Discovering the Visual Appeals of Forgotten Knowledge Through Chef Jo Hee-sook’s Rice Training course
As a Korean food editor committed to sharing the charm of Korean food with the world, I’ve constantly thought that our culinary practices hold profound knowledge waiting to be uncovered. This night would certainly prove that belief in one of the most unexpected way.
“Close your eyes and eat the rice gradually.”
Professional photographer Kang Jin-ju’s tranquil voice broke the silence of the Royal Lounge in the heart of Seoul. Most of us closed our eyes. In my mouth, I purposely really felt the texture, sweetness, and scent of each grain of cooked tender rice that I would usually swallow mindlessly. Currently, I recognized something profound: I recognized absolutely nothing concerning rice.
It was Saturday night, August 23 rd. I was going to an art dining experience that incorporated Chef Jo Hee-sook’s 8 -program rice cuisine with writer Kang Jin-ju’s rice exhibit. After fast appointments filled, I had actually placed my name first on the waiting listing and luckily protected a seat. Honestly, it was pure inquisitiveness– how can any person create 8 programs with rice?
But that interest changed into something entirely various from the very first training course.
First Discovery: Rice Puts On Clothes
Kim-bugak (Seaweed Fritters) and Wasong Juice
Crunchy kim-bugak (algae fritters) made by layer black seaweed with glutinous and non-glutinous rice flour, then deep-frying up until crisp. Ahead rested something that appeared like tartar sauce. The moment I attacked right into it, the crunchiness released a nutty splendor and deep sea fragrance that filled my mouth.
“Bugak is a traditional food made by covering ingredients with starch powder and frying them. Rice flour does not simply supply crispiness– it covers the active ingredient’s all-natural flavors while simultaneously deepening them.”
The rice flour finish the seaweed wasn’t plain finishing; it was a sensible tool to increase the algae’s ocean fragrance. In addition to the sweetest corn dumplings I ‘d had all year and grilled jeungpyeon (steamed rice cake raises with makgeolli) loaded with skilled tomatoes, every little thing was flaunting its special colors on the canvas of rice.
Second Revelation: The Illusionist of Textures
Abalone Umook Cold Salad
In the second program, I encountered an additional face of rice. Thinly chopped abalone lightly coated with rice flour and prepared– the inflammation was remarkable. For a person accustomed to abalone’s crunchy appearance, this was almost shocking.
“Please take a dose of every little thing together,” the web server assisted. Adhering to the instruction, I create the house-made umook (agar jelly), vivid glutinous rice dumplings colored with beetroot, gardenia, and spinach, and that tender abalone.
Various structures created harmony in my mouth. The bouncy umook, crunchy dumplings, and soft abalone. Yet at the center of all these textures was rice. The silk-like tenderness produced by rice flour embracing the abalone, the crunchy flexibility of dumplings made with glutinous rice.
In the coolness of this summertime chilly recipe, I believed: Rice is a magician that changes ingredients, far beyond simple cooked rice.
Third Discovery: A Mother’s Heart
Mentaiko (Spicy Cod Roe) Egg Custard with Turmeric Rice
The minute I got the 3rd training course, I was overcome by a strange emotion. It was egg custard, but the bowl was unusually big. Inside, rice tinted yellow with turmeric extract was snuggled with fish and shellfish and seaweed within the egg.
Taking the very first dose, I located myself grinning unconsciously. The chewy rice grains within the soft egg– that acquainted yet surprising harmony.
In Korea, when youngsters are picky regarding side recipes, mothers commonly make egg custard. I remembered my childhood years– the egg custard my mom made when I had no hunger. And now, the egg custard I slowly steam for my very own youngster. That soft, wonderful taste.
This dish held such heat. Like the description that it was steamed in a big rice bowl because it had rice, this wasn’t just cooking– it was a mom’s heart claiming “appreciate your meal.”
With a sip of makgeolli (conventional rice wine) that photographer Kang Jin-ju had actually personally brewed, I felt my heart warming.
4th Revelation: The Appearances of Consistency
Veggies Beomuri
When springtime comes, Koreans consume ssuk-beomuri (steamed mugwort rice cake)– young mugwort mixed with rice flour and steamed. However the fourth training course was totally different from the ssuk-beomuri I knew. Pleasant potato’s sweetness, fluffy beans’ nuttiness, and meat’s umami combined with non-glutinous rice flour to develop an entirely brand-new savory flavor. Mung bean powder sprinkled ahead added a fluffy texture, while omija (five-flavor berry, fruit of schisandra chinensis) sauce covered everything in sweet-and-sour accept.
I truly wished to lick the plate tidy. Savory like rice, yet with the subtle sweet taste of rice and mung beans making it appear like dessert. The magic of all these active ingredients turning into one with rice flour as a tool. Each had various tastes and fragrances, however rice flour delicately attached them all.
Fifth Revelation: The Build-up of Time
Wolguachae with Glutinous Rice Pancakes
The fifth course was visually lovely. Shiitake mushrooms reduced round and moistly cooked, young zucchini grilled until flexible and folded up in half, and thick, crunchy glutinous rice pancakes topped with carefully minced meat and vegetable garnishes.
Appreciating each bite with cheonbihyang liquor, I considered the moment purchased each component of this dish. Time to reduce shiitake round and cook them moistly, time to grill zucchini completely, time to make glutinous rice pancakes to the best thickness. The finely minced meat taking a sustaining duty as opposed to starring, letting the vegetables radiate.
This had not been just food– it was a buildup of time. Cooking techniques gave for hundreds of years gathered on one plate.
Sixth Discovery: Creative Succession
Mineo (Croaker) Mandu (Dumpling) Soup
The sixth course totally amazed me. It was a modern-day reinterpretation of eo-mandu (fish dumplings), a Joseon Dynasty court dish. Eo-mandu is made by filleting white fish, packing it with dumpling dental filling, rolling it up, and cooking it right into dumpling forms. Chef Jo covered experienced vegetable bibimbap with croaker fish to make dumplings, floating them in rich croaker soup.
Taking a spoonful, the fish’s clean taste and bibimbap’s deep preference created elegant harmony. The soup brewed from croaker showed real depth of nourishing food.
This had not been basic food preparation but imaginative succession. Not recreating tradition as-is, but understanding its spirit and interpreting it modernly. The wisdom of integrating fish-made dumplings with rice and soup to create a perfect meal in one dish.
Seventh Revelation: The Minute of Completion
Braised Tofu and Grilled Golden Pollack
The seventh course remained in some ways the most acquainted yet most unexpected course. When my precious spicy skilled gold pollack satisfied the chajo (millet) rice underneath like sushi, that harmony was ideal. The tofu braised with rice padding within was past words.
Eighth Revelation: Korean Rice Society
Osaek-gyeongdan (Five-Color Rice Dumplings) and Yukryeon (Meat Strips Noodle)
With perfectly prepared assorted seasoned namul (typical Oriental veggie side dishes), I drank yukryeon layered with rice flour like noodles. The meat cut right into thin strips and covered with rice flour, after that blanched, caused a special that chewed as gently as noodles. Right here, the namul provided an unified crispy appearance. Namul is naturally Korea’s healthy side meal made by cutting fresh seasonal vegetables right into long strips, gently blanching or stir-frying them, and seasoning them. Normally, these are served with rice. The osaek-gyeongdan made from glutinous rice were studded with barley shrimp and fish roe– every one a treasure of umami.
Koreans generally claim we must eat rice at the end of a dish, yet after the previous 6 rice-themed courses, I had failed to remember that rice has to always be “bap” (cooked rice). But undoubtedly, placing it in my mouth brought that inviting, pleasant preference. This was genuinely the conclusion of the course. Rice ran into after experiencing all courses– however not simple rice. It was a festival of rice transformed right into dumplings, noodles, and garnishes.
Last Program: The Aesthetics of Blood circulation
Fruit Wonsopyeong and Brown Rice Tea
The last training course offered the excitement of opening up a gift box. Opening the banghap (standard food box) exposed watermelon juice that resembled omija, fruits covered with rice flour instead of rice dumplings, wet yakgwa (honey cookies), and yullan (chestnut treat– mashed, skilled, and reshaped chestnuts) covered with cinnamon and gangjeong (typical crispy sweets), all perfectly set up.
This reinterpretation of wonsopyeong (standard treat) with fruits– instead of making rice dough right into pearl-like forms and preparing them, fruits were covered with rice flour and lightly blanched. This protected the fruits’ clarity while clothing them in a layer of moist, soft covering.
With hyeonmi-cha (wild rice tea)– baked brown rice soaked in warm water to draw out its nutty fragrance– I experienced rice’s full variations. A best blood circulation beginning with rice and finishing with tea.
Final Revelation: Forgotten Knowledge
On the way home after this 8 -hour journey, I maintained believing. We had been taking rice too much for given– just as prepared rice.
But that evening I learned: rice becomes flour to carefully accept active ingredients, becomes dumplings to offer crunchy pleasure, becomes pancakes to embrace various other active ingredients, and comes to be tea to offer a fragrant surface.
What Chef Jo Hee-sook revealed wasn’t easy cooking. It was our forefathers’ knowledge– that unlimited variations are possible with one active ingredient, which each variation includes deep viewpoint and consideration.
Like Kang Jin-ju’s motif of “nature’s blood circulation,” rice starts from a solitary grain, ends up being prepared rice, comes to be flour, becomes tea, and returns to nature. Within that blood circulation, we discover life, wisdom, and love.
That night, I felt awe even prior to a basic dish of white rice. The boundless possibilities contained in each little grain of rice.
Perhaps development isn’t regarding producing something completely brand-new, however uncovering real worth of what was currently close to us– like the eight stories that a single grain of rice informed me.
The rice exhibition by digital photographer Kang Jin-ju and Cook Jo Hee-sook’s 8 -course rice art eating at Royal Lounge was a significant time shown to farmer Woo Bong-hee, who directly grows heritage rice ranges.