Korean Recipes

Korean cuisine is built around fermentation; kimchi alone has more than 200 variations and was declared part of the national cultural heritage by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) in 2013. Tatonia has dozens of Korean recipes, led by kimchi, bibimbap, bulgogi, japchae, tteokbokki, sundubu jjigae, galbi, banchan dishes, kimbap, jjampong and hotteok. Korean cooking rests on three foundational sauces: gochujang (a deep red, spicy paste made by fermenting red chili, glutinous rice, soybeans and salt), doenjang (a soybean brine, the Korean counterpart of miso but sharper) and ssamjang (gochujang plus doenjang, garlic and sesame oil, the classic wrapping sauce). Banchan is an inseparable part of the meal: a main dish, rice and 4 to 12 small side plates (banchan), with 12 banchan being the classic standard at the Joseon dynasty court. The ideal temperature for kimchi fermentation is 4°C (a home refrigerator), with a first ripening of 1 to 2 weeks and a deep, sour maturation of 1 to 3 months. In Korean BBQ the meat is not marinated on the plate; it goes onto the grill fresh, cooks briefly, then gets wrapped in lettuce. The classic bibimbap cooking technique: for dolsot bibimbap (stone bowl), the bowl is preheated in the oven at 250°C for 20 minutes, and the prized 30 second 'nurungji' crust forms at the bottom of the rice. This page brings together the full Korean repertoire, from everyday soups and stews to classic fermented flavors, from banchan plates to street food.