It’s been a few days since I’ve posted here because my mother-in-law was in town and came over to teach me how to cook some Korean recipes! Within 24 hours, we went shopping at the nearest Korean grocery (which was about an hour away) and learned many new dishes, including: Yuk gae jang, moo guk, bokeumbap, bibimbap, kong gooksu, pajun, ho dduk and the goong mul for neng myun.
The shopping itself was a new experience since we bought so many things I never knew about. From sauces to different types of meat, canned red bean, dried beans, and even fresh fish that they cleaned and cut for us right there! I had no idea that type of service was available. I am quite the meat buying novice. I think I’ve only purchased 3 types of raw meat my whole life… chicken breast, chicken drumsticks, and flank steak. Maybe I’ve bought others, but I have no recollection of how to cook with other types of meat!
Since I became pregnant, my vegetarian diet has gone out the window. My body was just not getting the protein it needed and I started to crave Korean barbeque like crazy. I had to succumb to my body’s wishes since I knew it was a call for protein and iron. Since then, I’ve been eating meat. Not a lot, but enough. My goal was to learn to make recipes at home so that I could buy cleaner meats (hormone-free, grass fed, etc.). This is the beginning of my journey to learning how to cook some good ol’ Korean food.
A lot of the things I learned were pretty easy, but never having done it, I would have never even bothered to try without showing me, so I was so happy that my mother-in-law was here to save the day. Things like making soup stock. It just sounds like a ton of work and time, but if you know what type of meat to buy, and what else to put in there, it is super easy. And it can be frozen for use later.
Since I’m still a novice, I’m learning the easy way first. I think the reason why I never really attempted a lot of this stuff on my own was because 1) the Korean grocery was just way too far, and 2) I was trying to always learn things from scratch. I’ve realized I need to take baby steps, and in order to do that, I need to buy some pre-made things in the beginning. For example, we bought some pre-made kalbi sauce. Once I can do that and am comfortable with it, then I can move onto making it from scratch. We also bought some ho-dduk packets with some powder to make it. And then there is bibimbap sauce. Sure, it’s easy to make, but for a newbie, it’s another barrier to entry. Having it readily available makes it easy to attempt making the dish in the beginning. So, this is where I’m starting.
Just spending 24 hours in the kitchen makes it a more comfortable environment for me and breaks the habit of trying to decide what to eat last minute. At that point I’m usually starving and can’t manage to cook anything. I have to resort to eating ready to eat items, like fruit, yogurt, and things that just don’t make a complete meal until I can think clearly enough to figure out a better plan.
I didn’t take any picture of the food yet since I didn’t technically make any of the dishes myself. I will once I try to make these and other dishes on my own. I now own a Korean cookbook that my mother-in-law gave me that is pretty comprehensive but is all in Korean. I’ve marked all the dishes I want to make but will have to learn to read Korean much better before I can actually use it. We learn by doing, right? I’ll do my best to read the Korean and then find other sources of Korean recipes in English that I can use to double check any confusing areas. I’m sure it will be a journey in improving my Korean as well.
I’m excited that I have a future of much better meal options at home that I can make for myself and serve my husband too! Of course I will also teach him so that he can make it for me sometimes. 🙂
Dancing Baby 