Koreaworld

For a limited time we have copies signed by Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard.

Taking the pulse of contemporary Korean cooking, both in Korea and around the world, this is a high-energy yet serious exploration of the intersection between an evolving national cuisine and a world that has become a little obsessed with it.

Deuki Hong, who owns and runs restaurants in San Francisco, and Matt Rodbard, James Beard Award-winning food writer and podcast host, credit “hundreds of restaurant owners, farmers, shopkeepers, a few Buddhist monks, a couple of massively popular YouTubers, a professional golfer, and many others who hold Korean culture at the center of their lives.”

That’s quite a range, and even after dividing their discoveries into two big sections on Modern Korea and the New Koreatowns, Hong and Rodbard have to offer representative fare rather than trying to be comprehensive. But their headnotes make it clear why each recipe is here.

For example:

• Rose tteokbokki, a dish of sauteed rice cakes with gochujang and cream: “While so much of Korean cooking got spicier and more extreme, the classic all-day utility dish… went pink.. Layering in subtle sweetness is a good way to counter the heat of the chile paste.”

• Gilgeori toast, an egg-and-cheese street food, a “Tilt-A-Whirl of a recipe that marries the dearly beloved sweet and savory…while butter works perfectly well, margarine is way more common in Korea and adds both a texture and flavor that make this distinctly Korean.”

• Grilled Kimchi Wedge Salad: “Kimchi lovers know that kimchi takes on a new form when grilled, transforming from sharply flavored to gently sour like a dill pickled. The creamy, velvety tofu-based dressing, which is almost ranch-like, nicely cuts through the charred kimchi.”

Koreaworld can’t be definitive. It doesn’t want to be. But it’s a highly effective gateway to a new world of Korean cooking.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.