Kimchi, the favorite food of Korea, proves tough to perfect when cooks take a class.
A little chopped ginger. A little chopped garlic. Add a lot of red chili powder, a lot of salt, and mix it all together, then pour this mixture over layers of wilted napa cabbage that has been soaked in salty water. You should have some decent kimchi, right?
Wrong, lamented Mỹ Linh Nguyễn. “No matter what I tried, mine just doesn’t taste the same!”
Nguyễn considers herself an accomplished cook, and she traveled from Orange County to Los Angeles one recent day, determined to crack the secret code of making kimchi, Korea’s signature dish.
Kimchi, a matter of national pride to most Koreans, is a name given to a pungent, fiery-red mixture of Korean crushed red pepper and fermented vegetables, mostly napa cabbage and daikon. It is a Korean’s beloved side dish that accompanies anything and everything, and is served with every meal.
Named by the Korean government as a “national treasure,” kimchi has a core of fans who fervently believe the dish provides health benefits from suppressing bacteria in the intestines to providing the best of nutrition, preventing cancer and aging, and even making Korean women beautiful.
Its critics, on the other hand, speak of a high level of sodium when consuming too much kimchi, and even point to its link to the high rate of stomach cancer in South Korea.
Regardless, it seems that on this morning, Nguyễn her husband and about 60 other attendees of the kimchi class organized by The Korea Daily and Hansong Korean BBQ & Seafood Buffet on Olympic Boulevard, were unconcerned with the health debates about their favorite food. Fifteen minutes before class, the huge parking lot was already almost full.
Surprisingly, about a third of the attendees were non-Koreans. An American woman said she wanted to learn how to make kimchi because she is a vegetarian. Another said she was curious about how kimchi was made and interested in its purported health benefits. An American man said he was “addicted to kimchi” and wanted to learn how to make it at home. And a couple of Korean Americans in their late 20s said they just wanted to learn the proper preparation technique.
On this day, Isabella Kim, a young Korean American, led the lecture in English. Between explaining the history of kimchi and adding that kimchi has more than 200 hundreds varieties, Isabella said she was proud to make kimchi “the way my great-grandmother made it.”
There was something poignant about an ancient art being explained by someone so young looking and so enthusiastic.
Students from all walks of life having fun learning how to make kimchi. (Photo: Hà Giang).
Following the theory section, everyone gathered in one of Hansong’s meeting rooms overlooking the garden to observe chef Kwanchui Kim demonstrate how to get napa cabbage ready for fermentation, preparing the marinade, while Isabella explained the recipes in both English and Korean.
In a brick-lined courtyard, attendees found their spot at a table with gleaming steel-mixing bowls, gloves, cabbage, salt and all necessary ingredients waiting for them.
Once everyone was situated at their station, four chefs mingled to make sure that every student could master the art of making kimchi. As the lesson progressed, the buzzing courtyard was filled with laughter, and soon a pungent aroma of chopped ginger, garlic, onion, fresh napa cabbage and fresh daikon — the unmistakable smell of kimchi — permeated the open air.
The comments started. “Wow, didn’t know we have to use cooked glutinous rice powder to marinate,” someone said. Another attendee had a revelation.
“Oh, I soak cabbage in salt water way too long. That’s why mine is so soggy!”
At the end of the session, everyone gasped at how Isabella quickly demonstrated neatly cutting and displaying layers of fieryred kimchi sprinkled with green onions on a white
plate.
“What a beautiful sight!”Another shouted out.
After working hard, the students returned inside and were rewarded with a taste of kimchi pancakes and kimchi fried rice, both were excellent with a variety of Korean rice wine from Kooksoondang Brewery, one of the co-sponsors of the class.
As their hunger subsided, everyone lingered to talk about the class.
“What a great experience! I did not know making kimchi is such a complex process,” Nguyen said. “I now know how to prepare kimchi to make it taste so fresh. We definitely have to come back and try their other food.”
Hà Giang
NguoiViet English – November 2011