A Recipe for Ganjang and Perilla Oil Bibimguksu
From Chef Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi's “The Korean Cookbook”
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Happy Wednesday! A while back, I received a copy of “The Korean Cookbook,” written by Chef Junghyun Park (of Atomix) and food historian Jungyoon Choi. It’s a beautiful and comprehensive tome on the kind of everyday cooking you’ll find in home kitchens across Korea “from the high rises of Seoul to the volcanic beaches of Jeju Island.” 350+ recipes (!!!) weave a narrative walking you through some fundamentals that make up Korean cuisine: fermentation (i.e. kimchi, fermented vegetables; jangs, fermented sauces; jeotgal, fermented seafood), bap (rice in all forms and ways it can be served, whether you mix it with meat and vegetables to make bibimbap or cook into a hot soup to make gukbap), and banchan (all the small side dishes that accompany rice), to name a few.
“The Korean Cookbook” tells the stories of Korea not just through the lens of hansik—a term referring to Korean cuisine—but also of how Korean people eat, and especially how food fits into their lifestyle. It’s a celebration of the dishes that grace the dinner table each day, as well as the unique ingredients and specialties from each of the regions of the peninsula nation.
I made this recipe for ganjang and perilla oil bibimguksu from the book’s guksu chapter last week—and though it’s a simple meal that requires only a few ingredients (all of which you can easily find at your local Asian supermarket or online, may I add), it’s an incredibly satisfying and fragrant dish. It took no longer than half an hour to make, so it was a great thing to pull together for lunch in between meetings.
Enjoy, and have a great rest of the week! Next Wednesday, I’ll be chatting with Nik Sharma about his new plant-forward cookbook, “Veg-Table,” so be sure to subscribe below (if you haven’t already done so), so that updates get conveniently sent right to your inbox.
Serves 4
5 tablespoons ganjang (Korean soy sauce)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons perilla oil, for serving
4 tablespoons ground sesame seeds, for serving
4 sheets roasted gim, thinly snipped or crushed, for serving
2 scallions, thinly sliced, for serving
In a small bowl, combine the ganjang, rice vinegar, sugar, and 4 tablespoons of water. Mix until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set the sauce aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until tender, according to package instructions. If the water begins to foam or boil over, add a splash of cold water or ice to calm it down. Drain the noodles and rinse well under cold running water until cool.
In a large bowl, combine the noodles and sauce and mix well.
To serve, divide the noodles among four bowls. Top with 3 tablespoons perilla oil, 1 tablespoon ground sesame seeds, and 1 tablespoon gim. Garnish with the scallions.
Recipe adapted from “The Korean Cookbook” by Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi. Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.