Kim Jang! (Making Kimchi)

Well, I went to meet the GF's family this weekend.  I suppose you're suppose to be nervous in these situations... but whateves-- I'm Mr. Beissinger.  Ain't no thang.
In addition to meeting Eunhye's family, we also made Kimchi.  Now this is a pretty historical tradition for Koreans.  Kimchi, being the country's national food, is bound to have a pretty cool method of being manufactured.

It starts out with taking cabbage, cleaning it, then soaking it in salt water.  You let the salt seep into the cabbage, so it's got a decent flavor to begin with.

Following this, you start making some stuff with sauces.  Thing is though, the sauces are kind of special.  See, they've got to be stored in stuff like this:

The sauces mostly need to ferment, and therefore they sit in these fermentation jugs that let the process happen.  Basically they're good until you eat them.

The specific stuff you end up using for making kimchi though, mainly comes from the guy below.  It's called Gochu jang, which translates into "red pepper paste".  It's the stuff that makes kimchi red, allows it to be preserved for a long time while letting the cabbage leaves stay crunchy, and it's what makes it spicy!  Pretty cool stuff, and you can even eat the on the top!  Just make sure to mix it all up real good.

The next one is used for meat and other stuff.  If you combine it with red pepper paste, you get a gooooood sauce that is delicious for mixing.

But anyway, I got caught up with my love for sauces, and I digressed from the main event: THE MAKING OF THE KIMCHI!!!!  

So after you go and soak that cabbage in salt water, you make your sauces.  You combine the guys above with some fishy stuff, some salt, some pepper, and some other vegetables.  Eunhye said one of the veggies you use a lot of is something called Ook.  Buuuuut, sorry ya'll I didn't get the translated version.  It's kind of crunchy though.  

So after you're done mixing everything up, you go and throw it all in a MASSIVE bathtub of sauce!  (my dream come true!) and then you take cabbages, and just throw them in the vat.

See all them cabbages chilling in the sauce?  mmmmmm....

But anyway, following the dumping of the cabbage into the sauce, you go and start stuffing the cabbage with the stuff!  The goal is to coat the cabbage completely, so that when it sits in holding jugs, the cabbage doesn't spoil.  Also that sauce is what gives the kimchi it's flavor, so it's best to be liberal in the applications~

 

See that cabbage in my hands?  THAT'S RIGHT! YOU CAN'T!  

That's because that "cabbage in my hands" has been transformed into..... KIMCHI! 

So after the Kimchi gets made, it's time to do something with it.  Afterall, you can't just leave it out in a bowl for a year, waiting to eat it!

Check out those boxes behind me.  That's where the kimchi get's stored.  You have to pack it down real good, with the hopes that you get almost all the air out.  This makes the following fermentation process go niiiice and smooth.  

And let's be honest: who doesn't just love a nice and smooth fermentation process?

So that's me buried up to the tips of my pink gloves in Kimchi!  Pretty freaking awesome.

Possibly the coolest part about the whole ordeal though, was the fact that as a tradition, when Koreans make kimchi, they also serve this steamed port belly meat called "Bo-ssam" which you just take and throw it on a cabbage leaf, drop some of that sauce on it, and gobble the whole thing while you're working!  Perhaps the best way to eat Korean food that I've experienced so far.

All in all though it was an awesome experience, and I'm really happy I got the chance to do it.

P.S.  Fun (albeit arrogant) fact:  When I was making the kimchi, Eunhye's dad said this directly translated quote: "Danny, you are great at making kimchi!  You're even better than our women at making kimchi!"  

Awesome ^__^