Home made Kimchi?

T

The Chrysanthemum

New member
On 4/9/2011 9:59 PM, Omelet wrote:

Traditional kim chee is made by layering a whole cabbage with a chili
pepper paste and contains raw chopped oysters and is fermented. My guess
is that it's pretty tricky to get right so your best bet is to learn if
from a Korean grandmother or from an expert.

OTOH, cucumber kim chee is pretty easy to make. It's a good intro to kim
chee making. The method is to cut the cucumber into bite sized pieces
and apply salt liberally and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Rinse the
cucumber off and taste it. It should be salty but not too salty. Getting
the saltiness right is the hardest part. Rinse some more if it's too
salty. Once the prep is right, add Korean red pepper powder, ginger,
garlic, and sugar. You just add the ingredients dry and the sauce
appears like magic. Let it set a while and eat. No fermenting needed nor
is it desirable. Keep it in the refrigerator. It's a super easy and
tasty dish. Here's a recipe.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jul/20/il/507200309.html
 
On Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:52:16 -1000, dsi1
wrote:


The oysters are quite a regional thing, and there is certainly
fermented anchovy or shrimp in a lot of the southern Korean recipes,
but not usually in the North.

It's not too complicated to make, actually, and with the easy
availability of videos online, the experts are as close as a computer
keyboard.

Finding a good crock...now that can be tricky.....

Boron
 
> On Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:52:16 -1000, dsi1

Now THIS oughta be goodL: The blind leading the clueless.

My guess is that Om would not be able to follow instructions without
making her own pigheaded substitutions and totally screwing it up (but
would insist that it "turned out great"!) even on her death bed.

-sw (Who has 2 64 oz jars of kimchi on the counter right now)
 
On 4/10/2011 4:51 AM, Boron Elgar wrote:

My guess is that getting the salting right takes some practice. I can't
say that whether or not it's complicated to make because I've never made
it the traditional way. My mother-in-law used to make it this way but
slathering on that red goo between the leaves seems awkward and putting
raw oysters in a fermented dish is kinda repulsive.

The way local style kim chee is made in Hawaii is a lot easier. The
cabbage is chopped up first and we sure don't use chopped raw oysters.
We even make it out of head cabbage.
 
On 4/10/2011 7:01 AM, Omelet wrote:

As I recall, the Koreans will stash the stuff in big clay pots for
outside for months, sometimes they'll bury it. I'm guessing the folks in
the cities will use smaller glass or plastic jars when they make it.
Some of that stuff is pretty hard core so you might not like it anyway.
My wife was raised on kim chee and is pretty picky and won't eat it if
it's been sitting too long i.e., the hard core stage. She buys kim chee
in Korean markets. That stuff is OK but it's a little too ripe for me.

I buy local style kim chee in glass jars at the supermarket. There's 5
different brands but they're all made by the same company. That's pretty
funny. The stuff is non-fermented or very lightly fermented and is not
as hot and somewhat sweeter. It ain't really Korean style but I like it
better that way. I used to get kim chee that was pretty good in
California. It had a picture of 3 Kings on playing cards on the label
and when you opened it, it would fizz and sometimes run over the edge of
the jar. The liquid inside was carbonated. That was cool and tasty! Wish
I could get that stuff here.

Korean style kim chee is a product of the Korean culture and their
environment and practical considerations. In my awesome opinion, lighter
and fresher suits our lifestyle and culture better. As this story says,
choose your weapon. :-)

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/01/15/features/index.html
 
On 4/10/2011 7:14 AM, Sqwertz wrote:

I've been eating the stuff since I was a wee lad so it doesn't matter to
me what you think about my general thoughts on the matter of kim chee.
Why don't you see if your head will fit in one of those 64 oz jars -
right now. :-)
 
On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:51:08 -1000, dsi1
wrote in reply to squirts:

dsi1, you've been on this list longer than I have. I'd think you'd
have learned by now that squirts is nothing more than a person who
baits others into replying to his childish and spiteful comments.

If you reply to him, you do nothing but feed the troll and make him
more eager to continue. He's like one of the graffiti sprayers; he
likes it if it makes you angry, but he'll do it if you reply or not,
so why not just killfile the jerk and not see his immature idiocy?

Just a suggestion for you.
 
On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:03:30 -1000, dsi1
wrote:


I'm "Alfie" on another group, and visited here as "Alfie". Squirts has
had his go at me. I allowed myself to bicker with him for a bit until
I realized he's no more than a troll.

I then came back into usenet as "Landon" and have stopped going to the
other site. It simply didn't have the ability to respond to the
posters, so it was pointless to me.

Squirts takes great pleasure in trying to sound superior to others in
any way he can. That type of person usually has a very low opinion of
themselves and their abusiveness makes them feel more secure about
themselves.

He's like a flea. Small, annoying and easy to rid oneself of.

When I see a quote with his usual nastiness in it, I simply say to
myself "What an asshole", and move to the next post. Reading his
nonsense is like looking at used toilet paper after wiping one's ass;
there isn't anything there that is of any importance to anyone for any
reason and should be placed with the rest of the shit. No matter how
long you look at it, it'll still be nothing but shit from an asshole.
 
On 4/10/2011 4:15 PM, Omelet wrote:

Kim chee without peppers is a pretty radical idea. Better not mention
this to a Korean - he might flip his lid! I recommend the cucumber kim
chee. This is typically not that hot so you probably could cut the
pepper down for a mild taste. The most interesting thing about making
kim chee is the transformation the vegetables undergoes when exposed to
salt. Good luck!
 
On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:15:57 -0500, Omelet
wrote:


The really interesting thing about capsicum is that your body will
rapidly build a tolerance for it. If you ate some at "heat-level-1"
for two weeks, then upped it the next two weeks to twice that level,
then two weeks after that, the first heat level would no longer even
seem like it had any heat at all in it.

Your body reacts to capsicum by releasing endorphins in your brain.
The same feeling is caused that joy, happiness and a half dozen drugs
make you feel; calmness, relaxed, peaceful. The hotter the pepper, the
more endorphins will be released.

As a grower of Super-Hots, I can tell you that my tolerance is
probably ten times normal. I put them in many, many things I eat. I
make my own seasonings from them, sauces and hot vinegars.

Your taste buds will taste everything even more!
 
Landon wrote:

So you're saying that Julie can learn to love yogurt?

Wow... yoose should probably author a scientific journal artical on
the quantum mechanics of appreciating oral sex.

I bet Julie can even learn to swallow buttermilk! ;)
 
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