When we talked about korean restaurants in the class, we all shared our favorite Korean food. I actually knew a lot of Korean food’s name, so I introduced some unique hansik(Korean food) to my group members.
First one is my favorite food, 육개장, which means spicy beef soup. It is a spicy-soup like Korean dish made from shredded beef with scallions and other ingredients, including bean sprouts, garlic and sweet potato noodles, which are simmered together for a long time. It is believed to be healthful and is popular due to its hot and spicy nature. It is actually a variety of thick soup, which was formerly served in Korean royal court cuisine. However, in the contemporary society, people usually can find it in every Korean restaurant. It becomes an indispensable dish in every Korean family.
I also introduced a really unique food from Korea which is called 게장(Gejang). It is a variety of salted fermented seafood in Korean cuisine, which is made by marinating fresh raw crabs either in soy sauce or in a sauce based on chili pepper powder. The term consists of the two words; ge, meaning "a crab", and jang which means "condiment" in Korean. I watched one Youtube video about how to make Gejang. The lady washed the crabs first and dried them in order to bring out the natural flavor. And then she placed them in the jars with the crabs’ jelly facing up. Because that was where the roe and intestines were, and people would not want them to spill down. And then, the soy sauce was boiled and cooled repeatedly with medicinal herbs and vegetables to enrich the flavor. Hot soy sauce was able to cook the crab. In light of this, it must be cold before use. After cooling down, the soy sauce was poured over the crabs completely submerging them. The last step was adding onions, pepper and garlic to the jars. In the past, people often would wait for 5 days. But the crabs would be too fermented in this way. Instead, after waiting for two days, the crabs would taste really good and would be perfect side dish for rice.
Then, we talked about where the best place to find delicious food is. It is Korean fish market which is called Noryangjin. Although it is fish market, people can find all different types of street food there, including rice cake and other common street food. You can also find special street food here and you are able to try them by spending little money. For example, live octopus.
We watched one video about Korean people eating live octopus. Korean eat it with 고추장 which means chili sauce. It looked kind of scary to me because the octopus was still moving. But my group member said it tasted really delicious. So I am really looking forward to try it in Korean seafood market.
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