Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
|
OP
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
There seems to be a pretty wide range of backgrounds and skills here; maybe someone can help. I worked in Korea for a while in the mid-80s and loved the food. Everyone I talked to back home was grossed out about Kimchi -- I had tried it lots of places and found it uniformly good.
Well, now I know better. All the local Korean stores seem to have moved out to the more distant suburbs, so when I ran out of Kimchi I figured "what the heck, I have Chinese Cabbage, I'll make it myself".
Eww. Gross. And that was BEFORE the fermentation
Anyone (or their S.O.'s) ever try making it ?
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39 M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1 LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,488
connoisseur
|
connoisseur
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,488 |
I eat the stuff all the time. Of course around here every store you go to has it. Walmart, costco, safeway, etc. Cant figure out how it grosses people out tho! its just some good spicy cabbage. Never made it myself though
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
|
OP
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
Walmart sells kimchi ? Geez, another reason to like Hawaii.
Believe it or not, after a day's fermentation the first batch didn't taste too bad. I decided to take no chances and stuck it in the fridge immediately (which slows the fermentation way down).
In one day it went from "way too salty, almost inedible, despite being rinsed 31 times" to "not bad". I don't understand this at all -- the fermentation should be converting the sugar, not the salt. Oh well...
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39 M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1 LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
|
OP
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
So... I learned some very important things over the last few days. The most important is that Korean red pepper powder comes in very large zip-lock bags, and that when you squeeze the air out of them you have to make sure the open end of the bag can not possibly flop over and point at your eyes.
^%$#%&^$* that sure did hurt !!
This stuff is kind of fun. It's like bar-b-q but takes less time, has more variants, is spicier, probably has some alcohol in it after it's done fermenting, and is only about 50 calories a serving. The downside is that a single serving has about 1300% of your recommended daily sodium intake ;(
Last edited by bridgman; 09/02/05 01:29 AM.
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39 M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1 LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,034
connoisseur
|
connoisseur
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,034 |
Ya had me all excited about a new cullinary find!!......right up to the sodium content, and how that jives with folks livin' with Congestive Heart Failure
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,201
connoisseur
|
connoisseur
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,201 |
Sorry John but that looks like something out of a horror movie. ewwwww!
*Michael* AV123 Refugee - X-LS Encore, X-Voce, X-Omnis, Elt-Dpa's Denon AVR-591 Magnavox NB500MGX BDP
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
|
OP
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
It's not really that bad (more like 10% to 25% of RDA), but some of the recipes look real scary at first. If you are making kimchi to store over the winter without refrigeration you just cut the cabbages in half and soak them in brine... brine made with a cup or more of salt. The cabbage is drained before proceeding but you never know how much salt got into the kimchi.
If you are making small batches for immediate use (ie a few weeks in the fridge) then you chop the cabbage up into smaller pieces and salt the leaves directly, using much less salt. I figure I used 2-3 teaspoons of salt on a 4 pound cabbage (~20 servings) so the salt per serving is pretty low (well, maybe 700 mg Na per serving after the brine drains away). Probably no worse than a big pickle
The first batch was way too salty and didn't have enough pepper... second batch was not salty enough but had too much pepper... third batch is looking good so far.
Last edited by bridgman; 09/02/05 03:02 AM.
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39 M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1 LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,034
connoisseur
|
connoisseur
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,034 |
My Wife is a real cabbage fanatic, but most of her favorites are rather traditional. This looks like a way to get some cabbage into my diet(which would make HER happy)but yet add some zest into the entire previously somewhat bland experience
She also likes to experiment with new foods, so it would give her some new areas as well....Everybody wins
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
|
OP
axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
I had the same problem. Other than cabbage rolls, I have a tough time eating much cabbage. Good kimchi (made the way you like it, which takes some time to figure out) solves the problem completely, you end up snacking on it instead...
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39 M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1 LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
|
|
|
Re: Anybody ever try making Kimchi ?
|
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,185
connoisseur
|
connoisseur
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,185 |
man, you must really love kim chee.
i like it from time to time, fortunately we have a lot of hawaiian transplants in Norcal so we have our share of hawaiian restaurants that have kim chee as a side order. Of course, I can only eat it w/ rice.
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics24,945
Posts442,486
Members15,617
|
Most Online2,082 Jan 22nd, 2020
|
|
0 members (),
1,217
guests, and
4
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|