Pull it Good

A lot of people talk about how expensive it is to cook at home in Korea. While it's true that you can get a free piece of fatty, unseasoned pork just for walking in the door of a bbq place, eating at home can be done on the cheap. I'll prove it:

Pulled Pork with Coleslaw and a Side of Home

- chunk of meat. I couldn't find a shoulder or butt at the store, but I did find a sizeable, not very fatty long piece of pork - maybe a loin? Any cheap cut will do for pulled pork, mine cost 4,000.
- onion - I think a basket on the side of the road is going for like 2,000 for about 10 onions, but if you buy them individually in the store we'll say 500?
- bread - 1800 for a baguette at Bary Baguette

For the bbq sauce:
- ketchup and moustard - as a Westerner you should probably already have this. 1 cup.
- vinegar - like 1,000? or just wring out some old kimchee. 1/2 cup.
- sugar - 2,000 for like a kilo? 1/2 cup.
- garlic - 500 for a year's supply? 2 cloves, minced.
- salt and pepper - basically free.
- soy sauce - my house literally came with this. just a small splash.

For the coleslaw:
- cabbage - 1,000 for a quarter of a head. i used half of it, chopped into shreds.
- carrotts - a bag of 7 was like 900. i used one, cut into slivers
- yoghurt - yoghurt is a healthy and deliscious thing to have on hand, but if not it's like 2,000 for a 4 pack (8 if there's a sale). i used one individual serving for this.
- mayonaise - same story as the ketchup and moustard. Check your fridge your fridge you probably already have it. just a smallish squeeze.
- vinegar - you already got it from the kimchee! just a splash.

So even if you have to buy EVERYTHING from scratch, you're looking at max 13,000 and it worked out to about 3 servings for me. Plus I only used one carrott, one yoghurt, and half the cabbage. SO basically it's about 4,000 per serving AND you'll have stuff for next time. Take that, samgyupsal.

To do:

- season the meat with salt and pepper, throw into a large pot with some onion, roughly chopped and a little bit of water. If you have other seasonings you could play around with that at this stage, if not, don't worry.
- mix the bbq sauce ingrediens together. Keep in mind this is just a basic bbq sauce, you can add anything you want. Maybe some hot sauce? I like to use the free packets that come with pizza. Hot peppers? Chilli powder? Maybe some coffee for a smokier flavour? Some dust collected from the top of the refrigerator? Whatevs, go crazy. Just go bat shit, long sleeved white jacket crazy with this stuff.
- When the meat is about 3/4 of the way cooked through you can throw it in the rice cooker to save on your gas bill. Add the bbq sauce and just let it set a while so everything can get groovy.
- in the meantime chop and mix the coleslaw
- when you're done the meat should be so tender that if you glare at it it'll fall apart. Use the tines of two forks to pull it apart into deliscious little shredded pieces.
- put it on some bread, add coleslaw, and enjoy your hard(ish) work.

This is all very longwinded but I promise easier to do than it sounds. Also, I forgot to mention before, but if you don't want three servings just cut your uncooked meat in half and throw it in the freezer, it'll stay good in there for many moons.

Breakfast BLT

During the week I'm so dead in the morning that I could mistakenly eat a bowl of coffee grinds and not even notice. On the weekends I sleep right past anything reembling mornings, but I still enjoy breakfast whatever the time so this is my take on a breakfast BLT. I replaced the lettuce with basil so I suppose technically it's a BBT, but we'll just let that slide a'ight?

- tomatoe
- basil
- bacon
- an egg
- slices of bread. I used a day old loaf of french bread becuase I like how it stands up to the egg mixture.

Fry your bacon up and put aside. Drain most of the bacon grease (into a container not down the drain guys) reserving a thin layer on the bottom of the pan for favour flav. Lightly beat the egg with a splash of milk and season with salt and pepper. Dip the bread slices in, lightly coating each side and throw them down in the hot bacon grase pan.

*note: vegetabletarians can make this sandwhich by simply replacing the bacon with disappointment. Personal preference.

Meanwhile, slice your tomatoes and rinse off the basil leaves. Flip the bread when it's lightly browned and let it cook on the B side.

When it's done just assemble, pour your coffee, get back into bed, and enjoy.

Spice Swap and Ratatouille

In my infinite wisdom I bought some spices from Costco when we first arrived and I was so desperate I almost kissed the basil straight on its mouth. Now in the light of day though, it's clear I'm never going to use all 12 kilos of it, so, if anyone is interested in taking a portion of cinnamon, basil or a few bay leaves just let me know and I'll gladly dish out a bucketfull for you.

And now, Rat-atat-atat-tat-touille. Otherwise known as the traditional French provencal stewed vegetable dish made famous by...rats. Thanks Disney.

Unlike the strawberries that came and went in about two weeks, the zucchini season seems to be never ending here so I used some to make a stove-top ratatoille with chicken.

I will never in all my days understand why they butcher chickens like they do here. Never. They hack through through the bones instead of following the natural sections of meat and consequently I wound up with these haggared, uneven, pieces of meat that have random sharp bone chips all over. From now on I'm going to break down the birds myself because it drives me crazy.

Anyway, for the ratatoille:

- zucchini, sliced
- eggplant, sliced
- tomatoes, chopped and sliced
- onion, chopped
- garlic, minced
- basil, oregano, salt, pepper

- Slice the eggplant and succhini into semi-thin rounds, sprinkle with salt and leave them to sweat.
- Saute the chopped onion and garlic in some butter until translucent. Add about a half a chopped tomatoe.
- When the tomatoe startes releasing it's juices layer the zucchini, eggplant and tomatoe rounds and add the seasonings. Let it be until everything is coming up roses.

For the chicken, after hunting for a decent piece,I shoved some chopped parsley and butter underneath the skin and seasoned with salt and pepper. I grilled it over medium heat, skin side first, then flip it on its backside once. Done-zo.

Fishy, fishy, fishy

I used to think I liked seafood. Being from the prairies it was always a rare, expensive treat (save for the bottom feeders of the muddy Waskihigan river) but Korea has turned this all on its head. The fish here is so....fishy. Go figure, I know, but there's no other word, it's just...so fishy. Consequently I was hesitant to cook fish myself but I found something that looked like salmon the other day so I decided to give it a go. Whoop, here it is:

Salmon in Lemon Butter Sauce with Zuchinni and Eggplant Ribbons

1 medium zuchinni, ribboned
2 smallish eggplants, ribboned
large chunck of fish, possibly salmon, probably not
5 tbsp butter,
garlic, finely chopped
onion, finely chopped
1 cup chicken stock
zest and juice of a lemon
cherry tomaotes, halved

- Cut the fish into even sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper and marinate in some olive oil.

- Scrub the veggies real good then get your peeler and use it to shave off thin ribbons. This is a little trickier than I thought, but you'll get it. Have faith. Throw some salt on the eggplant and let it sweat a little. It'll talk eventually.

- I cooked the veggies first and then put them aside because I only have two pans. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and give the veggies a quick saute. We're talking quite quick if your veggies were as thin as mine. Pull them off before they've fully cooked and put them aside for now, they'll finish cooking when you reheat them later.

- Another tbsp of oil in the pan and then slap your fish down, skin side first. If you've got some pieces smaller than others give the big ones a head start. When the colour starts to creep up to the middle of the meat give it a flip.

- Melt two tbsps of butter in another pan and saute some finely chopped onions and garlic until translucent. Add the zest of half a lemon and a cup of chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and let it reduce by one third. Then add most of the juice of a lemon and about 3 more tbsps of butter, one at a time, whisking between each. Taste, add salt and pepper, taste again, good. If you have a sieve you can strain the onion bits out at this point, or just use as is. Toss in a bunch of halved cherry tomatoes and let them warm up for minute.

- Toss the veggies back in the pan for a quick sec to warm up. Throw it all on a plate. Voila!

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

I took a trip to Seomun market last weekend and in amongst the chickens, kittens and bunnies awaiting their peril I found some fresh peas. I really love to shell peas; I used to spend a week each August hunkered over a five gallon bucket of pods, cracking them open and dumping out the goods. Unfortunately the peas I got were overripe and dry, and I got a horrified bug-eyed stare from a grandpa when he saw me eating the peas straight out of the pod. Crazy foreigner, eating raw peas!

Anyway, I used the peas to make a 'spring-y' risotto. Risotto can be intimidating, but it's really not so difficult and is a really welcomed change from steamed rice, steamed rice, steamed rice.

Here's the deal:

- Heat a few tablespoons of oil (or butter) in the bottom of a pot. Add some chopped onions and garlic and saute until translucent. Add your rice and stir to make sure each grain gets coated in oil.

- At this point you can add a couple glugs of white wine. If you're Amish, or if you've accidentally drank all your wine while waiting for step one to finish, you can skip straight to the broth.

- Your broth (chicken or veggie) should be warm and you should add it only 1 or 2 ladle-fuls at a time, stirring gently in between until it's absorbed.

- Repeat, repeat, repeat until the rice is tender, but still slightly firm. At this point add one more ladle-ful and your veggies. I used peas, chives and basil, but you can use virtually anything. Except turnips. Please don't use turnips, they smell like farts.

- Finish it off with a boat load of parmesean. Or, you know, a reasonable amount.

I served this with some shoddy pork cutlets (I'm still trying to use up those unfortunate pieces of pork). If you do find a nice piece of meat here's what I did:

- Slap your meat down in between two pieces of saran wrap that are bigger than the meat.

- Get a weapon. I used a rolling pin, but if you have a hammer, or a baseball bat, or a rage problem you can use that too.

- Pound it. Smack it out until it's pretty thin, and evenly so.

- Bread it. Dip in beeaten eggs, then flour, then breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are hard to find here, but I have a solution: toast a piece of bread then run it through the fine setting of the cheese grater. When you get down to raw bread throw it back in the toaster and repeat.

- Fry, fry, fry. Just a couple of tbsp's of oil and a minute or two on each side and you're done.

The green stuff at the back is a 'salad'. Eat that at your own discretion.