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Overview of Korean food

   
 

Korea has much in common with China and Japan in terms of dining style due to frequent cultural and historical exchanges. But over time, Korea has developed its own unique cuisines.
Korea was once a primarily agricultural nation, and boiled rice has become Koreans¡¯ stable food. Stable food and side dishes are clearly distinguished in Korean table settings. A traditional Korean meal consists of a bowl of rice and side dishes. Koreans use a wide arrange of ingredients such as meat, fish, vegetables and seafood with unique seasonings. As there are many ways to cook these ingredients, Koreans have developed diverse kinds of cuisines.
   
 

¡á Boiled Rice, Staple of the Korean Diet

Bap, or boiled rice, is the staple of Korean cuisine. Barley, millet, beans, and red beans are sometimes mixed with rice for special taste and nutritional value. Vegetables, seafood, and kimchi are also added to rice when cooking for a better taste. One of the most famous rice dishes is bibimbap, boiled rice mixed with seasoned vegetables and meat.
   
 

¡áGuk (soup), Tang (thick soup), Jjigae (stew)

A Korean table is never completed without soups such as guk, tang and jjigae which always accompany bowls of rice. They are made of a variety of ingredients such as beef, seafood, and vegetables, with seasonings such as salt, soy bean sauce, bean paste, and seafood fermented in salt. Soups that most frequently appear on Koreans¡¯ tables include seaweed soup, bean paste soup, seolleongtang (beef and bone soup), yukgaejang (spicy beef soup). It is boiled and cooked on the spot and shared by many people.
   
 

¡áNamul (vegetable or wild-greens dishes)

Namul, vegetable or wild-greens dishes, is one of the most basic side dishes in the Korean diet. While namul refers to both raw and cooked vegetables and wild-greens, it usually means cooked ones these days. Almost all kinds of seasonal vegetables and wild-greens are used for namul dishes. Koreans often skewer and dry the ingredients to use them when they¡¯re out of season. There are different ways to cook namul according to the type of its ingredients. Fresh seasonal vegetables are not boiled, but tossed in a sweet and sour seasoning.
   
 

¡á Gui (grilled dishes), Sanjeok (beef and vegetable brochettes), Jijim (pan-fried dishes)
Gui, or grilled dishes, first appeared in the Korean diet when Koreans began to use fire for cooking. Neobiani is a type of grilled dish served in royal cuisine. It is thinly sliced beef marinated in a bulgogi sauce and then grilled at the table over charcoal. Jeon is a pan-fried dish. These dishes include thinly sliced meats, fish, and vegetables that are coated in flour, dipped in egg and pan-fried. Some common pan-fried dishes include pan-fried summer squash, pan-fried fish, and pan-fried meat. Jijim is a small pancake made of flour batter pan-fried with various ingredients.
   
 

¡á Hoe (raw fish or meat), Ssam (vegetable leaf wraps), Muk (jelly) - Cuisines Unique to Korea
Hoe is raw meat, fish, or vegetables served with dipping sauces such as red chili pepper paste with vinegar and sugar, soy sauce with vinegar and sugar, mustard, and salt with sesame oil.
Ssam, vegetable leaf wraps, is an unique eating style of the Korean diet which is loved by many Koreans. Ssam is spoonfuls of rice wrapped in wide leafs such as lettuce, Chinese cabbage, sesame leafs, fresh seaweed and dried laver with soybean paste. Also unique to Korean food is muk, firm jelly made of acorn, mung bean, or buckwheat starch.
   
 
¡á Tteok (traditional rice cake), and Hangwa (traditional sweets and cookies) for Festive and Seasonal Occasions and Ancestral Memorial Services
Koreans always prepare for tteok and hangwa for festive occasions and a variety of special occasions. They are usually enjoyed as desserts these days. There are wide varieties of tteok based on how to make it. Sirutteok is rice power mixed with other ingredients and steamed in a siru, an earthenware steamer. Hangwa is traditional Korean sweets and cookies. It is rice or wheat flour dough mixed with honey, yeot (sticky rice sugar), and sugar and then deep-fried. It is also made by simmering fruits and plants¡¯ roots in honey syrup until they are glazed. There is a wide variety of hangwa.
   
 

 

From left side: Bibip bap(boiled rice mixed with seasoned vegetables and meat), Samgye tang(Chicken Boiled plain), Galbi Gui(Broiled Short Ribs), Gimbap(Rice Wrapped in Seaweed), Japchae(Stir fried noodles with vegetables), Bulgogi(Barbecued Beef), Kimchi(Whole Cabbage Kimchi), Galbi jjim(Steamed pork ribs)

For more delicious information, please visit:
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Local Food in Jeju
   
 

¡á Hoe(Low Fish)

Hoe may refer to various raw food dishes in Korean cuisine. Saengseon hoe is thinly sliced raw fish or other raw seafood (similar to Japanese sashimi); yukhoe is hoe made with a raw beef and seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine; and gan hoe is raw beef liver with a sauce of sesame oil and salt. Fish hoe is usually dipped in a spicy gochujang-based sauce called chogochujang or wasabi sauce, and wrapped in lettuce and Korean perilla leaves. \When people finish a meal of saengseon hoe at a restaurant, they sometimes order maeuntang (spicy fish stew, from the fish heads and remaining meat) together with various vegetables.
   
 

¡á Black Pig Bulgogi Dish (grilled pork)

Almost every household raised pigs in the old days and it was a custom to serve guests pork. Pork produced in Jeju was unique in taste because of its preparation. The pork was smoked over burning hay so that the flavor of the hay could penetrate the meat.Jeju¡¯s native pigs are covered in black hair so that they were called black pigs. The meat is chewy and nutritious, but does not have the unique smell of pork. The taste is preferable to other pork.Bulgogi (grilled pork) with spices or as a raw dish with soy sauce has a nice, mild flavor. The more you eat, the nicer the unique taste becomes.
   
 

¡á Jeonbokjuk (Rice porridge with abalone)

Abalone, which is the most expensive yet the most tasty among the summer shellfish, was eagerly sought by the First Emperor Chin in ancient China, who considered it a source of eternal youth. As abalone has been famous on Jeju since ancient times, it was often presented as a gift to the king.Since abalone is easily absorbed, it is well known as a nutritive food for the health of the old and the sick. After abalone is thinly sliced and lightly parched with sesame oil, it is boiled as porridge with rice soaked in water. It then becomes Jeonbokjuk. The white soup and its ingredients mingle together to become a light and tasty dish.
   
 

¡á Seonggeguk (Sea urchin soup) 

Sea urchin is caught in the seas of Jeju from the end of May to June. The sea urchin that is native to Jeju is the purple sea urchin, which has a yellow flesh that can be seen when its shell is broken. Since it is sweet in taste and rich in vitamins and iron, it is good as a health food. On Jeju, it is called ¡®Gusal¡¯; sea urchin soup is known as Gusal soup. After the sea urchin has been lightly parched with brown seaweed and sesame oil, it is boiled with small abalone called Onbunjagi to make a soup. Sea urchin eggs add a yellow color to the broth, and it thickens like uncurdled bean curds to its final light taste.
   
 

¡á Hallabong (Fruit)

Hallabong has been distributed widely. Its sugar content is high, and its sarcocarp is superior. It also has a excellent aroma, and is easy to eat. For all these reason, it has accumulated its popularity in productions places as well as market. It was newly reborn in Jeju, with the name, Hallabong. The reason why it is called Hallabong is its shape that is very similar to Mount Halla. Different from other fruits, larger Hallabong is more delicious than small one. If it is impacted when storing or delivering, the impacted part can be rotten sometimes, which should be checked from time to time. If there is a rotten part, cut it out, and eating the rest of it is all right.