I am immensely fond of Korean food, both traditional and contemporary. Although I find most seafood dishes and a street food called ttoppoekki to be ill-conceived and unappealing, everything else is wonderfully vibrant. Mixtures of astringent flavors, fermented beans, meats, and root vegetables, and a dizzying array of greens and sprouts called namul make up many of my favorites.
So I’ve even been known to make Korean food myself. But when it comes to my own kitchen, my real passions are decidedly Euro-centric: French cuisine especially but Italian dishes more regularly. Baking is important to me (and pastries to my wife). The process is therapeutic, and my results usually outstrip what local bakeries are capable of.
Whatever I’m cooking, it’s important that I can carefully control the ingredients I use, choosing local, organic, fair trade, and whole foods when possible. Thus, I can make both restrained and indulgent meals or deserts with full awareness of what I’m doing. Having the opportunity to craft a balanced and tasty diet matters to me and is important for my wife. It will be even more significant I have children and am cooking for them. I want them to appreciate healthy western food, rather than the calorie laden offerings of American chain restaurants and pseudo-European bistros more readily available in Korea. Of course, when they eat Korean food, they’ll benefit from one of the most healthy cuisines available.
So carrying on with my cooking, using and refining the skills I developed in England, is something of an imperative. So far I’ve had good success procuring most of the basic ingredients I want, and adapting some Korean vegetables into the mix. The different cuts of meat here can be a little frustrating, but I’ll eventually be able to navigate this. The general lack of western herbs applies only to fresh ones; I’ve secured the dry herbs I use most. I’ll grow fresh ones in time.
The differences that are most striking to me involve heating techniques. Roasting and baking are not traditional parts of Korean cuisine. However, these are dispensable from western gastronomy only with great frustration. Fortunately for would-be home chefs, many Korean homes now come equipped with ovens. Still, they aren’t yet standard, in my limited experience, and the staff apartments for foreign professors at Kyungpook National University are lacking in this regard.
I must admit I was rather perturbed when I discovered that my flat was missing an oven, and that, worse, there was no obvious place to install one. I have a good gas burner, and a really excellent hood, with a magnificent set of large drawers directly underneath. So no built in or free standing range could be positioned in the most obvious place.
While pondering my predicament with my wife, we decided the best thing to do would be to buy a built in oven (not a range) and have a separate, and free standing, cabinet built to house it. This would function like an island, eventually provide a location for an espresso machine and grinder, and provide some separation between the kitchen and the living space of my apartment. Problem solved, in concept. All that was left was choosing a model and finding out where to procure it.
After a little internet searching I narrowed down my options to a couple of Italian models from Zanussi and Nardi, and a couple of Korean models from LG Dios.
Shopping online in Korea is something like shopping face to face in Korea. There are many, many markets (real and virtual) packed with small sellers. There are also a few bigger chains. We weren’t able to find a local seller for Zanussi or Nardi (though there may well be one) so we went to a local LG “Best Shop” on Saturday and bought a Korean oven. (The LG DIOS, E-M770SMX: http://www.lge.co.kr/brand/builtin/product/BuiltinProductDetailCmd.laf)
Price was a little higher than the Italian makes, but I’m happy to have local after-service.
Since it is Korea, delivery was swift, and we had our oven by Sunday morning. We had also arranged for a cabinet maker to drop by to get measurements for our removable island. He will deliver it next Saturday.
Although not yet built in, the oven is already perfectly usable. Since my mother in law came to visit over the weekend as well it was a perfect opportunity to make a Sunday roast. She liked it so much, she didn’t ask for rice or kimchi.
That was a real pleasure.
