Category: Sustenance

Do you remember the Kimchi chronicles?  Last June I made three batches of kimchi.  It was a fun and informative experiment, and I greater understanding of kimchi as a type or class of pickle, and also some understanding of what I like and why. 

 

One of my goals had been to explore how the kimchi would hold up to aging.  Although my kimchi has been in the refrigerator it has still continued to ferment and age, and although 4 months would not be considered particularly old for aged kimchi, it seemed like a good time for a comparison.  Pictured below is a small sample of each of the three batches of kimchi, taken yesterday morning.

The samples are small primarily because this was all that remained of what I had called Kimchi 1, or the kimchi made using David Chang's recipe in Momofuku,.  Notice that the kimchi has become less vibrant, but the batches are still distinguishable.  In the photo above, the kimchi at the top left is the batch called Kimchi 2, made from the formula used in Koreatown, and the bowl at the bottom of the photo is Kimchi 1.  Below is the comparison photo of the two batches taken last June, Kimchi 1 on the right, Kimchi 2 on the left.

In June, I much preferred the Kimchi 1 version, which I found far more complex and layered.  I also liked its bright almost bubbliness on the tongue as it aged, which is a characteristic of a particular stage in the kimchi process.  By comparison Kimchi 2 was softer with a taste that I thought bordered on bland, but which I described as comforting.  At that stage, I was not convinced that Kimchi 2 was worth the work involved, but I was willing to wait and see.

 

The aging process has changed my perceptions.  David Chang's kimchi has not aged particularly well to my taste.  It is not bad, it is good even, but as it has aged it has developed a metallic edge, and a bit of a burr of sharpness and heat, that doesn't burn the mouth, but which seem to lodge itself in the back of the nasal passage and almost grate on the sinuses.  It is not bad, but it is not particularly pleasant.  This does not in any way lessen my love for this type of kimchi.  David Change himself, in the book, states that he likes this kimchi best when it is young and vibrant and still a bit bubbly on the tongue.  It is easily made in small batches that can be easily consumed while the kimchi is still in its prime.

 

Kimchi 2 however has proven to rise above expectation.  What was boring before is now considerably more interesting.  I would still describe the flavors as soft, but they are a bit more pungent, actually brighter with age and far more interesting.  I feel myself smiling  with each bite as the flavors of pepper, cabbage, and ginger dance across my tongue, identifiable but not harsh and without burning.  This kimchi did not begin to come into its own until it was 2 months old, and it continues to improve.  Now I know that I will make it again, although I can see that no two batches are ever alike no recipe a guaranteed formula, more of a rough guideline.  The next time I make this however, I shall age it longer at room temperature; this will surely hasten the process and probably change the profile of the kimchi, but I am eager to explore the possibilities.

 

The third Kimchi above is the red cabbage kimchi called Kimchi 3.  It is far less vibrant in color than the original batch, but it is still fabulously complex and subtle and interesting.  It still tempts me to want more each time I eat it, and it still seems to bridge cultural expectations blending well with both Western and Asian flavors.  It may be my favorite, but at this point I am not willing to abandon the other formulas.   I will probably set aside some of Kimchi 2, so that I am certain that I will have some to compare at the six-month mark.  I know there is enough of Kimchi 3 already, as it was the biggest batch.  And of course I will make more of Kimchi 1 to use young, as a vibrant, spicy condiment. 

 

Expect an update in late December.

I bought myself a belated birthday present.

It was not completely unplanned. Ever since I made the red cabbage kimchi, I had been eyeing the 2 and 3 gallon crocks by Ohio Pottery at my local food coop, the Three Rivers Market.  My largest bowl was literally filled to the brim with that kimchi, and intend to make it again, as well as try my hand at other things, including sauerkraut and a similar Japanese pickle using napa cabbage.  I also knew I needed at least a 2 gallon crock, but wasn't sure it would be enough, so I waffled. 

 

On Friday I was at the store and I intended to buy a crock.  I actually found the crock lids before I found the crocks.  There were lids for the 3 gallon and 1 gallon crocks, so I thought my decision had been made for me, but when I went to the table where the crocks were located, I saw that they had a bunch of the standard crocks, and one fermentation crock with the water seal.  I didn't have to think twice.  I'll still need a smaller crock or two, and I'd love one of the crocks made by Californian Sarah Kersten. But they are smaller, the big one is slightly smaller than my biggest bowl.  Although I would probably use it less frequently than smaller containers, I would still occasionally need a large crock like this.  The main question in my mind was whether I was jumping the gun, or in other words, when would I use it.

Then I went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.  It was my first trip to the Market Square Market in a month, what with my mother's visit and travelling hither and yon and all that.   Before I'd even made my first pass through the market I saw these cabbages.  I bought three, three huge cabbages.  I had to take them directly to the car and get a new shopping bag they were so big, 13 pounds total.  I had a crock.  I had cabbage.  I always have sea salt and kosher salt in the house.  It was time to make my first batch of sauerkraut. 

 

I guess there is still a bit of the Texan in me, the old "go big or go home" part of me.  I had a big crock after all.  Saturday afternoon I shredded thirteen pounds of cabbage, massaged it with salt and mashed it down into my new 3-gallon crock.  The mashing was actually the hardest part.  It takes a lot of effort to compress 13 pounds of cabbage in a crock until the liquid extruded from the salt and cabbage rises up over the cabbage.   Considering the amount of Farmhouse Culture Sauerkraut I buy, if it works I am ahead by a large margin.  If it doesn't I'm out $12 and an afternoon.  But I can chalk it up to a learning opportunity.

 

I like the water seal aspect of the crock even as I recognize that it is not absolutely necessary.  In fact, if one opens up the crock to check and taste daily, the water seal may even be pointless.  So far, however, I am being daring and skipped a couple of days between checks,  with no apparent harm being done. One advantage to the water seal is that I can hear progress without opening the lid to check.  There is something simultaneously thrilling and calming to hear the regular bubbles and gurgles as gas escapes the crock, through the water, a sure sign of fermentation in process. 

 

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.

 

 

Another picture of daylilies in bloom.  You may grow tired of them; I never will.  I was amazed, when I had landscape people coming to the house, at how many thought daylilies were terrible plants.  Whereas I could have endless daylily borders had I the space.

This morning I took Tikka with me to the farmer's market.  We went early, so we could explore, she could sniff, and I treat myself to a little breakfast from one of the food trucks.   I finally figured out that dogs weren't allowed in the food stall area if they were on leashes, but there is no restriction against dogs who are being toted around by their owners.  So after our morning snack and another short stroll, I popped Tikka into a tote bag and away we went. 

She got to ride back to the car.  Today was my meat CSA pickup and she pretty much balanced the bag on the other shoulder which contained 4 game hens, and 6 pounds of ground meats, as well as a dozen eggs and big bag of holey collards.  I didn't take a picture of the meat, and aside from the collards, I picked up little this week.  I have a refrigerator full of kimchi and leftovers from last week's bounty, which I actually don't mindl.  Not at all.

I don't understand why people don't want produce that is less than pristine and perfect.  It is not just here, it was true where I lived before as well. Nature, in fact life in general, is rarely perfect.  If I wanted visual perfection I would shop at the grocery store.  I'd rather have flavor.  I love collards and there are lots of different ways to cook them.  I simply blanched these and put them aside for use during the coming week.  While I write this I am simmering the collard stems in the leftover blanching liquid.  That too will be saved,  and I'll end up with a couple of quarts of collard broth.

 

 

 

This is a pretty quick and easy kimchi.  This recipe is from David Chang's book Momofuku. It was the first recipe I tried, although that decision was not based on any kind of analysis or research into kimchi-making.  Since starting to make kimchi, I have learned that there are all manner of variations and yet also a great similarity between recipes.  It seems you need to just start, and let your own kimchi, and your own technique, find its own groove.

As you might recall from Tuesday's post, these were the basic ingredients.

David Chang has you chop the cabbage into relatively small ribbons of about 1 inch in width.  I rather like the way this turns out.  The resulting kimchi is quite easy to use.  I have yet to determine what I think about the larger pieces of cabbage used in the next two kimchi versions. This recipe calls for a small to medium nappa cabbage.  The small cabbage is about 10 ounces.  The wedge is almost a quarter of a jumbo (4 pound) cabbage for a total of slightly over 1 1/2 pounds.

Next you massage the cut cabbage with 2 tablespoons each of sugar and salt an stick it in the refrigerator overnight.

When you pull it out the next day, you see that the cabbage has reduced in volume, and some liquid brine has developed.  Rinse the cabbage and allow it to air dry while you make the kimchi brine.

Peel 20 garlic cloves, and slice 20 coins from peeled gingerroot.  I obviously took this photo before engaging in a little necessary trimming.  But I'm just happy that I actually took photos.

Combine the garlic, ginger, gochugaru, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and shrimp to form a paste.  I used the food processor.

Add the kimchi brine to the cabbage along with the julienned carrots and the scallions (which have been cut into 1-inch lengths).  I made this fairly late after a fairly stressful day, and I forgot to add the carrots an scallions until after I took the photo.  You can use a spoon.  I used my hands, massaging the cabbage lightly as I blended.  I tend to think interacting with our food on a personal level is important.  Although scrupulously clean hands are fine for home cooking, if you have sensitive skin, or are inclined to be somewhat scatterbrained, I would recommend wearing gloves for this step, in order to avoid the risk of burnt skin or eyes.   

Pack the kimchi into a container and place it in the refrigerator to ferment.  It will start to be tasty the next day, but will be much better after a week.   I have left the kimchi out at room temperature for a day before adding it to the refrigerator, and that does speed the process and the funk factor, but I find that there is a shorter period where the kimchi is in that almost prickly, bubbly stage, a stage I particularly enjoy, before getting stinkier, softer and funkier.

The kimchi on day 5. I personally like this kimchi best when it is 2 to 4 weeks old.  I let the last batch last longer, over six weeks, and it was starting to get soft and funky by the time it was gone.  But this recipe only makes about 1 1/4 quarts of kimchi, and it usually doesn't last that long.  I'd like to experiment with aging some kimchi longer, and it seems, since I am about to have a kimchi glut in my refrigerator, I may soon have that opportunity.

 

 

 

Cole asked about my kimchi process.

 

As it happens I was thinking about expanding my kimchi horizons.  I've made several batches of my basic kimchi for a while now, but I know that there are many techniques and many variations and thought it would be interesting to try something different.  I decided to make the kimchi the way I have been making it, using my slightly modified version of David Chang's kimchi recipe in Momofuku as a control, and make two other batches of kimchi at the same time.    I'm not sure that any one style of kimchi is better, or even perhaps more "authentic" than another.  Times change, tastes change, what is authentic to me and probably to most people is what their grandmother made.  Of course my grandmother never made kimchi.  I suppose what is important is what I like.  I like what I have been making, but I'll never know why, or even if I am missing something, unless I try something else. I decided to make another version of a fairly traditional baechu or napa cabbage kimchi and something that was entirely different.

 

Kimchi #1:

Above are the ingredients for David Chang's paechu kimchi.   This recipe calls for a small to medium napa cabbage and I could only find a very small one last week, so there is also a wedge from a jumbo cabbage.  Along with the cabbage, the recipe calls for scallions, carrots, ginger and garlic, in fairly small quantities, as well as sugar, salt, soy sauce, fish sauce, salted fermented shrimp, and gochugaru, or ground red chile.

 

Kimchi #2

 

The second recipe I chose is from Koreatown by  Deuki Hong and Matt Rodebard. Although you can't tell from this photo, this recipe makes a much larger batch of kimchi, starting out with twice the amount of napa cabbage as in the first recipe.  There are other differences as well.  This recipe calls for scallion greens (although I show the entire scallion here), small quantities of garlic and ginger, onion, daikon radish, and Asian pear. There is no soy sauce or fish sauce, only salted fermented shrimp. This recipe also calls for a paste made from the sweet rice flour and water.  The wrong version of gochugaru is pictured.  The recipe actually specifies the coarser grind, which I do have, but I neglected to change out the jar when gathering ingredients for the photo.

 

Kimchi #3

And then I decided to go a little wild.  The third kimchi is from Aki Kamazowa and Alexander Talbot's book Ideas in Food.  After reading this recipe I learned that fermented pickles are deemed ready when they reach a ph of 3.5, which also happens to be the ph at which red cabbage changes color and becomes a bright reddish purple.  Besides, this version just sounded interesting and I am intrigued.  Substitute the red cabbage for the napa cabbage.  There is a lot more ginger and a lot more garlic in this recipe, as well as six bosc pears and a rather large amount of daikon radish.  The recipe actually called for Korean radish, but I couldn't find one.  The flavor is different.  I think of Korean radish as being a bit more peppery than daikon, which would have been interesting with the sweetness of the red cabbage and the pears. Watercress is also included but I forgot to put it in the photo. This recipe calls for shrimp paste rather than fermented shrimp, and I used gochugaru rather than the combination of cayenne and crushed red pepper called for in the recipe.

 

All three recipes call for brining the cabbage for at least six and up to eighteen hours.  Chang brines his cabbage dry in the refrigerator, after massaging the cabbage with salt and sugar.  In the other two versions of kimchi, the cabbage was brined in a solution of water and salt at room temperature.  Above are all three batches of cabbage, ready to begin brining.

 

From here on out the recipes differ and I will post about them separately.  As I write this I have no idea how they will turn out, or what I will think.  It should be fun.