another 5-10 minutes til all ingredients are cooked through, then serve with rice.
References:
Aaron and Claire
FutureDish
Korean Bapsang
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