Is Korean Cuisine the Next " Big Thing" ?

There seems to be a lot of interest about Korean food at the moment whether it is because of the current situation between North and South which is giving the country lots of publicity or is it that foodies are looking for a new food experience. There are more Korean restaurants in the USA than the UK which is because of the Korean war in the 1950's when South Korea was supported by the USA.

So what is special about Korean Cuisine ? It is not just Kimchi !

I have taken information from a very interesting article on mostlyfood.co.uk where you can read the whole thing.

Korean Royal Cuisine

A few years ago Korean food was almost unheard of – except in Korea. There were no Korean restaurants and one couldn’t find authentic ingredients even if one could find a recipe. But there has been a burgeoning of restaurants, and one might wonder why.
Korean food fits well with the tastes of the British public. We crave spice but also freshness. We enjoy simply cooked seasonal ingredients. Korean food has much to offer and it’s more available than ever. But what is Korean food?

Korean Royal Court cuisine can be traced back to the palaces of the Joseon Dynasty, which
ruled Korea from 1392 until 1910. Kings were pampered and it was important for them to eat healthy food.  They were carried on sedan chairs so they didn’t even have the chance of gentle exercise. Their diet was designed to be low in fat to compensate for physical inactivity.

The king would dine on a dozen different main dishes along with a number of accompanying dishes including two types of cooked rice, two types of soups, three types of kimchi (pickled vegetables), two types of stew, three types of condiments and a steamed dish.

The twelve principal dishes were served on small plates and consisted of cooked vegetables, fresh vegetables, chilled roasted meat or fish,  a boiled dish, pickled vegetables, dried meat or fish, salted fish, stir-fried vegetables, and slices of boiled beef; there would also be three special dishes of poached eggs, sashimi, and warm roasted meat or fish.

All these dishes served not only to nourish the monarch but to act as a guide as to how the rest of the countrywas faring: the population was obliged to offer the king the best of their produce. Crops would be harvested, game would be hunted and trapped, and fish would be caught. The quality and quantity of these foodstuffs would be an indication of the health and happiness of the nation.

A particularly attractive Korean dish gives a hint of the refinement of some of these courtly foods. It’s the Gujeolpan which is the name for the food and what it’s served in.

Gujeolpan or ‘platter of nine delicacies’ is just what the name suggests. It’s traditionally an octagonal lacquered wooden box with eight compartments around the sides and a central compartment.  These days they are also made of ceramic and even plastic. The outside sections are filled with cooked vegetables, meats and eggs (with yolk and white separated). The foods are placed so that similarly-coloured items are opposite and this creates a harmonious design when the Gujeolpan is filled.

The centre of the Gujeolpan is reserved for the delicate wheat pancakes (Miljeon-byeong) which are often coloured with pureed vegetables. Each guest takes a little of the prepared foods and fills a pancake. This is rolled or folded and then dipped in sauces before being eaten. The Gujeolpan always looks beautiful and exotic, and even the formality of filling and rolling is appealing.

KIMCHI ( courtesy of Wikipedia)

I cannot leave the cuisine of Korea without talking a bit about Kimchi, The art of lactic fermentation is at the forefront of modern cuisine and is being used by most of the high end restaurants around the world at the moment.

Kimchi dish

• Kimchi : vegetables (usually cabbage white radish, or cucumber) commonly fermented in a brine of ginger, garlic, green onion and chili pepper. There are endless varieties, and it is served as a side dish or cooked into soups and rice dishes. Koreans traditionally make enough kimchi to last for the entire winter season, although with refrigerators and commercial bottled kimchi this practice has become less common. Kimchi that is readily made is called Gutjaree and the one that is fermented for a long time and has more sour taste is called Shin-Kimchi. Moreover, different regions of Korea make Kimchi in different ways with different kinds of ingredients. For instance the lower southern part tends to make it taste more salty to preserve it longer. Some of the extra ingredients they use include squids, oysters and various other raw seafoods. Kimchiis often cited for its health benefits.Nonetheless, some research has found nitrate and salt levels in Kimchi to be possible risk factors to gastric cancer although shellfish and fruit consumption were found to be protective factors to gastric cancer. Interestingly research has also found kimchi to be a preventive factor to stomach cancer.
  • Ggakdugi, radish kimchi
  • Baek kimchi, kimchi made without chili pepper
  • Mulkimchi, literally water kimchi
    • Nabak kimchi
    • Dongchimi
  • Pakimchi, scallion kimchi
  • Buchukimchi, Korean chive kimchi
  • Oisobakki, cucumber kimchi
  • Kkaetnip kimchi, perllia leaf kimchi
  • Chonggak kimchi, kimchi made with pony tail radish

Big enough to actually be the coffee table !

Thai Street Food - David Thompson / Photographer - Earl Carter
Published 2009 - ISBN 978 1 84091 5587

This tome weighing in at a couple of kilos is no cookery book for working from in the kitchen unless you have a spare lectern knocking about.

Fantastic photography, which gives a feeling of being in Thailand, the colours and scenes are mesmerising, pity the recipes don't live up to the photographs.
You wonder whether DT was given a set of photographs and told to write some recipes around them !

The book is divided into Morning, Noon and Night and the dishes reflect the times of the day they are served.

Thai cooking should be simple, flavoursome and fun to cook but this book makes the reader think, " my life isn't long enough to make these dishes"
A good example is Crispy Prawn and Turmeric Wafers ( page 54) with a prawn and coconut filling, there are 32( yes thirty two) ingredients listed, save it,  I ain't prepping this for my supper tonight.

Having said that David Thompson is very knowledgeable and gives a good insight into Thai street food, I just wish it was actually as good as he waxes lyrically about it.

I found the best section was on Noodles and Noodle soup, but without doubt it is the photography that impresses.

Faviken - The Book

Faviken Magasinet is a restaurant in an area of Sweden called Jamtland which is pretty far north, not far from the beginning of the arctic circle.The chef in charge is Magnus Nilsson and this is his first food book which is a story of the restaurant his philosophy and the food they serve.

It is an interesting book which initially gave me the impression of a a guide to being a backwoodsman and reminded me of my days in the Boy Scouts, when we cooked on open fires and gutted rabbits and cooked things in pits of ashes, Baden Powell would be proud of Magnus.

Aside from this, the book gives you an understanding of how they plan their year, allowing for the fact that the growing season is very short and the need to preserve food for use during the long winter months.

It is not as bleak as it would appear, the area is a vibrant skiing area and draws the monied people of Sweden during this period, so not such a bad idea opening a restaurant so far north.

The book is divided in the usual way, starters fish, meat etc and a chapter on the meal experience at Faviken. As I have eaten there( see earlier blog)  the quality of the ingredients is the lasting memory.The photography is quite good, some of the shots of plated food gives the impression of the old Cuisine Nouvelle, ' when the waiters had more food on their aprons than on the plate' ( the old ones are the best !!)
But you have to remember that these are dishes served as part of a longer meal.

An enjoyable read though.

Street Food - The Trends

What are the fashions on the food scene at the moment and what are the trends ?.

These are my interpretations from reading, listening, buying and most importantly eating lots of food.

Street Food

There is an incredible growth in the number of outlets offering their interpretation of street food, other than greasy burgers and bacon butties. Presently they are mainly in London but the concept is spreading around the country, generally where there is a vibrant community, markets and a night scene. and covering a vast number of world cuisines, the growth is because of high cost of setting up a restaurant, selling from a stall on a market or from a mobile unit is a budget way of starting a business and several restaurants started out as street vendors before setting up a permanent operation. They have become known as Mobilers, men and women who are trying to carve out their living on the streets. Who love food, but don’t necessarily have the money to open a restaurant. They are good, old-fashioned entrepreneurs. But some street food sellers are more entrepreneurial than others.

Why they are so popular:  The modern consumer likes informality, likes to ‘Eat on the Go’ and wants to try new tastes without breaking the bank.

Some current examples are:

Rainha Santa

The whole roast pig is becoming ubiquitous in food markets, but this one uses outdoor reared organic pork. Marinaded in garlic, fennel and rosemary adds an Iberian twist – and it is good value at £4.80 a roll. Finish off the Portuguese experience with a pastel de nata (custard tart, £1).

Ca Phe VN - Hackney

Vietnamese coffee, served with Banh mi – the French/Vietnamese sandwich being sold more and more around the city, Here it’s made with home -made pork liver pâté, own-made pickled vegetables, cured pork, coriander and chilli, served in a baguette for a really cheap £2.50. There are a few rows of seats and tables on the street next to the stall to sit and watch Hackney go by, and on a hot day, a Vietnamese iced espresso goes down a treat (£2).

Il Carretino  

A dinky little hand cart with a parasol, which sells Italian-style ice cream made in Hackney. There are only three flavours (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry). Sprinkle chopped nuts over your tub or chocolate cone (£2.50).

Veggie Table-  London Fields,

The Veggie Table grills home-made vegetable/halloumi burgers (from £5) and also have big bowls filled with inspired yet simple salads, such as potato or cannellini bean (£4).

Broadway Market, E8 (www.broadwaymarket.co.uk). Cambridge Heath or London Fields rail. 10am-5pm Saturday.

Grilled, Fried & Tagine Fish

Coming down Golborne Road from Westbourne Park/Elkstone Road, this is the first stall on the right (Friday and Saturday only). Perch on a stool and enjoy mini fish tagines, a platter of calamari, or a Moroccan spiced salmon steak for £5 – or  chermoula-fried sardine in a roll with owner Hmid’s special chilli sauce for £3. Next door is a burger van (Monday to Saturday), bearing the legend Moroccan soups written above the menu on the side, which is often surrounded by locals sitting and chatting. Try the spicy Harira, or the milder strained lentil soup with a squeeze of lemon. Neither will set you back more than a couple of pounds.

Along Golborne Road is an un-named kebab stall, a locals’ favourite, open Monday to Saturday, serving lamb, chicken or beef kebabs and some lamb kofte, all cooked to order on a large charcoal grill. These meats are served in a baguette with salad and sauce for £3.50.

Next door is a falafel stall – again unnamed – selling freshly fried falafels wrapped in flatbread with salad, chilli-peanut sauce and houmous. A small wrap costs £2.50, a large one £3. This is another Monday to Saturday stall,

Jerk Shack

On Saturdays, the space next to these stalls is occupied by Jerk Shack. This weekly stall opened following the success of a temporary stand at the Notting Hill Carnival in 2008. It’s proprietor offers jerk chicken, curry goat, snapper, rice and peas, coleslaw and fried plantain as well as sweet, sugar-dusted ‘festival’ buns. A hearty meal of curry, rice, coleslaw and plantain to take away or eat on the stall’s table costs £5.

Ethiopian Cuisine

This newest of all the market’s stalls offers Ethiopian specialties such as the dahl-like lentil stew called doro wat, sour-tasting injera flatbread and lots of Ethiopian coffee !!. A full meal costs around £5.

Happy Vegetarian

After a run of fruit and veg stalls on Portobello Road,  on your left is Happy Vegetarian (Monday to Saturday), which is another falafel stall selling similar wraps to the stall on Golborne Road, but with a larger range of salads and a shorter queue.

Jollof Pot

Jollof Pot (Saturday only) outside the Electric Cinema. One of a small chain, it offers a range of Ghanaian stews, soups and rice dishes which are handily sitting in large open pans so you can get a good look before choosing. A small selection of rice and two stews costs £5.

Golborne Road and Portobello Road, W10/W11. Ladbroke Rd tube. Many stalls are there 9am-4pm Mon-Fri, but all are there for the main market on Saturdays. The market is open from 8am-6.30pm but many stalls set up late and leave early, so 11am-4pm is the best time to visit.

Son of Pampa

At the market’s north entrance, one of the first stalls is Son of Pampa. There’s a hot grill on one side for Argentinian-style chivitos (barbecue sandwiches): they’re filled with imported grass-fed beef steak or free-range marinated chicken, chimichurri sauce and salad, and served on a hand-made ciabatta for £4. On the other side, a little fryer is kept busy making fresh churros – deep fried sticks of dough, filled with dulce de leche (caramel sauce) or chocolate, rolled in sugar and cinnamon (£2).

Sausages Ltd

A spicy Louisiana-style Creole sausage sandwich with roast peppers and onions for £4.

Goddards

At the far end of Fountain Food Court (near the Antiques Market) look out for this surviving outlet of the pie and mash business founded in 1890 in Deptford. Expect good-quality renditions of the traditional bill of meat pie and mash with liquor (£3), jellied eels and fruit pies – It is open at weekends from 9.30am to 6pm.

The Real Baking Company

Longstanding market favourite The Real Baking Company features picture-perfect display of beautiful home-made cupcakes and other sweet treats which start at £1.

Fountain Food Court

Recently opened Baguette & More serves the unusual banh mi Vietnamese sandwich (see Banhmi11, Broadway Market).

Spinach & Agushi

Approaching Exmouth Market from the Farringdon Road end, the first stall you come across on the right is this Ghanaian takeaway . Try the ‘small’ tub of jollof rice with two stews for only a fiver (the ‘large’ is very large). Jollof rice resembles a tomato-hued paella; the alternative carbohydrate is freshly fried plantain. Several stews bubble away on gas hobs right under your nose, so you just pick out the ones you like the smell and look of best – the lamb has a piquant flavour and spicy aroma, and there are at least a couple of good vegetarian options, including the delicious spinach and agushi (ground melon seeds).

Simply Thai

All the usual Thai staples in plastic tubs for around £4.40.

Moro

This black-canopied tent, serves up a single dish that changes day by day – lamb kebab with Turkish salad; couscous, bread and own-made yogurt for a fiver; or perhaps aubergine, chicken and pilav rice.

Seed

A buffet-style vegetarian salad ba

Gujarati Rasoi

 The appetising range of dishes is ‘pure vegetarian’ – no eggs, even – with a thali (£5.50) giving a choice of two curries with rice and sauces. They’re all good, and the snacks (samosa, bonda etc) are also fresh and well made.

 The Jewish Deli,

A prominent ‘Hot Salt Beef’ sandwich board. A traditional hot salt beef on rye with mustard and pickles costs £4.95, though there are also modern fusion oddities such as tortilla wraps filled with fish balls, or freshly fried chicken schnitzel and  fresh roast salmon on wild rice (£5).

Freebird

Easily identified by its Mexican flags, yep,  a burrito place, and very popular, too, with chicken, steak, pork (‘carnitas’) or veg filling all costing £5.00 guacamole 50p extra.

Sawadee

At the north end of the market (off Old Street), a queue snakes around a single cart – Sawadee dishes out aromatic Thai curries, from your standard green to a mild massaman for a mere £3.50.

Ravello Italian

An outpost of the restaurant of the same name on Old Street, the array of pastas (£3.50 for medium and £4.50 for large) is enough to feed the 5,000.

The Roast of Sharwood

Here they proudly proclaim to serve hearty ‘manwiches’ – fat slabs of ciabatta stuffed with slices of their herby hog roast (with fennel, garlic and rosemary). It’s £4 for a regular-sized bap; the macho eater can pay £5 for a doorstop of sarnie.

Hoxton Beach

Massive falafel wraps (from £3 to £4.50 depending on size) complete with pickled radish, stained pink with beetroot juice.

Luardo’s

A most distinctive stall is Luardo’s, a retro turquoise van doling out larger-than-life burritos. The most expensive is beef cooked with chipotle (£5); add extras such as guacamole for 50p, or even chorizo.

Guarana

They serve rib-eye sandwiches (£4.50),  the Brazilian chef  cooks up a mean feijoada (pork and bean stew) as well as bake chewy pão de queijo (cheese buns).

Eat My Pies

At this  retro British stall you’ll find the likes of Thai red curry Scotch eggs (£3) and rare roast beef and Yorkshire pudding bap (£3).

Whitecross St, EC1Y (www.whitecrossstreet.co.uk). Old St tube/rail or Barbican tube. Speciality food market 11am-5pm* Thur-Fri; some stalls operate on other weekdays as well.

Little Oranges

 Italian street food, which is ambitious and very different to anything at other London street markets.  crispeddi (anchovy and dill fritters) for £3, or the cazilli (little potato and cheese croquettes) for £3.50, or arancini (‘little oranges’ of filled, deep-fried rice balls): two for £4.

Love Me Tender

Hog roast named after an Elvis song (unless there’s a ‘Delicious Rinds’ somewhere out there), which does a great, herby pork roll with apple sauce and rocket.

De La Panza

Grilling prime Argentinian steaks for sandwiches (£4.50 for rump, £5.50 for rib-eye, and an extra £1 for melted provolone). It also does a sausage ciabatta (choripan) with roasted red peppers for £3.

Rootmaster

Not technically a stall (although being a Routemaster bus, it’s both mobile and temporary) this is a fixture of the market which has been serving vegetarian and vegan food for about two years.

Ely’s Yard, The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, E1 6QL (the market is just off Hanbury St). 11am-4pm Fri; 11am-6pm Sat; 10am-5pm Sun. Sunday is the best day to visit, as there are many stalls which are only there on that day.

Jamon Jamon

Paella stall Jamon Jamon at the Real Food market behind the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, and Portobello Road market in W11. With at least two huge paella pans on the go. Alongside seafood, the paella Valenciana is a favourite (chicken and runner beans)

Kimchi Cult

 Korean-style fast food venture , Korean-inspired sliders (miniature burgers topped with kimchi- Korean sauerkraut.

Lucky Chip

One of the delights of Netil market is this pop-up homage to the 50s American diner experience. Hand-cut chips with the skins on, served with wasabi mayo and sweet chilli, and juicy, meaty aged beef burgers topped with cheddar. Who can fault it? They're at Netil market (Westgate Street, London Fields, E8) every Saturday.

On Cafe

Not traditional street food, but sweet tooths will be delighted by the mouth-watering macaroons. Regulars at the Real Food market, they also make Japanese-inspired macaroons, black sesame, and  jasmine and charcoal macaroons, and was blown away.

Churros Garcia

Churros Garcia represents all that is wonderful about the street-food revival. A Spanish family business that makes churros by hand , you can find them at Broadway Market, Real Food market and Portobello market. Churros

Well Kneaded Wagon

Firebread is this little red-and-cream food van's answer to pizza. With a clay oven built into the back, they churn out chewy sourdough bases loaded with fresh toppings, beetroot, goat's cheese and spinach but they also do a sweet pizza with a maple-syrup base topped with apples, cinnamon, and walnuts. Battersea High Street market (Battersea High Street, SW11)  

Yum Bun

Yum Bun serve Free range Blythburgh pork, slow roasted then gently fried, stuffed into a rice bun and toppedwith hoi sin sauce, cucumber, spring onions and sriracha. There's also a veggie option and  Asian broths and soups to try.Broadway market (Broadway market, London, E8 4QG) on Saturdays  

I hope you get the idea now, an opportunity to taste the world on the street, flavours that influence the future .

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Tasca Angel - Tapas Bar in Valencia, Spain

This is just a quick blog but wanted to get it down in black and white before the memory faded.

TASCA ANGEL -Calle de la Purisima, 1   46001 VALENCIA, SPAIN

Wandering through the old city of Valencia on the night that Spain played Portugal in the semi-finals of the European Championship and not wanting see Christiano Ronaldo strutting his stuff again we decide to pop into this tiny tapas bar tucked away down a back street.
It is run by two brothers, one cooks, the other serves drinks and chats up the customers.
If you can imagine a tobacco kiosk with three stools and a standing area for another 8-10 people, this was the place.I didn't take any pictures but this is what the three of us  ate and drank.

Chilled white wine from the Valencia region, crisp and sharp, similar to a Sauvignon Blanc - 3 bottles actually

All the tapas were cooked on a chargrill situated at the end of the bar under a chimney, and at the recommendation of the owner we had a selection of tapas ( rations - large portions)chosen by him and his brother. We had in no particular order, filleted and grilled sardinas ( brushed with olive oil) Razor clams drizzled with garlic oil, tender pieces of squid, prawns in garlic butter, melt in the mouth neck of lamb,padron peppers, grilled and sprinkled with sea salt, mushrooms, white beans with mint and as much bread as you wanted.

The cost for the three of us 61Euros !!

A place not to be avoided if you can find it, we emerged at 10:30pm to wander round the corner just as Cesc Fabregas scored the all important penalty for Spain to send them to the final, and the city went berserk, horns honking into the early hours, flags being waved.

What a great eveing - it was 35C as well.