A Korean Kitchen Companion: 28 Recipes for Korean Dishes

Literary Nonfiction. Cooking. Asian & Asian American Studies. For this book, Dr. Choi selected from her cooking classes 28 dishes that her foreign students have particularly enjoyed. In addition to the standard meat dishes (spicy stir-fried pork and braised chicken in soy sauce), and vegetarian options (kimchi, chilled white radish salad, and zucchini salad), it also features noodle options (noodles served with spicy squid, spicy noodle salad, and glass noodle salad), stone pot bibimbap, stews, and various other dishes. The author relied on the following three principles in selecting which recipes to include in the book. First, she wanted recipes that are easy to make. Second, she placed priority on ingredients that are readily found outside of Korea. Third—and most importantly—she selected dishes that taste great. While preparing the recipes, Dr. Choi took great pains to make them more accessible to her readers, who might otherwise find Korean cooking techniques confusing and complicated. She also throws in some handy tips. Readers are told that herbs or lemon chives can stand in for Korean garlic chives if the latter are hard to find, and that bulgogi, or marinated stir-fried beef, tastes great inside a sandwich.