My Korea: Traditional Flavors, Modern Recipes
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Evocatively written, rich in Korean culinary culture, and addressing an audience of serious cooks who want to understand Korean cuisine from both traditional and contemporary perspective, My Korea is significant contribution to Korean cookbooks in English.
Hooni Kim is the chef of Hanjan, and of Danji, an NYC establishment that was the first Korean restaurant to earn a Michelin star. Trained in leading Manhattan restaurants, he aspired to bring to his own restaurant the professional rigor and pride in a national cuisine that he found in the kitchens of Daniel and Masa.
His food is not always precisely what one would be served in Korea, but as he says, “I do not dilute or use substitutes for any ingredients that are integral to the flavor profiles of traditional Korean dishes. I do apply more sophisticated culinary techniques than would normally be used by a mother or grandmother in a traditional Korean kitchen, but these techniques are intended to support and enhance the texture and sophistication of the original dishes, never to interfere with the authentic flavor.”
Detailed guides to traditional ingredients, including the Korean flavor trinity of doenjang (fermented soy bean paste), ganjang (soy sauce), and gochujang (fermented red chili paste), are followed by 90 recipes. Dish names appear in English, transliterated Korean, and Hangul characters; extensive head notes discuss the cultural context of the food, as well as what best to serve it with.
In addition to familiar and popular foods such as bibimbap and barbecue short ribs, Kim offers buckwheat noodles in chilled beef broth, tofu with kimchi and pork belly stir-fry, and an assortment of banchan and muchim, the flavorful small dishes that begin almost any Korean meal. Here and there you’ll also find evidence of the cultural intersections in Kim’s life, such as bacon chorizo kimchi paella with French scrambled eggs. There’s even a selection of Korean-inspired cocktails.
Vibrant, fascinating, and inspiring.
Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.
Published: April 7, 2020
