Favorite Korean Foods

[MBuzzy]

Ok - I'll be the first to post.

For those of you who have been to Korea, you know that they have some INCREDIBLE food.

SO - How about everyone posts their favorite Korean foods here.

Mine - Kim Bap, Shyabu Shyabu, and Bi Bim Bap

 

[SFC JeffJ]

My favorite has to be Gar Bae(sp?)

 

[MBuzzy]

Gal Bi? Marinated, grilled flank cut ribs?

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Gal Bi? Marinated, grilled flank cut ribs?

That is it!

There are other things I really liked but I couldn't tell you the name of them.
I had a Korean girlfriend years ago and she would just order for me, I had no say in the matter!

 

[Paul B]

Oohh..Gal Bi! Gal Bi! What..noone for Kimchi? I actually like it.

We had a Korean couple in class with their kids..made us a sort of Kimchi and octopus salad.

I know,I know..sounds a bit gross..but it was good eatin.

What else..Bul something Gi..I think. MMmm

 

[zDom]

I've only had the opportunity to try two:

bulgogi and kimchi

I like them both

 

[Makalakumu]

Bolgogi - hands down. I love that stuff and it has become a staple in our household.

Interesting story on how I learned how to make it...

Back in 99, I worked at a YMCA camp and I was chosen to lead a group of Korean kids and their leaders on a short BWCA trip. I was in Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) at the time, so I was really excited for the cultural experience.

When I introduced myself, I found that much of the Korean that I had learned in class was so badly mispronounced that it was almost unintelligible for native speakers. Worse, I discover via ridicule, that homonym for the name "Soo Bahk" was watermelon. For the entire trip, they chided me (good naturedly) as the American who practiced Way of the Watermelon. (They were more impressed when some of the korean TKD students offered to spar - I was a two time regional champ at the time, so I didn't dissappoint)

Anyway, I started getting everything outfitted for their trip. The leaders were part of this process and they asked me if they could pack some of their ethnic foods as the typical American trail quisine that I was suggested was decidedly unappealing. Ready to try something new, I agreed.

So I ended up packing all of these interesting looking packets of food in our Duluth Packs. Once on trail, bereft of my cooking responsibilities, my trip was pretty easy. I got to mingle with the other Korean kids, teach them to fish American style and attempt to teach them American movie one liners like...

"Go ahead, make my day."
"I'll be back."
"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

Meanwhile, the Korean adult leaders whipped up wonderful dishes. They introduced me to their form of chili garlic sauce, which they use like ketchup and kimchee, which was more familiar to my germanic sensibilities sans the spiceness.

They also made bulgogi.

And I was hooked and I had to have the recipe! Getting THAT across to a group with limited english proficiency was a challenge though.

The nice thing about bulgogi is that it's simple. It takes a little prep work to marinade the meat, but then your good to go. After a few tries, I got pretty good at making...good enough to start cooking for others...mostly women that I liked and wanted to impress.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I love Bulgogi! Definately that is one fantastic dish. Kimchee is also good but Bulgogi is where it is at.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Kagogi...:ultracool Just kidding. The Martial Islanders I work with are big fans. One time one of my guys brought it to a Pot Luck at another job and didn't tell them until a few weeks later. Now he works with me. LOL
Sean

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

By the way I make an incredibly mean bulgogi dish. Unfortunately I do not do it very often because there is an incredible amount of prep work.

 

[MBuzzy]

Ok, I'll admit it. I do love Kimchi.....but they serve it with every meal. So I could go a year without Kimchi and not notice.

Bulgogi....another thing I love, but also overdone. As far as Koreans are concerned, this is the only Korean food Americans will eat. And there are two types of Bulgogi here....the kind that they thing we eat and the kind that THEY eat. The kind that they think we eat comes already prepared on a plate with rice.

They kind THEY eat comes RAW and you cook it at the table....and is INCREDIBLE. Also on the list of Traditional Korean BBQ dishes....Sam Gyup Sal (basically bacon), Eel, different cuts of beef, and Kalbi. YUM.

Oh yeah....and Po Shin Tang.

 

[Carol]

Bi Bim Bap and Hwe Dup Bap. My faves!

 

[tellner]

The little dishes of pickled this and salted that which show up as accompaniments to the meal.

 

[Makalakumu]

I would try this in a heart beat

The above was the tame version. This one isn't for the faint of heart.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2158153790477307516&q=Man+Eats+Live+Octopus&hl=en

Bring it on!!!

 

[bluemtn]

I loveloveloveloveLOVE bugogi (sorry if it's not spelled right...) I had it once when I was visiting Union Station in D.C.... MMMMMM!!

 

[MBuzzy]

Before I leave here, I WILL try live squid or octopus.

I find it funny that the Koreans think Japanese are crazy for eating sushi that isn't "fresh." For a Korean, Fresh means that it is swimming when you GET to the restaurant and you watch them kill it, cut it, and put it on your plate.

 

[Last Fearner]

I was in Korea from Dec. 96, to Jan. 97, and my favorite foods were filet-0-fish, fries, pizza-hut pizza with sausage and mushrooms, and Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Ok, I know, why go to Korea and not try the food? Well, I did. I had eaten at plenty of Korean and Chinese style restaurants in the states before I went. Oddly enough, many of the Korean Grandmasters that I associate with tend to eat mostly and Chinese Restaurants. I've been to Korea-town in Chicago many times and ate at Korean restaurants where they have the grill pit in the middle of the table, a vent over head, and they cook the bulgogi right there.

Anyhow, I love bulgogi, and Sweet and Sour shrimp. We ate a little ocean side sea-food shack near Seoul where they had tanks of live squid, shrimp, octopus and clams that had been caught that day. We cooked the shrimp and clams over small grills at fold-up tables while we sat on lawn chairs and boxes. The shrimp was good, but I avoided the others (I'm not a big fan of raw food, and I don't care much for rice, but I have eaten it on occasion).

When I first got to Korea, I was sampling everything: tea, coffee, rice drinks, open markets offering a free bite of octopus and other stuff unrecognizable. Within the first day, I became very sick. We then went to a restaurant where we removed our shoes, stepped up onto an elevated floor heated by hot water pipes, sat on small pillows on the floor around a long, low table. They served all of the usual dishes for everyone to share, and placed a huge platter in the middle of the table. It had a large fish with it's head still attached, and its eye-balls starring at me. Some of the other sea-food was still squirming on the plates.
I think I was about as white as a sheet by that time. :barf:

Over the next few weeks, we ate at several Korean Restaurants with no problems, and I sampled most of the food. There was this one little bakery near the Mirabeau Hotel in downton Seoul, that had the best, most unusual cookie type thing which is hard to describe, but it was delicious. My wife and I paid nightly visits to that place!

CM D.J. Eisenhart

 

[MBuzzy]

LF - Not much has changed in 10 years! Although, I learned quickly that when you first get to Korea, you have to slowly acclamate yourself to the food. BUT, after almost a full year here, I'm happy to report that I can eat EVERYTHING on the table at any restaurant I go to.....and not get sick. And most of it is EXCELLENT!

In fact, one of my favorite dishes is the fish that come out staring at you! A few nights ago we went down to one of our civilians' restaurant. We picked the fish out of the tank, his wife grabbed them, threw them on the grill, seasoned them and brought them out. Then WE picked through the meat. YUM!!!

 

[SageGhost83]

I was raised on kimchi. My father brought it back from his tour in post war korea, and it has been a staple in our household since I was a baby boy. I love kalbi and pulgogi, too. Another one of my favorite dishes is nakji somyun - octopus in spicy kimchi noodles. It's delicious, but I hate when they don't remove the beak, I crunched into it a couple of times and almost cut mouth. I seriously must try the live octopus, it looks fun!

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Bulkogee, Yaki Mondu, Cheon, Ramen and Bibim Bap has to be the my choices.

I was there in the land of the Rising Calm in 84 - 85. :ultracool