I have written about how the Portuguese traders had such an influence in Japan, introducing bread and frying which then created manju or anpan, (“pan” comes from the Portuguese word for bread), breaded katsu and tempura. All these adopted foods became very important in Japanese cuisine. Last week I wrote about how the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and the Dutch influenced the foods of Indonesia.
In 1950, during the Korean War, our GIs gave away food they could not finish. But in any war, there was a shortage of food and the South Koreans took the discarded food and created their own dishes. The military gave out or sold canned corn, mayonnaise, Spam and hot dogs.
According to Grace M. Cho, professor of sociology at City University of New York, “For older people, their feelings about the food probably reflect their feeling about American involvement in the war, which can be a mix of gratitude, anger, humiliation, and grief. But for the younger generation who have no memory who have no memory of the war or of South Korea as a poor country I don’t think there’s much consciousness about the dark history of these food items.”
One very popular dish that is still popular as a bar snack, or anju, which is a drinking snacks, is called corn cheese.
Corn Cheese
Serves 6
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (15 ounces) can corn, drained
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces shredded whole-milk mozzarella cheese (1-1/2 cups) divided
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 stalk green onion, sliced thinly
Adjust the oven rack to 8 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler.
Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the corn, sugar, salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the pan is almost dry and fond begins to form at the edges of the pan, 5 to 6 minutes.
(Fond is browned bits of food in the pan after the food has been sauteed).
Turn off the heat, stir in two-thirds of the cheese and mayonnaise. Spread into an even layer and top with the remaining one-third cheese. Broil until the surface is bubbling and the cheese is browned in some spots.
Garnish with green onions and serve immediately.
American soldiers taught the Koreans how to fry chicken. One theory is that Black soldiers fried chicken for Thanksgiving since there were no turkeys to roast.
The first Korean fried chicken franchise was Lims Chicken in 1977 and as of February 2019, there are 87.000 Korean fried chicken restaurants in South Korea. The first KFC in South Korea appeared in 1984.
In South Korea, fried chicken is called huraudeu chikin. Yangnyeom chikin is seasoned chicken, fried in gochajang sweet and spicy sauce, banban is half seasoned and half plain, ganjang chikin is fried chicken in ganjang based sweet, savory and garlicy sauce, padak is scallion chicken, and honey chikin is soy sauce with honey sauce.
With the Spam, South Koreans made budae jjgae or army-base stew.
Budae Jjigae
Serves 4
4 cups chicken stock
1 can Spam, thinly sliced
4 Frankfurt sausages, thinly and diagonally sliced
9 ounces tofu, sliced ½ inches
7 ounce enoki mushrooms, base stem removed and stems removed.
7 ounces oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced lengthwise
4 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water to soften, stems removed, and then sliced thinly
1/2 cup kimchi, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 ounces instant ramen noodles
2 ounces Korean rice cakes for soup, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes if frozen
1 ounce green onions, thinly and diagonally sliced
2 slices cheese
Sauce:
2 tablespoons Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
2 tablespoons mirin or sweet rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon Korean chili paste (kochujang)
Dash of black pepper
In a pot, mix all ingredients except the noodles, rice cakes and green onions and cheese. Add the sauce in the middle. Pour the stock in the corner of the pot. Close the lid and boil it on medium high heat until the stock begins to boil, about 8 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients (instant ramen noodles, rice cakes, green onion, cheese) on top of the pot and boil, uncovered, until the noodles are cooked, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low.
Start dishing out the soup, onto soup bowls and serve with steamed rice.
Foodie Bites:
Thanks to my neighbors Ron and Pat Takamoto for information about macadamia nuts. Ron grew up in Honokaa and their family had macadamia nut trees. After picking the nuts, they sun-dried them until, when shaking them, you can hear the kernels had separated from the inside shell. Then the difficult task of cracking begins. The nuts are then placed in a baking sheet and roasted at the lowest temperature of the oven for three days. Pat remembers how perfect the nuts were, ready for use in baking.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.