Catch up with what? With everything; it keeps changing all the time, faster than I can catch it. And I’m only discussing food.
I was going to deal with this a week ago, using the Sunday NYT’s food page (“5 Dishes To Cook This Week”). I also read the Manchester Guardian”s food column regularly. Both papers, you can imagine, have a large readership and the food pieces will get their share of attention from everyman- or woman.
Okay, here’s last week’s NYT newsletter five, with the names of the creators:
*Pork Schnitzel with Quick Pickles, by Melissa Clark, the column’s editor
*Olive-Walnut Pasta by Aii Slagle
*Kimchijeon (Kimchi Pancakes), by Samin Nosrat (adapted from the chef Young S.Kim of Pyeong Tofu House in Oakland, California)
*Sheet-Pan Salmon by Millie Peartree
*Roasted Chicken Thighs with Cauliflower and Herby Yogurt by Yossy Arefilm
Okay, pretty straightforward, no surprises, except the Kimchijeon, and it’s translated for you—Kimchi Pancake. Kimchi, of course, is Korean pickled cabbage. You cut it into 1/2 inch pieces in a bowl and add kimchi juice, scallions, gochujang, sugar, fish sauce and water. You make two big pancakes he size of the pan and serve them hot with dipping sauce.
I’ve been meeting gochujang a lot lately, and looked it up. In case you don’t know, it’s a sauce made with gochujang paste ( ! ) and rice vinegar, sesame oil and maple syrup.
Sso how do you make gochujang paste?
With difficulty.
I looked it up too, and found the ingredients and then a caution that not all gochujang pastes are the same so you’d better make your own. There’s more. (Sometimes Google tells me more than I care to know.)
“Did you know that often a not-so-good gochujang has corn syrup, starch syrup and even hydrolyzed vegetable protein as part of their ingredients??? A respectable gochujang should only have chili pepper powder (gochukaru), fermented soy bean powder (mejukaru), sweet rice/rice/brown rice/barley/wheat flour, rice syrup, malt barley syrup or powder and salt. And it would be nice if you had your own Korean hangarionggi vessel where you could ferment the gochujang in.”
Back to the five weekday dishes. I pass.