Disclaimer: I’m not Korean or fluent at the language; I can only translate the parts that I understand. There are probably many mistranslations here, but the idea is roughly the same.
Please watch videos for the exact amount of ingredients. Teacher Soomi sometimes uses her hand for measurement, so it’s hard to put the exact amount in words.
Today’s snack is chapssaltteok (Korean mochi). Teacher Soomi tells everyone to be careful eating these bc they make your lips white. Teacher Soomi says this is the perfect snack for studying KSAT, which will be on 11/15. Chef Choi says, “In the past, taffy and mochi were usually given during exam study time.” Chef Mikael asks why they need to eat these during exam time. Teacher Soomi explains, “Mochi is sticky and easy to eat. You don’t gain weight too.” Teacher Soomi introduces the food they’re going to cook, braised saury (mackerel pike) and dried radish green. Teacher Soomi says that they are going to make it spicy, and the guest Heo Kyung Kwan says he likes spicy food. Teacher Soomi adds, “They aren’t expensive. Saury can is yummy too. If you don’t have fresh saury, you can use the can. Bc sauries have fishy smell, it’s usually grilled with salt. Sauries and dried radish greens are good combination, so I always cook them together.” Chef Choi explains to chef Mikael the difference between dried radish greens and dried cabbage leaves. Teacher Soomi says, “If you go to Sansa’s temple right now, you will see lots of dried radish greens. They have a lot of vitamins and minerals. They are healthy food for monks.” Dongmin has seen saury kimchi jjigae (stew), but it’s his first time hearing braised saury and dried radish greens. Teacher Soomi explains the oil from saury seeping to dried radish greens is a perfect fantasy. Heo Kyung Hwan agrees with Dongmin that it will be hist first time eating braised saury and dried radish greens. Kyung Hwan is sensitive to fishy smell, so he will let Teacher know if the food has fishy smell. Teacher Soomi says, “I like [that attitude.]”
Recipe: Braised Saury with Dried Radish Greens
First, slightly blanch dried radish greens before starting.
Chefs wonder how much water to pour.
Chef Choi: Dongmin usually tells us about the amount of water to use, but [Kyung Hwan] doesn’t.
Kyung Hwan: If you’ve been learning for 24 episodes, you should know by now!
Dongmin: That man skipped twice out of 24 episodes!
Teacher Soomi: He skipped thrice!
Marinate dried radish greens: 2 hand scoops of soybean paste, 2 hand scoops of red pepper paste and 2 tbsp of garlic. [Don’t mix the dried greens all at once, separate them like how Teacher Soomi’s doing.]
Chef Choi: We don’t cut dried radish greens right?
Teacher Soomi: You will die if you cut them today!
Dongmin *smells the mixture*: It’s already yummy if we eat it like this!
Chef Choi: I think I have too many dried greens. [Chef Yeo mixes gently.]
Teacher Soomi *looks at chef Yeo*: What an awkward mixing!
Teacher Soomi: Chef Choi ya! Are you joking? You saw me earlier, right? Do it like this!
This is not easy lesson from Soomi’s Side Dishes.
When water is boiling, add anchovies and large-eye herrings.
Use a half of onion and cut it into thick chunks.
Cut red/green peppers into chunks.
Cut leek 5cm lengthwise.
Add 1 tbsp of fish sauce to the onion and red/green peppers.
Teacher Soomi *goes to give them fish sauce and sees chef Choi’s veggie bowl*: I told you not to add leek!!
Kyung Hwan: Chef Mikael usually follows chef Choi, who doesn’t do well himself.
Teacher Soomi: The fish sauce acts like soy sauce to get rid of fishy smell and tastes savory.
Add 3 tbsp of yangjo soy sauce, 2 tbsp of plump juice, a few sprinkles of black pepper and 1.5 tbsp of red pepper flakes.
Now add the marinated dried radish greens to the boiling water.
Teacher Soomi: Don’t take out anchovies and big-eyed herrings. I had them in my food in the past, so I purposely left them there. We’ll add sauries after boiling these dried greens. You can cook sauries in 10 minutes for the meat to be intact.
Don’t throw out fish heads. [Tip: Use saury’s heads for a deep flavor.]
Cut saury’s head, and then cut the body in half.
Dongmin: Instead of saury kimchi jjigae, I’ve never seen braised saury using the fresh fish.
Teacher Soomi: Okay, then let’s do this. One person will cook with canned saury.
They are going to compare the taste of fresh saury and canned saury.
If using canned saury, cook them for only 5 minutes. (Since they’re already cooked.)
Kyung Hwan: I’ll do the dishes. [Dongmin asks if he knows how to do it.] Eh, I do nothing but wash dishes. [Kyung Hwan quickly rinses the cutting board.]
Dongmin: You’re already done? You need to clean the back too!!
Teacher Soomi: We used to be scared of comedian sunbaes in the past.
Dongmin: You have to greet them like this.
Kyung Hwan: You couldn’t walk normally if you were new. You had to skip around like this. If you walked leisurely, they would ask if you have nothing to do.
Teacher Soomi asks Kyung Hwan to show her how he would greet a sunbae then.
Dongmin: For us, we couldn’t walk normally at all. We crawled like this. (lmao)
Dongmin: Kyung Hwan has released an album. [Teacher Soomi: Singer?] If Teacher sits here, he’ll come to sing for you. [Teacher: Do it until it’s boiling.]
Kyung Hwan suggests Teacher Soomi to join him.
Dongmin thinks it is yummy already. Teacher Soomi agrees.
Add fresh sauries and sauce into the pot.
If using canned sauries, also add the liquid in the can.
Now, add leek. Cook for 5 more minutes and it’s done.
Time for Evaluation~
Teacher Soomi *looks at chef Mikael’s food*: It has to be submerged like this. It’s the best taste. [Kyung Hwan: It’s a bit fishy.] *Whispers* A bit fishy! Give me fish sauce, Dongmin. [Kyung Hwan,] you’re amazing. Now, it’s good right?
Teacher Soomi *tastes from chef Yeo’s*: It’s sweet, which isn’t from sugar. Omo, canned saury is more yummy!
Chef Choi: Teacher’s doesn’t fishy taste at all.
Teacher Soomi: This is hand taste. [Chef Yeo: It has a clean taste too.] It has a clean, refreshing taste and doesn’t taste fishy at all.
Dongmin: Saury meat is really delicious.
Teacher Soomi: Yeah. It tastes savory.
Chef Yeo: Definitely eat with rice!
Kyung Hwan: I now have a different view on the fishy smell of saury. I always thought it was fishy.
Chef Choi: I used to hate dried radish greens in the past.
Teacher Soomi: If you don’t have dried radish greens, you can use kimchi to replace it. [Dongmin: What’s the next dish?] Really perfect for chilly days… Eomuk tang (fish cake soup) and eomuk jorim (braised fish cake). [Dongmin and chef Mikael reach out for fish cake side dish first in a meal.]
Recipe: Eomuk Bokkeum (Stir-fried Fish Cake)
Teacher Soomi: Stir-fried fish cake is the easiest to do!
Turn on low heat. Add 2 tbsp of yangjo soy sauce, 3 tbsp of water and 2 tsp of sugar.
Wait for the sugar to melt off.
Cut 10 sheets of fish cake into 1cm strips.
Teacher Soomi: Show them the size of fish cake! [Dongmin goes to show the size.] Ah, these people haven’t cut fish cake yet?
Kyung Hwan: Oyo~ soy sauce is gonna burn…
Add fish cake into the pan.
Teacher Soomi: That’s all! What’s so hard about it?
Kyung Hwan and chef Mikael: Really? That’s all?
Cut and add 1 Cheongyang chili pepper (~1-2mm).
Kyung Hwan: Oyo~ Color from Chef Yeo is good! [Chef Choi’s color] is bit dark! [He approves chef Mikael’s food.]
Add half a tbsp of soy sauce if fish cake’s color is light.
Add 1 tbsp of sesame oil and sesame seeds. Cook for 5 more minutes.
Add a bit of honey.
Kyung Hwan: There are some diners that serve tasteless stir-fried fish cake~ But that is also a skill since it’s this easy!!
Recipe: Eomuk Tang (Fish Cake Soup)
Teacher Soomi is going to make fish cake soup for everyone.
Slightly fry anchovies and big-eye herrings in the pot.
Kyung Hwan: Be careful of your hands~
Teacher Soomi: Aiyo~ Why no one got tricked~!!
Dongmin: Kyung Hwan, give her a satisfying reaction!
Chef Choi: Teacher! Did you hurt your hands?!!
Add water, dried shrimps and kelp to the pot.
Chop radish into big chunks. (Make sure to smooth out the edges.)
Add radish into the pot and cook with a lid in 20-30 minutes.
Turn off the heat when the broth boils. Then take the fishes and shrimps out.
Teacher Soomi: You must use radish for a refreshing broth! [Kyung Hwan mentions about crab and shrimps in Busan’s broth.] This is to make at home, using them increases your work load. Obviously the broth will taste better adding blue crab!! But you have to prepare them.
Kyung Hwan: I’m not… mad that we don’t have blue crab here. I’m saying that it’s good to have.
Dongmin: Who here haven’t eaten blue crab broth [with fish cake]? Why did you ask? [Kyung Hwan: Are you her son? Her son?!] You’re raising up people’s temper!
Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce. (Check to see the broth color to add more if needed.)
Add 3 tsp of sugar. (It has to be sweet.)
Cut and add 1 leek, 1 red chili pepper and half an onion to the broth.
Teacher Soomi: I’m gonna add garae tteok (rice cake).
Kyung Hwan: We call this mul tteok (water rice cake) in Busan.
Skew the rice cake.
Add big pieces of fish cake to the broth first, then add smaller ones.
Chef Choi: Do we add rice cake skewers now?
Teacher Soomi: No, those are for later. Take them out. You also add quail eggs and other types of fish cake (t/n: anything you like). Throw in some crown daisy.
It’s done after boiled.
Chef Mikael: We don’t have paper cups?
Dipping sauce: mustard, equal amount of vinegar and soy sauce
Recipe: Kkomak Muchim (Seasoned Blood Cockles)
[Not in the video: Teacher Soomi rubs blood cockles with rock salt and rinse them under running water.]
Blood clams (aka ark clams), on the left, are bigger than block cockles, on the right.
Soak blood cockles in salt water.
Teacher Soomi: You didn’t turn on the heat? [Dongmin told him to do it earlier.]
Chef Choi: There’s such a guest, who forgets boiling water for Teacher! I did mine already. I’m disappointed in you.
Add a bit of salt in the water.
Add blood cockles in.
Chef Choi: Teacher, how long should we cook them for?
Chef Mikael: Eih~ You don’t even know that?
Take them out when blood cockles open up (~10 minutes).
Sauce ingredients: cut 3/4 part of cucumber (not too thin)
Kyung Hwan report chef Choi’s cucumber slices are a bit thin.
[Continue to] prepare sauce ingredients: cut half a red chili pepper, a whole green chili pepper, 50g of Asian chives (~1cm) and 100g of water celery (2cm)
Making sauce: add in order half a tbsp of fish sauce, 1 tbsp of yangjo soy sauce, 2/3 tbsp of red pepper flakes, 1 tbsp of red pepper paste, half a tbsp of garlic, cucumber slices, Asian chives and red/green chili peppers. (Don’t add water celery now!)
Take out blood cockles when they open. (Don’t cook them for a long time.)
Don’t rinse blood cockles again with water since the flavor will be lost.
Take the meat out.
Teacher Soomi: Dip your hands in water before peeling the meat.
Kyung Hwan: A guest shouldn’t get his hands burned.
Dongmin: It’s okay. Your hands need to be quick. In our time, people took the meat right off the boiling water.
Kyung Hwan: You’re only older than me a few years, but you keep talking about “in our time”. [Teacher Soomi: 3 years gap?] It’s 2 years.
Teacher Soomi: How many bowls of rice [Dongmin] has eaten before you!
[730 days x 3 meals = ~2,190 bowls]
Dongmin: When else do you get to learn about this?
Kyung Hwan: We’ve been filming for 4 hours already. Suddenly being mean to a newcomer is a bit…
Dongmin: It tastes like honey! [Kyung Hwan: You ate 1?] Here eat it. This is really yummy! Yah, chefs doesn’t feel the heat as expected.
Chef Choi: It’s hot, but we endure it. Our hands are nothing if it makes customers happy.
Dongmin: I remember my mother used to open them with a spoon like this.
Chef Yeo: That’s a good method.
Add meat of blood cockles to the sauce.
Teacher Soomi wants to add 15g more of Asian chives and scallions.
Add water celery now.
[Not in the video: Lastly, add sesame seeds and taste to your preference with soy sauce or fish sauce.]
Recipe: Seasoned Blood Cockles on the Half Shell
Kyung Hwan likes the smell of Asian chives.
Use meat with intact half shell. Add 2 tbsp of yangjo soy sauce, chopped Asian chives (20g), 1 tsp of garlic, half a tbsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp of sesame seeds and 1 tsp of red pepper flakes. Spread the sauce on top of blood cockles.
Recipe: Kkomak Bibimbap (Blood Cockle Bibimbap)
Teacher Soomi: Now we’re making bibimbap. Bring your own spoon! (t/n: BYOS? lol)
To rice, add seasoned blood cockles, 1 tbsp of red pepper paste and lots of sesame oil.
Kyung Hwan: Whoa~ views must be dying for this. (t/n: ME!!!)
Teacher Soomi: Ok, let’s eat! Kyung Hwan is really lucky today. Euhum~ yummy. It’s perfect!
All: Really delicious!
Teacher Soomi: Blood cockles taste better after marinating for awhile. It’s boring to eat doenjang jjigae or kimchi jjigae everyday. Change your menu to this once a month!
[A duck farmer requests Teacher Soomi to cook duck. However, Teacher Soomi barely cooks with fresh duck, so she asks chefs to cook it.]
Recipe: Duck Breast Pancake
[T/n: I won’t translate this part. Just watch it please~]
It’s similar to Peking duck pancake.
Recipe: Duck Breast Steak
[T/n: I won’t translate this part. Just watch it please~]
Recipe: Bulgarian Stuffed Duck
[T/n: I won’t translate this part. Just watch it please~]
Okay, it’s confirmed that I’m a gluttony. (Lmao!) I can’t help that every week is my favorite food.
Back in Vietnam, we used to grill blood cockles alone or stir fry them with a tamarind sauce, à la sweet and sour style, aka sò huyết xào me. (OMG super delish~) Since moving to America, I have yet to eat fresh blood cockles. (I’ve eaten blood clams here, but they are different!) My Mom had bought frozen ones before, but they didn’t taste the same. (Sigh!) My only option is to watch these shows and wail~~~~
Btw, I was really happy to find out that my local Korean market has been carried cockles from New Zealand. We bought them once but totally ignored the sign; it was just cockles instead of blood cockles!! They were great (tasted like short neck clams), but not what we were expected.
Fish cake soup is really perfect in this chilly weather~~~
I don’t know if I’m able to find dried radish greens here (well might use kimchi instead), but I’ll definitely make braised saury!!!!
Three chefs’ recipes are amazing as well. Duck breast steak with orange sauce is interesting!!! And I have lots of oranges that need to be used ASAP. (My Mom keeps asking me to make orange juice, but I might save them for this recipe. Sorry Mommy~)
HanaviMeManga 