Kimchi

[Ron0126]

Has anyone on here every made kimchi? If so, care to share how you made it and how it turned out? I love the stuff but want to venture out and make some homemade so I thought I’d ask.

 

[sour_grapes]

You can be sure that @GreginND has! My kimchi efforts have been hampered by trying to find gochugaru pepper powder. I know where to get it, I just don't feel like driving 20' out of my way to get it!

 

[GreginND]

I make it often. It is easy and does not have to be as complicated as some of the traditional Korean recipes with fish pastes, etc.

Here's a tutorial I posted a very long time ago on my now very old defunct cooking blog. http://gregcooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/kimchee-tutorial.html

 

[grapeman]

I have never made kimchi myself before but used to have a lot of Asian customers come to my farm stand to buy their cabbage to make it every year. Most of them would buy cabbage by the bushels and some would buy it by the bin (about 20 bushels).. This was 30 - 40 years ago when I had a largish vegetable farm of about 60 acres. Back then they weren't fussy about the kind of cabbage as long as it was sweet and cheap. They probably bout the old Danish ballhead type which averaged close to 10 pounds each and was about a foot across. They would get very tightly packed but resisted splitting so they could get huge. Most of them said that they made it in large crocks which they would bury in the ground to keep it naturally cool. It was always fun when a carload of them would come. They would all get so excited to be able to get so much cabbage so cheap. Back then I sold it by the head at 50 cents a head so they could get a whole bushel for about 3 dollars. Not much money but to me it was a way to get some loyal Asian shoppers coming my way and put some smiles on their faces.

I know this isn't much help to you in making it (Greg does a great job in that with his blog post), but I thought it might put a smile on your face as it used to me.

 

[sour_grapes]

I have never made kimchi myself before but used to have a lot of Asian customers come to my farm stand to buy their cabbage to make it every year. Most of them would buy cabbage by the bushels and some would buy it by the bin (about 20 bushels).. This was 30 - 40 years ago when I had a largish vegetable farm of about 60 acres. Back then they weren't fussy about the kind of cabbage as long as it was sweet and cheap. They probably bout the old Danish ballhead type which averaged close to 10 pounds each and was about a foot across. They would get very tightly packed but resisted splitting so they could get huge. Most of them said that they made it in large crocks which they would bury in the ground to keep it naturally cool. It was always fun when a carload of them would come. They would all get so excited to be able to get so much cabbage so cheap. Back then I sold it by the head at 50 cents a head so they could get a whole bushel for about 3 dollars. Not much money but to me it was a way to get some loyal Asian shoppers coming my way and put some smiles on their faces.

I know this isn't much help to you in making it (Greg does a great job in that with his blog post), but I thought it might put a smile on your face as it used to me.

Thanks for that memory! It brings up one of my own.

After I left jobs in the restaurant biz (busboy, waiter), I got a job delivering produce to restaurants. The company had a big warehouse; we'd buy wholesale produce and put together orders for area restaurants (mostly Center City Philly). Sometime in the early season, the cabbages would come in from the Netherlands before domestic cabbages were fully available. (I did not know the term "Danish ballhead," but it has gotta be what we were getting.) They were an exciting treat! A giant, 40 lb sack (think of a big version of those see-through sacks of red plastic netting that you get onions in) would have maybe 7 heads of cabbage in it. They were huge. The restaurants loved them -- one head provided so much material that it saved on labor. Ahh, memories...

 

[Ron0126]

I make it often. It is easy and does not have to be as complicated as some of the traditional Korean recipes with fish pastes, etc.

Here's a tutorial I posted a very long time ago on my now very old defunct cooking blog. http://gregcooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/kimchee-tutorial.html

Thanks Greg! I went ahead and ventured out on my own before I could get back and read this thread. I added a few carrots, a daikon, a diced red pear, some toasted sesame seeds and substituted soy sauce for the fish sauce. I guess I will know in a few days how it turns out.

 

[GreginND]

It looks great. I also add Korean daikon to mine now typically and asian pear is commonly added in Korean recipes.

FYI - after a couple of days the kimchi will be "fresh kimchi" and not be too sour. This is often eaten with most meals in Korea as it is as a condiment with rice. As the kimchi ages in the fridge and becomes more and more sour (I have some that is a year old), it is often used in other foods like kimchi Jeon - a savory kimchi pancake; kimchi jigae - a kimchi stew; kimchi bokumbap - kimchi fried rice. They are delicious.