Bugeoguk 북어국

This is such a simple, light and tasty soup. You need good quality wind-dried Alaska pollock, pre-shredded. I bought a packet in Korea, but sadly I just finished the whole packet. I'm sure this will be available outside Korea. The Korean name of the fish is myeongtae (명태).

Tear 60 grams of dried pollack into 6 cm long pieces (this just means halving the pre-shredded pollack) and fry these for a minute or so in a tablespoon of pure sesame oil with a couple of diced cloves of garlic.

Add 1,25 litter of water to the pan and Korean radish (mu 무) cut in bite sized pieces. Boil for 20 minutes until the radish is cooked. Add 2 tablespoons of Korean fish sauce, simmer for a couple of more minutes. Pour a beaten egg into the boiling soup and only stir after the egg has set. Turn off the heat and add fresh spring onion. Serve with white rice, which you can add to the soup halfway for a more substantial meal.

Bugeo (북어) – dried Alaska pollock

You can also make a somewhat similar soup with hwangtae, made by drying Alaska pollack during winter and allowing it to undergo natural freeze-thaw cycles.

Hwangtae (황태) – "yellow" Alaska pollock drying during winter with repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Photo shared under CC BY 2.5 licensing: http://blog.daum.net/sansanaiys/2935

The Italian menu

The concept of the Italian menu is well known. It gives you quite a freedom to choose. Secondi piatti is served without vegetables or potatoes, so you can choose which contorni (side dishes) you like. You can skip the antipasto and start with primi piatti, or you can jump from antipasto right to secondi piatti, or skip secondi piatti and order dulce right after primi piatti. The only rule seems to be is that you order caffè last.

If you travel and eat alone you're stuck with the house wine. A quarter liter for each meal was quite enough for me.

Antipasto

Ristocamping Gran Sasso. Antipasto della casa. €10,00.

La Taberna di Rocca Calascio. Caprese €7,00.

Primi piatti

Agriturismo Al Borgo Restaurant. Zuppa di lenticchie con crostini. €6,00.

La Taberna di Rocca Calascio. Lenticchia di Santo Stefano di Sessanio. €7,50.

Ristocamping Gran Sasso. Tagliatelle allo zafferano, pesto di pomodorini secchi, ricotta salata. €10,00.

Secondi piatti

Residence il Palazzo. Primo sale di Pecora e Verdure. Local raw sheeps cheese, melted and served with a spoon of honey. The grilled zucchini and eggplant was amazingly good. €10,00.

Agriturismo Al Borgo Restaurant. Agnello. Plain grilled lamb meat. €10,00.

Contorni

La Taberna di Rocca Calascio. Contorne di verdure: cicoria €4,00.

Dulce

Residence il Palazzo. La Pizza Dolce is a typical cake from Abruzzo, which used to be eaten only at weddings. This little spongy cake was amazing. Each layer had its own consistency from soaking wet (bottom layer) to dry. €4,00.

Insalata caprese

This antipasta dish is all what the Italian kitchens is about: a few high quality ingredients. This appetizer only works if the mozzarella is fresh and soft and the tomatoes ripe and fragrant.

Arrosticini

Arrosticini is a typical speciality of Abruzzo. It can either be made from mutton or lamb, with pieces of oval fat in between the meat. The long shaped brazier it is cooked on is called a canala. 

On the high grasslands of Campo Imperatore there is a butcher located, which not only sells arrosticini, local cheeses, marinated artichoke hearts and ice-cold beer but also provides plenty of canala to grill the arrosticini you just bought. I returned the next day to the same spot to do it all over again.

Lenticchia di Santo Stefano di Sessanio

Sono straordinariamente saporite e il modo migliore per apprezzarle è una zuppa molto semplice: bisogna coprirle con acqua e aggiungere spicchi d’aglio scamiciati, qualche foglia di alloro, sale, olio extravergine e portare quindi a leggera ebollizione, a pentola chiusa. [ Fondazione Slow Food per la Biodiversità Onlus ]

Lentil soup made from Lenticchia di Santo Stefano di Sessanio at Rocca Calascio.

Contorno verdure: cicoria. Boiled and sautéed in olive oil and a little salt.

Panzanella

When your left over bread is hard as rock, you can still turn it into a salad. Quarter ripe tomatoes and spoon out the seeds. Puree the seeds and inner part of the tomatoes with one or two cloves of garlic. Use the puree to make a dressing with red wine vinegar, olive oil, black peper and salt.

Cut the tomatoes in cubes or strips and mix everything together. You can add red onion, thinly cut. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Throw in fresh basil leaves and if you have left over black olives, you can also throw them in.

Chickpeas, chorizo picante & spinach

One of my favourite one-pan recipes. The only problem is that you need to find chorizo which can be used for cooking - buy fresh chorizo and not the dry-cured version. I buy my Spanish ingredients at Pacomer Traiteur, Gerard Doustraat 66 Amsterdam.

Other than finding the proper chorizo this dish is easy. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and fry one onion. Add a cubed carrot, quartered tomato, thyme and bay leaf. Simmer for a few minutes. Add two chopped garlic cloves , quarter teaspoon cinnamon, a teaspoon smoked paprika and 200 gram of sliced chorizo. Fry until the chorizo releases its oils. Add cooked chickpeas, a tablespoon of (sherry) vinegar. Simmer for a couple of minutes and add 400 grams of spinach. Stir until the spinach has merged into the stew and taste for salt and black pepper.

Quick lunch at work.

Toor dal

So many languages, so many names for Cajanus cajan, the scientific name for pigeon peas. Outside India, the Hindi name "toor" (तूर दाल) is mostly used when referring to Indian dal recipes, within India there are many more names for this legume depending on the region.

In the early days of YouTube I tried toor dal from Manjula's Kitchen YouTube-channel a few times and ten years on, her recipe is still online. I tried it again and it still works for me. The basics is of course cooking the toor with salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker. After cooking 1 cup of dal in 4 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, add 1 tablespoon fine chopped ginger, 1 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor) and 1 teaspoon garam masala.

Manjula is Jain and therefor vegetarian so she doesn't use garlic or onions in her recipes. The substitute for garlic and onion is a pinch asafoetida (hing).

There are two different chaunk/seasoning versions for this toor dal. One with vegetables and one with spices only,

Version 1

2 tablespoons clarified butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
Pinch of asafetida (hing)
4 whole red chili (sabut lal mirch)
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add hing, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds when the butter is hot. After the seeds crack, stir for a few seconds. Add bay leaves, whole red chilies, and paprika. Stir for a second, adding one tablespoon of water to prevent burning. Pour in spice mix over dal.

Version 2

2 tablespoons clarified butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
2 bay leaves
Pinch of asafetida (hing)
1 tomato medium chopped
1 small zucchini chopped into 1 inch long cubes
6 string beans chopped about 1 inch long

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add hing, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds when the butter is hot. After the seeds crack, stir for a few seconds. Add bay leaves and chili powder. Stir for a few seconds. Add the vegetables. Stir and cook four to five minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Combine the vegetables and the dal and mix gently.

Weinschorle - veredeltes Wasser

Weinschorle is one of my favourite summertime drinks yet few people in The Netherlands are familiar with Weinschorle, and many react with horror: adding water to wine? Sacrilège!

They don't get it. Man muss nur wissen, wie man seine Weinschorle trinkt. 

The wine
The first rule is to use a good quality wine. When mixed with water, a bad wine will still taste bad. The strongest aromas will prevail. A Riesling is the classic wine for a Weinschorle, but not the only suitable wine.

The water
The next factor is the right water for the right wine. Never use mineral water with too much taste because the minerals will overpower the wine. A Riesling has much acidity by itself, therefor carbonated water with too much carbon dioxide will accentuate the acidity. For a Riesling it is therefore best to use a medium carbonated water. Grauburgunder, Chardonnay or Silvaner can take water with higher carbon dioxide content. 

You have to experiment. I like to mix Riesling with Gerolsteiner Medium, if I can find it in The Netherlands. You can even make a Weinschorle with still water.

The ratio
This part might be controversial. In most parts of Germany the ratio wine to water is fifty-fifty. Now this is fine for a very hot summer day and I am not arguing against it. In the Pfalz, where they take their Weinschorle very, very serious, the ratio is different and somewhere between one quarter and one-third water to three quarters and two-thirds wine. Since the classic Weinschorle glass in the Pfalz is the 0,5 liter Dubbeglas I was puzzled. The alcohol content for one Pfalzer Weinschorle can be as much as two 0,2 liter wine glasses. But apparently the Dubbeglas was passed around and everybody would take one sip.

Red wine or rosé
You can also make a Weinschorle with red wine. The carbon dioxide in the water not only enhances the acidity but also the tannins. Use a red wine low in tannins like a Spätburgunder, Dornfelder, Merlot or Trollinger. A rosé or Rotling is the perfect wine for a Weinschorle. 

Source: Weinschorle hat ihren schlechten Ruf völlig zu Unrecht

Tteokbokki 떡볶이 + Eomukguk 어묵국

Spicy rice cakes (Tteokbokki) and fish cake soup (Eomukgu) are often sold together. Both are essentially streetfood. This streetfood restaurant in Gwangjin-gu 광진구 in Seoul had only one, bright yellow, table. When I arrived in Seoul on the last day of my journey I was overwhelmed by the city. I first got off at Jonggak metro station in Jongno (종로) district. The tall buildings, the heat and the traffic were relentless. I quickly got back in the metro and travelled for more than half an hour to Gwangjin district. In Gwangjin the city was cut down to human proportions. Off the main streets the houses were only four stories high and I could browse the small coffee shops and restaurants. Tteokbokki and Eomukguk made for a perfect lunch.

When making Tteokbokki and Eomukguk at home you buy the rice cakes and fish cakes ready made. The spicy sauce for the Tteokbokki and the soup for the fish cakes can be made from scratch.

Yache Twigim 야채튀김

Twigim (튀김) are deep-fried dishes in Korean. Yache Twigim 야채튀김 are vegetable fries. 

They are easy to make. For the batter you will need:

120 gram all-purpose flour, 240 gram frying batter mix (튀김가루 Twigim Gahroo) and 600 ml cold water.

Or: 300 gram flour + 60 gram cornstarch + 1 beaten egg + 600 ml cold water + 1 tsp salt in case you cannot buy Twigim Gahroo.

For the vegetables you can use yellow onion (sliced), sweet potato (Gogooma 고구마), carrots, green onion or whole green peppers. I had Yache Twigim for breakfast in Busan in a small local market. Serve with soy vinegar dipping sauce. 

Maeuntang 매운탕

Maeuntang 매운탕, or spicy fish soup, is difficult to recreate outside of Korea because of the fresh water dropwort (Minari 미나리) and chrysanthemum greens (Ssukgat 쑥갓). I have no idea where to buy these herbs.

This soup is very, very spicy. Indeed, “Maeun” means spicy.

Mul-naengmyeon 물냉면

One of my favourite Korean summertime dishes is mul-naengmyeon, cold noodles in chilled broth. It seems like a simple dish but to get it right takes a lot of effort and days in preparation. Below recipe is based on Maangchi's recipe.
 
When you buy naengmyeon-yong-guksu 냉면용국수 (the dried buckwheat noodles) you will usually get a package of liquid or powdered broth. To make the broth from scratch you will need the brine of fermented radish water kimchi (dongchimi: 동치미) and beef stock. It is a time consuming proces since the dongchimi needs about five days to ferment. You can make a quicker broth from 8 cups of water, 3 or 4 shiitake mushrooms, 4 inch piece of dried kelp and 8 to 10 dried anchovies. Boil for 20 minutes and cool.

To do it the proper way:

1. Make Dongchimi 동치미
Roll about 7 small Korean radishes Mu 무 in plenty of salt to coat the radish. Put the salted radish in a glass jar. Put some green radish leaves on top and add the leftover salt. Close the lid and keep it in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.

Then add 4 garlic cloves, minced, 2 teaspoons minced ginger, 2-3 green chili peppers, 2-3 red chili peppers, half a Korean pear, cut into chunks, 3 green onions (including the roots), washed and drained, onion, sliced into pieces and 2 liters of water. Close the lid and let it sit at room temperature for 2-3 days until it ferments.

2. Make beef stock
Bring water to a boil, add washed beef brisket and simmer for two hours. Cool the stock and thinly slice the beef. 

Combine beef stock and dongchimi in approximately a 2 : 1 ratio. 

Once you have the broth chilled in the freezer to the point you will get chunks of ice or slush, you assemble the mul-naengmyeon as follows: 
Put the cooked and cold water rinsed noodles in a bowl and pour over the icy broth. Place pickled cucumber and sliced pear on top. Add mustard oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds powder and add half a hard boiled egg.

Pickled cucumber: mix sliced cucumber, salt, half a teaspoon of sugar, and vinegar in a bowl.

The mul-naengmyeon 물냉면 below was served in Gyeongju (경주) in a small restaurant near my hotel, which was apparently one of the infamous "love hotels" (러브호텔). The free condoms I found in my room were the first give away.

Korean BBQ 고기구이

Korean BBQ is just a method of preparing many different dishes. The meat can be marinated or is served un-marinated. The meat is usually beef or pork, but sometimes chicken or even duck. 

Popular marinated variations with beef are: bulgogi (불고기), galbi (갈비) and jumulleok (주물럭). A marinated version with pork is called dwaeji bulgogi (돼지불고기), or spicy pork bulgogi. 

Un-marinated barbecued pork belly is called samgyeopsal (삼겹살) and among the many un-marinated beef versions, chadol bagi (차돌박이), thinly sliced brisket point, is quite amazing. 

Below are (most likely) pieces of Mokshim sal (목심살), which is a cut of pork, which comes close to the German "Schweinenacken".

The green leaf wraps are well known. You can spice the meat with pajeori (파절이) green onion salad, a raw piece of garlic, raw green pepper and ssamjang (쌈장) dipping sauce, which is basically a mix of doenjang and gochujang. 

Besides meat there is always a selection of mushrooms, sliced onion rings or vegetables to be grilled alongside the meat. You can use a grill pan where the fat drips away, or you can use a grill pan, which contains the fat. This allows you to fry cooked rice, soaking up the fatty juices of the meat.

Pajeori (파절이), green onion salad.

Green leaf wraps.

My Korean grill for home cooking. Fat will drip down into the aluminium cast ring. 

Korean pork cuts diagram by JinJoo Lee (www.kimchimari.com)

Samgyetang 삼계탕

이열치열. To fight fire with fire, that's why Koreans traditionally eat Samgyetang during the hottest days of summer. In Hanja the saying is as follows: 以熱治熱. Main ingredient is a poussin, a young chicken, less than 28 days old at slaughter. The poussin weighs typically about half a kilo. Stuff each poussin with rice soaked in cold water, one fresh ginseng, one jujube, and about eight garlic cloves. Boil on medium heat until the chicken is soft. This can take about 70 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a stone bowl and add the broth. Sprinkle with the greens of spring onion. This chicken soup is served with ginseng infused soju. No dipping sauce was served in this Busan restaurant near Dongnae, but there was plenty of grey salt to put on a plate for dipping the pieces of chicken. Just ₩ 13.000 including a small bottle of ginseng soju.

Boligulbi 보리굴비 + Nogcha bab 녹차밥

Yellow corvina fermented in barley and green tea rice. The cook first brought the grilled fish in one piece and then asked me something I didn't understand. I nodded. After five minutes he came back with the fish in pieces and had apparently fried the separate pieces. 

The green tea rice was a bit of a mystery to me until the waitress explained. I had to put the rice in a bowl of cold green tea. I can imagine that this dish is served with hot green tea in winter.

The banchan (반찬) were really excellent in this Gunsan (군산) restaurant.  Main ingredient: yellow corvina (gulbi: 굴비). I have not found a recipe for yellow corvina fermented in barley (보리) in English, but you can use gulbi-gui 굴비구이 instead: pan fried dried yellow corvina. 

A bowl of green tea (녹차) on the left.

Doenjang-jjigae 된장찌개

Fermented soybean paste stew is one of the Korean recipes you should memorise, since it accompanies a myriad of other dishes. The basics are very simple: boil a couple of cups of water with: onion, garlic, green Korean chili peper (cheong-gochu 청고추), dried anchovies, fresh large shrimp (optional), clams (optional), mushrooms (optional), potato (optional) and zucchini (optional). Boil for 10-15 minutes.

Add 1-4 tablespoons fermented soybean paste (doenjang) depending on how big your bowl, taste before you add an extra spoon. Mix and boil for 15 minutes, add medium-firm tofu and cook for some more minutes. Add spring onion and serve in a stoneware bowl. Below is a doenjang-jjigae 된장찌개 in a mushroom restaurant near Gurye 구례. The photos are made with an iPhone 7 and are of lower quality than usual.

A rather basic songi-dolsot bap (stone pot rice with pine mushroom). Songi (송이) are pine mushrooms.

Hanguktongsin-ro 한국통신로, Masan-myeon, Gurye, Jeollanam-do

Sopropo met zoutvlees

I just can't get enough of this. This recipe - but with antroewa instead of sopropo - comes from the book SuriMAM Cooking van Moreen Waal, Aretha Waal en Martha Waal. Publisher: Luitingh-Sijthoff.

Shopping list:

Zoutvlees (voor zover ik weet alleen verkrijgbaar bij een Surinaamse winkel, rundvlees in pekel bewaard).
1 Sopropo.
1 Ui.
Knoflook.
Gedroogde garnalen.
2 tomaten.
Boullion-blokje (Maggi).
1 eetlepel tomatenpuree.
1 of 2 Madame Jeanette of Adjoema. Fijngesneden zonder de zaadjes.
Zwarte peper.

Het zoutvlees afspoelen en een half uur in koken water ontzouten. Water verversen en verder koken tot het vlees zacht is.

Het zoutvlees in kleine blokjes snijden.

De sopropo over de lengte in tweeën snijden, de zaadjes met een lepel verwijderen en in halve maantjes snijden. In koud water zetten.

In een grote pan de ui, knoflook en hete peper fruiten, daarna de gedroogde garnalen en het zoutvlees toevoegen en 10 minuten bakken op laag vuur.

Daarna de 2 tomaten toevoegen (ontveld, in blokjes gesneden), de sopropo, bouillon-blok, tomatenpuree, zwarte peper en een flink glas water. Stoven tot de sopropo gaar is. Een half uurtje op heel laag vuur.

2022 version from restaurant New Draver. I think I should stew my sopropo much longer.

Wetenschappelijke naam: Momordica charantia. Sopropo komt oorspronkelijk uit India.

Tarte 'Maman Blanc'

Benodigd voor het deeg
250g bloem.
Zout.
125g boter, in stukjes gesneden op kamertemperatuur.
1 tsp koud water.
1 ei.

Werkwijze deeg
Meng de bloem met het zout en de boter tot een zanderige substantie. Voeg daarna het ei en het water toen en kneed het tot een soepel deeg. Sla het deeg plat tot een dike plak van één centimeter en verpak het in vershoudfolie. Koel het deeg een half uur in de koelkast.

Voorverwarm de oven op 220 graden.

Rol het deeg uit tussen de vershoudfolie tot een dunne plak van 2 millimeter. Verwijder het folie aan één kant en leg het in een tarte vorm. Verwijder de bovenste laag folie en verwijder deeg dat boven de rand uit steekt. Boetseer de rand daarna zodanig dat het deeg 2 millimeter boven de rand uitsteekt. Zet terug in de koelkast voor 20 minuten.

Benodigd voor de vulling
15g boter.
½ tbsp citroensap.
65g suiker.
½ tbsp calvados.
3-4 appels, bijvoorbeeld Elstar, geschild, klokhuis verwijderd, elke appel in 10 schijfjes gesneden.
100ml double cream.
1 ei.
Poedersuiker.

Werkwijze
Verhit 15 gram boter, 15 gram suiker en een halve eetlepel citroen in een pannetje. Wanneer alles gesmolten is haal je het pannetje van het vuur en voeg je 1 eetlepel Calvados toe. Met dit mengsel kwast je straks de appels in.

Haal de tarte vorm uit de koelkast en leg appelschijfjes in een mooie cirkelvorm op de bodem. Kies voor een fris-zoete appel. Ik heb gekozen voor Elstar. Kwast de Calvados-boter over de appels. Bak 10 minuten in de oven op 220 graden. Zet de oven terug naar 200 graden en bak nog eens 20 minuten.

Haal de tarte uit de oven en besprenkel de appels met een beetje suiker en giet een mengsel van 100 milliliter double cream, 50 gram suiker en een ei tussen de appels. Bak nog eens 10 minuten tot de vulling gaar is. Een uurtje af laten koelen, besprenkelen met poedersuiker en serveren zolang de tarte nog warm is.

Bulgogi 불고기

This couldn’t be simpler. Slice good quality beef, like beef tenderloin (Dutch: ossenhaas), in very thin slices and marinate in bulgogi sauce for half an hour.

These are the basic ingredients for the marinade:

1/2 cup Korean soy sauce.
1/3 cup sugar.
3 tablespoons rice wine.
2 tablespoons sesame oil.
8 cloves garlic, minced.
4 scallions, minced.
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds.
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, salt.

There are many variations to the bulgogi marinade. This marinade was given to me by my friend Jinyoung so I thought I should keep it.