The Kimchi batches are almost two weeks old. The recipes for both kimchi 1 and kimchi 2 state that they are best after 1 week in the refrigerator, and so I have sampled both this week. But before I discuss my observed differences in the product, lets look at the process. Last week, I posted about kimchi 1. This week I'll review the making of kimchi 2.
As you may, or may not, recall, the ingredients were slightly different from David Chang's version. There was no soy sauce or fish sauce and the addition of an Asian pear, daikon radish, and rice flour.
The cabbage was cut into quarters lengthwise. Then the quarters were cut into quarters again. From looking at the photos in the book, these cuts were meant to be lengthwise as well, but I made the second set of cuts crosswise as the text did not specify. I still have larger pieces of cabbage than in the David Chang version, and I believe I am happy that they are not really long. Remember, I used 3/4 of a huge (4 pound) cabbage, or about 3 pounds of cabbage.
Then the cabbage was brined overnight. For this version the cabbage was brined in salt water at room temperature. A weight was placed over the cabbage to insure that it remained submerged.
The next step is to make the rice flour paste. Two tablespoons of sweet rice flour was cooked in one cup of water until it formed a thick, pudding like consistency. Then it was set aside to cool.
Then make the marinade. The onion, Asian pear, ginger, garlic, red chile, and water were combined to make a runny paste. Everything fit into the small bowl of my food processor.
The marinade was combined with the shrimp, sugar, rice flour paste, scallions, grated carrots and more red chile.
The cabbage was rinsed and placed in a large bowl. The shredded daikon and the marinade were added. This recipe specifies that the ingredients be tossed together by hand, wearing gloves of course. I'm not convinced that a spoon wouldn't work as well, but I still like the idea of contact, of the maker working with the ingredients, so of course I used my hands.
The bowl was covered and the kimchi was left at room temperature for one day. Then it was packaged and put in the refrigerator. The recipe warns that the kimchi will expand and may leak outside the container. My bowl was plenty big, but later, in the refrigerator, I did have some leakage as the kimchi was pretty tightly packed in a 3 quart container. Not surprisingly, starting with twice the amount of cabbage as the Chang recipe, yielded twice as much kimchi.
But how do they compare? Above is a picture of the two kimchis after about 10 days. The one on the right is kimchi 1 (David Chang's recipe) and kimchi 2 is on the left (Koreatown). The addition of soy sauce and fish sauce gives David Chang's version not only a much more vibrant color, but a more vibrant taste as well.
Both are good. They are also very different. Kimchi 2 is mellower and softer in texture and flavor than kimchi 1. It has an almost, but not quite, bland, comforting sense to it with just a touch of heat at the end. Kimchi 1 is bright and vibrant and sparkly on the tongue at this stage and the flavors and textures are far more complexly nuanced and interesting. I am certain that this complexity, in both taste and color, is due to the addition of the soy sauce and fish sauce to the marinade. The cabbage in kimchi 1 is also more toothsome, with a bit more cabbage flavor, than the cabbage in kimchi 2. This may be due to the different brining techniques (in water as opposed to simply in salt alone).
The heat or spice level of the two kimchis is also different. David Chang's recipe calls for significantly more red chile than Koreatown's recipe does, but I halved the chile in version one, simply because I have made it before and the first version was too hot for me. Therefore the use of chile in the two versions was proportional to the weight of the cabbage. But Chang's version was still more pungent, and spicier but not necessarily with more chile heat. Kimchi 1 also called for significantly more garlic and ginger, which add to the flavor profile and yield a kimchi with a layered and complex spice that is not simply heat alone. It is also likely that the presence of the rice paste in kimchi 2, although acting as a binder and perhaps aiding fermentation, also muted both the color and the flavor profile of the resulting kimchi.
At this stage, I think I like kimchi 1 better, especially for use as a condiment. But kimchi 2 is also good and will be eaten. Both versions make a lovely omelet, the kimchi 2 version would be more soft and comforting, whereas kimchi 1 is more vibrant in combination with eggs. It does not overpower them, they soften its profile, but the bright wake-up call is still present. I suppose what is preferred is a matter of taste. I remain intrigued by the prospect of seeing how both versions age.
I can serve kimchi 2 to my mom. I'm not convinced she will like kimchi 1.
Comments
10 responses to “Another Thursday, Another Kimchi”
Interesting! Your process is considerably different (and more complicated) than mine, which (so far) uses just cabbage, daikon, scallions, sea salt, gochugoru powder, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce. I only leave my cabbage in the salt for a couple of hours, but my kimchi ferments at room temperature for 3 to 5 days (smelly, yes!) before it goes in the fridge. I’ve only made two batches so far, but will begin to play around with ingredients a bit with the next one.
You will be amused to note that kimchi was part of a crazy poutine mixture I had at a pub here in Ottawa last night. Wild!! 😉
Frankly, this kimchi (from Koreatown cookbook) is too complicated for me and not as good as what I was making. I’ll stick with David Chang’s basic version. I like using the soy, the fish sauce, and the salted shrimp, as they add layers of flavor, and the technique is very simple — throw everything in the food processor except the cabbage, carrots and scallions, which are cut in pieces not grated up. Although Chang ferments his kimchi in the fridge, I have left mine out, and it is good, but ferments faster. The red cabbage kimchi was fermented on the counter, and yes, both are smelly, but soo good.
kimchi poutine sounds really intriguing. I’m finding all kinds of uses for kimchi.
Kimichi poutine sounds just…bizarre. But you can drop about anything on fries, sprinkle some cheese curds and call it ‘poutine’.
My sons and their chef buddy Liam are enormous David Chang fans and love to quote from a cooking show on which Chang said, “My #1 question when I develop a recipe is, ‘Is it dericious?’”
So now we all say, “Is it dericious?”
🙂
Interesting reading. I am quite fascinated by fermentation, old BS/MS microbiology major who can’t shake it after all these years. I’ve been totally involved in other things the past few months, remodeled a kitchen (making it useless for six weeks), then sold house, bought house, moved, had hip replaced, increased job responsibility and.. this week… major job changes. But I dream of going back to making kombucha and yogurt and kefir and all the things I had become accustomed to keeping going. Never made my own kimchi, as I had a little grocery near my old house that made their own. Now I’m in suburban Stepford, so need to resume my own production after some brief kitchen reno in the next week. I’m eagerly reading your testing… K
Thank you Mardel!
Experimenting with kimchi seems interesting,so,in the fall (here is too hot and as I don’t actually know how kimchi has to taste,I ‘ll wait for fall-much safer!) I’m going to try to make it
I first heard abour kimchi fom my friend’s DIL from South Korea a couple of years ago and,than again from Frances. We didn’t have Korean restaurants than,but I get very interested (it seems you all love korean kitchen and have a lot of restaurants!) and,when in London ,I wanted so much to try it.
The first one was highly recommended,food was not bad,but my epidemiology past made me very aware of lot of things 🙂
The second one(I found it walking around my hotel) was perfect,food and all other standards! And I really like the food
Completely agree with you (older post) about local vegetables with flavour-we still have a lot of open air markets with local producers and I buy all my vegetables and fruits there (except bananas)
Have a nice weekend
Dottoressa
I know it sounds bizarre, Duchesse, but it worked surprisingly well — the bright spiciness of the kimchi works to counteract the undeniably heavy richness of the curds and the fries and the gravy (If you ever get to Ottawa, the Manx pub, on Elgin…)
I used to make my own yogurt and sour cream and a few other things until I had to go off dairy. Now I’m intrigued by fermentation. When cabbages are back in season, I’ll probably make more kimchi and start some sauerkraut. I’d like to try my hand at vinegars and a few other things as well.
Those cabbages were the last of the spring crop here. Now I’ll have to wait until fall.