Maangchi's letter to you
How have you been doing, everybody?! It's March 1st, my newsletter day. I'm writing this letter to tens of thousands of you but I feel I'm writing to only 1 person. Isn't it strange? I mean all of you are 1 person to me, so me and you are connected through this letter at the beginning of every month, all through the years.
I had a chance to visit a non-profit organization in California recently. Many people recognized me even though I was wearing a mask. Michelle came to me and said, "I've watched your video since I was 12!" She can cook all kinds of delicious Korean dishes so easily now. I think I probably have so many followers like Michelle who have been cooking my recipes for years and years. Are you one of them? I mentioned this story in my recent anchovy kelp stock video, and check out all the amazing comments under the video that made me so happy and emotional. No matter if you are my long time follower or just beginning to start Korean cooking recently, I love you!
New recipe: kimchi pork ribs
Did you know that when pork ribs and kimchi are cooked together for a long time, it makes an irresistible dish?
The name of the dish is deung-galbi-kimchijjim and we Koreans consider this kind of dish a "bapdoduk." Bap (pronounced bahp) is cooked rice and doduk (pronounced dodook) means a thief in Korean. So you can guess why it's called bapdoduk. Not yet? This dish is so delicious that you will eat a lot of rice. You will keep eating rice, just to enjoy more kimchi pork ribs! The rice will be gone so quickly, like it's stolen!
There are some good tips to make this dish. First, baby back ribs should be seasoned with a spicy Korean seasoning mixture before cooking. Second, press down the ribs with fermented kimchi, just like under a heavy blanket. Then add some water and cook.
One of my viewers Fear No Evil left a comment, "A heavy kimchi blanket is the only kind of blanket." The message made me smile. We exchanged some comments and I replied, "The heavy kimchi blanket is pressing down the ribs so that they are cooked just like in a pressure cooker." The juicy and tender meat infused with kimchi flavor and the kimchi infused with the flavor of the seasoned ribs tastes so good! The recipe is here!
New recipe: Anchovy kelp stock
How many times did I use dried anchovies in my soup or stew recipes?
Remember? "Mr.Anchovies, you are under my control!" : )
In this recipe I'm more serious and devoted to a perfect anchovy kelp stock than in any of my previous videos. I used a bit of a different method, something I discovered only recently: toasting the cleaned dried anchovies until they are light brown before adding water and the other ingredients. Well, what's the difference? It tastes more savory and less fishy!
Make this stock and use it for many Korean dishes like sundubu-jjigae (spicy soft tofu stew), and noodle soup (guksu) as well as any broth that needs a savory and tasty boost, like tteokbokki (spicy rice cake). This is the best method I have ever developed so far! By the way, if you are a vegetarian, use vegetable stock.
Kimchi pork ribs made by George!
What a brilliant idea to make a 1 plate meal by putting juicy kimchi pork ribs together on a plate with rice!
Elaine's colorful Korean feast!
Elaine, living in Halifax, posted this photo on my website. I can see her passion for Korean cooking in every single item that she made: colorful bibimbap, spinach, kimchi, soybean sprouts, soybean sprouts soup, and gimbap (Korean seaweed rice rolls). The arrangement of each dish looks fantastic!
Kishpai's seafood pancake
Kishpai from Florida made perfectly crispy, golden brown, and round seafood pancakes (haemul-jeon in Korean)! It looks not only gorgeous but also I can see lots of precious stuff such as chopped shrimp, clams, and squid inside. It's gotta be and has to be very delicious! : )
The recipe is here!
Johnny's Jujube ginger tea
Johnny living in New York made me so happy with this photo and his comment because I'm having jujube ginger tea everyday these days and I feel I have more energy than before after reading his feedback. He said, "I absolutely love this tea! My partner and I have gotten into making it all the time this winter, and I don’t know what it is but this tea also makes us sleep so well! ..."
Jonny, cheers to our jujube ginger tea! Next time, you can sprinkle several pine nuts over top before drinking! But never mind if you are allergic to pine nuts.
Messages from my readers & viewers!
My readers and viewers always make me smile, inspire me, amaze me, and make me think. Here are some of their messages that I chose to share with you this month!
I love to communicate directly with my readers, and sometimes the information is very important. This is an example of how fun it is when I communicate with my readers. Ruby asked me about the bubbles in the makgeolli (Korean rice wine) she was making:
Hi Maangchi, I’m on day 10 but mine is still not an amber color and has more bubbles than when you poured yours out. Should I wait a little longer? I’m too excited!
I replied:
Yes, wait just a little longer until most bubbles disappear and the liquid on the top is clearer.
Then she updated!
I’m SO glad I waited! This morning there were hardly any bubbles so I bottled it (while drinking haha) and now we’re having a great Saturday. Thank you Maangchi! I’m giving this batch to my parents and keeping my onggi (earthenware jar) on my island and starting my next batch ALREADY!
Another important tip that I gave Nora. I think it may be helpful to you, too. Nora was making LA style pickles and asked me:
Made it and taste much better than the restaurant!! If you want to make from old brine do you reheat it first?
I answered:
I always make this pickle with new brine. Boil the leftover old brine, cool it down, put it into a glass jar, and refrigerate it. You can use it for dipping sauce or season your side dishes.
Paolo was going to find some Italian recipes on YouTube but ended up on my cooking channel. He started making my recipes one by one and now it sounds like he is an expert in Korean cooking!
My friends come to me to eat Korean cuisine! In the family we all love it. If it weren't for you this would never have happened.
One of my followers said she knew about Korean cooking even before she met her Korean husband!
I’ve learned how to cook Korean food from Maangchi even before I got married to my Korean husband and decided to live in Korea. Thank you for giving me the confidence to make good food even if I’m not a good cook.
Daniele's impressive Korean table!
Meastman made these 2 loaves of bread from my bread recipe and said, "it’s the easiest bread recipe I’ve ever tried!" Oh, yay!! 👏
I hope you enjoyed reading my letter. I will see you next month on April 1st! Keep being happy with your delicious Korean cooking!
If you type any Korean dish into the search box on my site, you will find it (if I have a recipe for it). I use the search box all the time because that’s the fastest way to find the recipe I want among my hundreds of recipes.
Love,
Maangchi ❤️