Kimchi
I’m pretty sure the average home cook thinks that if something fermented in their kitchen, it’s probably time to throw it away. This week I decided to do it on purpose and make myself some kimchi, the national pickle of Korea, and quite possibly the most delicious condiment in the world.
I was plagued with problems from the start. After reading the first several dozen results on google, there were few consistent themes between each recipe. This stands to reason, as there are theoretically hundreds of kimchi variations, but it hardly helps the novice find a starting point. I was not dettered by what might be hard to find Korean ingredients because there happens to be a Korean market just up the street, but I also wasn’t sure to what extent any of them were necessary. Some of the ingredients, like salt, looked to be so meticulously measured, and others, like the primary ingredient of Napa cabbage, was simply listed as, “one or two”. The difference in cabbage sizes is extremely significant!
So after a week of searching and a “large” head of Napa cabbage sitting in my fridge, I decided to experiment with what I already had in my refrigerator, with the consistent information I’d parsed from every recipe I’d looked at. If it turned out, fantastic, if not, I’d try it again with authentic ingredients and no substitutions.
After all of the problems I’d encountered developing a test recipe, everything magically fell into place. One kilogram of cabbage just happened to be the ideal quantity to properly submerge in my largest bowl. The first agreed upon step was a generous soak in salt water, which probably has as much to do with preservation as it does tradition to kill cabbage bugs from the field.
I must have read a hundred bolded and/or italicized warnings to wear rubber gloves when mixing the kimchi to prevent staining your hands with chilies which would invariably burn your skin, eyes and anything else you touched. To this, I have one question: are you more likely to have disposable kitchen gloves in your house or a pair of tongs? I thought the obvious answer was the tongs, but if I am to believe the Internet, most of you are stocking up on plastic gloves. What do I know.
After mixing everything, my largest lidded jar was exactly large enough to contain all of the kimchi to ferment. After three days, my less-than-airtight seal started to hiss at me, so I figured the fermentation process was doing just fine. Now I just had to take the final step and taste it.
I’ve heard that Koreans say “kimchi” instead of “cheese!” when asked to smile for the camera. I don’t know if this is true, but my kimchi certainly made me smile. For a first time effort, this spicy pickle was all right. After a few more days of fermentation, I think it might be up to par. For a second effort, I’m definitely making the effort to get the salted shrimps and chili powder, but I don’t think this needs any other tweaking whatsoever. Now it’s just a matter of finding some recipes to use it all up.
A word of warning, if you’ve never eaten kimchi before, it’s really spicy. There’s a good chance that you probably don’t want a couple kilos of the stuff if you haven’t eaten it before. Make your way down to a Korean barbecue, get some bulgogi beef and a seafood pancake, and see if it’s to your liking first!
- 100g salt
- 4 liters hot water
- 1kg napa cabbage, core removed, cut into pieces
- 2″ piece ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 small head of garlic, crushed
- 1 bunch green onions, tips removed and chopped into 1″ pieces
- 1 medium daikon, peeled and grated
- 1/4 cup fish sauce (or korean salted shrimps)
- 1/2 cup korean chili powder (or 1/2 cup sambal oelek/chili paste mixed with 1 teaspoon paprika)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Dissolve the salt in the water and allow to cool to room temperature. Place the cabbage in a large bowl, cover with the salted water and press with a weighted plate to make sure it is fully submerged. Let stand for at least two hours.
- Drain the cabbage and rinse lightly, then return to the large bowl. Add the ginger, garlic, onions and daikon and mix, then add the fish sauce, chili and sugar. Mix well – with tongs, or a spoon, or something other than your hands, unless you happen to have disposable gloves around the house and prefer to do that instead.
- Transfer everything to a large, sterilized jar, or several smaller jars as required, and seal tightly with the lid(s).
- Set aside the kimchi in a warm place until it begins to ferment (bubble lightly). This should take a day or two, depending on how warm the room is. Once it’s fermenting, put it in the refrigerator, and eat it within a couple of weeks.