r/KoreanFood

been thinking about this since I saw shake shack still has korean stuff on the menu. when they first did that gochujang chicken everyone clowned it, like slapping gochujang on something doesn't make it korean. but it clearly sold because they never stopped.

so now I keep wondering when one of the actual giants tries it. like a mcdonalds or a wendys or one of those huge gas station chains dropping some korean fried chicken thing or a bibimbap bowl or whatever.

part of me thinks I'd try it out of pure curiosity. the other part knows I'd take one bite and start comparing it to the real thing immediately.

the thing me and my friend keep arguing about is what would even be the right way for them to do it. she thinks it only counts if there's an actual korean chef or korean brand involved in the recipes. I think that can just be a shield, and I'd almost respect it more if they went "this is korean american fusion, we're not pretending it's what you'd get in korea" but then that kinda sounds like an excuse to be lazy too. we've gone back and forth on this for like a week

what would make it feel lazy to you? the recipe / the way they push it? and would you even try it in the first place

Hey folks!

My dad grew up in Killeen, Texas around Ft. Hood and had a lot of home made Korean food in the 60's/70's and loved it! I now live in an area with a ton of great Korean food and took him out to lunch one day and he was a little disappointed that the Kimchi was not nearly as spicy as he remembered. I know that the longer kimchi ferments, the capsaicin is diluted, so I wonder if he was had fresher kimchi than is served in restaurants. He was super psyched to have some good bulgogi and soondubu jjigae that was fairly spicy and had a great meal!

I was wondering if spicy kimchi has fallen out of style or if it's just because we're in America. Thanks in advance for the input and hopefully I can look around for a place near me that has some lip-burning banchan!

What I do:

I buy the big jars of Jongga kimchi. I make it to use up the last bit of kimchi so there flavour is stronger.

Make a stock with green onion root, dried kelp, anchovy tablet.

Salt, sugar, fine Korean chilli powder. Finish with sesame or perilla oil.

Use the more fatty cuts of pork e.g. belly.

But it's just...too watery, too bland. Hot and spicy, but that's about it. Not like the rich, flavourful restaurant kimchi jjigae.

I've tried things like oyster sauce, fish sauce, doenjang. Is that still even kimchi jjigae?

I visited New York City for a week and stopped by a new kimbap spot that had just opened

The kimbap itself was decent. Nothing wrong with the quality.

But I almost laughed when I saw the prices. $16-18 for a single roll of kimbap?

Kimbap has always been one of those simple, everyday foods. In Korea it's something you grab when you want a quick bite, usually for around $3-4. Even in a lot of other U.S. cities, it's closer to $8-9.

I feel like Korean food is starting to get the same "premium" treatment that sushi got years ago, where people will pay almost anything because it's trendy.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but charging almost $20 for what's basically a casual snack just feels absurd to me, no matter how good it is.

Am I being cheap or have we completely lost the plot?