Korean Cooking Utensils
Korean cooking mostly involves the use of pots, grills and rice cookers. Most dishes don't heavily rely on oil, and the daily diet involves pickled vegetables, sesame seeds, laver and tofu. The most famous of Korean foods is kimchi, which is made of spicy flavored cabbage.
Like most Asian countries, rice ("bap" in Korean) is Koreans' staple food. There is a significant presence of kimchi, soups and noodles ("ramyeon" in Korean) in most appetizers and main courses. Koreans also like to grill meat in most dishes. Restaurants usually have stovetops in the middle of the dining table, where diners can tend to their favorite meat dishes, like grilled pork samgyupsal and beef bulgogi.
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Cooking Pots
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Koreans generally use earthenware and stone pots to cook their food. As cooking at home and even in restaurants is almost always done over gas flame, these pots are put right on the burner. There are two major kinds of Korean cooking pots. The ddukbaegi is a Korean earthenware pot traditionally used to cook and serve soups ("guk" in Korean) and stews ("jjigae" in Korean). Korean sizzling meals are also fit for this kind of cookware. The dolsot is a Korean stone pot used to make mixed rice bowls ("dolsot bibimbap"). This dish consists of steamed rice, vegetables, laver and (optionally) meat, then finally topped with spicy Korean red paste and raw egg that will cook when added to the hot dish.
Using cooking pots for Korean soups and other dishes allows the food to heat fast and cool down slowly. They keep the food hot longer than conventional pots or bowls, due to their high retention of heat.
Rice Cooker
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Most Korean dishes are eaten with rice, so a rice cooker is one of the most used pieces of cookware. It is also utilized for steaming other foods. Cooking rice the Korean way involves the use of sticky rice. Koreans may prefer to put beans, sesame seeds and other ingredients with white or brown rice. The white rice is generally used for meals, especially with the bibimbap. First, the rice is cooked separately in a rice cooker, then it is transferred to a Korean pot with the rest of the ingredients, which are heated further to come up with a mixed rice bowl. Cooked white rice is also used for the Korean version of the Japanese maki and sushi, which is better known as kimbap. Kimbap is a common to-go snack (like burgers, sandwiches and biscuits) for Koreans.
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Stovetop Barbeque Grill
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Serving meat Korean-style usually involves chopped meat (or traditionally, the meat is cut by scissors) into bite-sized pieces before being cooked. It's also a Korean favorite to prepare meat as a barbeque. A stovetop barbeque grill is a regular cooking companion of Koreans, whether at home or in restaurants. As a typical Korean restaurant offers a stovetop in the middle of the dining table, diners are served the marinated meat, vegetables and other ingredients by the waiters ("ajoshi") or waitresses ("ajuma"). The order is cooked right in front of the diners according to their preferences; they can even cook the food themselves.
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References
- Photo Credit korean seaweed soup image by Lucid_Exposure from Fotolia.com
