Characteristics of Korean cuisine

Authentic Korean cuisine is a healthy cuisine with less oil, no MSG, nutritious and rich varieties. From a scientific nutritional point of view, the human body needs more than five kinds of vegetables and fruits of five colors every day. Korean food is known as the "five flavors and five colors": sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty; red, white, black, green, and yellow. It combines the dietary characteristics of rich Chinese meat and meat and juicy and fresh fish of Japanese cuisine. Generally, there are home-cooked dishes and banquet dishes, each with its own flavor. Spicy and fresh, with plenty of ingredients.

Korean cuisine has both the elegance and elegance of Japanese cuisine and the affordability and richness of Chinese cuisine. Although the preparation is simple, the taste changes with how you eat it. It is rare to learn from the best of both worlds while adhering to the simple style. So delicious. Most Korean dishes are handmade, whether they are barbecued meats, cakes, spicy cabbage, cold noodles, or bibimbap. Although the ingredients are simple and the cooking is not complicated, they all embody a strong family atmosphere and are unique. The taste of "Amani" makes urban wanderers unable to stop.

Visual enjoyment

Whether it is barbecue, kimchi or pastries, colorful visual enjoyment is the biggest feature of Korean cuisine. On the one hand, it maintains the original fresh colors of the food, and on the other hand, it shows the different forms of food through cooking. Korean food is not only delicious, but also beautiful!

Nutrition and health

Korean ginseng, chicken, fresh beef, seafood, vegetables, stewed, steamed, roasted... Just hearing these words already makes me think they are very healthy and nutritious ingredients. Same method. Chinese cuisine generally uses natural ingredients, cooking methods that do not destroy nutrients, reasonable vegetable combinations, and the pursuit of small but refined preparations to ensure sufficient nutrition and not make people overeat.

Cultural Traditions

Korea has a wide variety of ceremonial foods since ancient times, including food for celebratory gifts such as the 37th day, 100th day, one-year anniversary, weddings, betrothal gifts, etc., shamanic food, and ceremonial food. Temple ceremonial food, etc. The cooking method has been passed down orally from temple to temple to this day. In addition, Chinese people often prepare fish and shrimp paste, pickles, dried meat, dried fish and other snacks before meals, when receiving guests, and during ritual drinking. The various food processing technologies developed thereby have also enriched their food culture. "Spicy" is one of the main flavors of Korean cuisine, but this kind of spiciness is different from the spiciness of Sichuan, Hunan, and Thai cuisine. If the spiciness of Sichuan cuisine is like a gorgeous young woman; the hotness of Hunan cuisine is like a straightforward village girl; the sweetness and spiciness of Thai food is like a willful girl; then the spiciness of Korean food is like a serious old mother, leaving you with endless aftertaste.

Many Korean dishes have a hint of sweetness, but they all have different levels of sweetness. Korean barbecue contains sesame seeds, which has a rich and passionate sweetness; Korean kimchi is mainly spicy, but has a light sweetness; the sweetness in pickled cucumbers is not as strong as the sweetness in spicy radish; and the sweetness in Korean kimchi is spicy. Miso soup is made by boiling tofu in a unique soup that brings out the fresh and sweet taste of seafood. When people think of Korean food, what immediately comes to mind is barbecue. Strictly speaking, Korean barbecue should be regarded as a kind of "fried meat". It uses an induction cooker or a thick iron pot. The waiter first brushes a thin layer of oil on it, and then puts the steak, beef tongue, beef loin and Seafood, sashimi, etc. are grilled on top.

Korean barbecue is mainly based on beef, as well as seafood, sashimi, etc., which are all delicacies of Korean barbecue. Grilled beef tenderloin and grilled steak are the most famous. The meat is delicious and tender, and everyone who tastes it will talk about it.

The meat in Korean barbecue is not simmered in advance. Its flavor mainly comes from the sauce in which it is dipped. Different barbecues require different sauces. Each sauce is carefully prepared from more than a dozen kinds of seasonings. .

There is a dish called smoked beef tenderloin that is listed as the first choice in almost all Korean dishes. First put the beef tenderloin in the smoker for about 20 minutes, then take it out to cool, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it, then cut it into thin slices of tenderloin and place them around the plate. Use a very fine knife to cut the perilla leaves, Peppers, lettuce and other seasonal vegetables are decorated with various bright colors. After serving this dish, the lady will quickly cut these vegetable shreds into smaller pieces, and then pick up some of these shreds and put them on the tenderloin. Put it on the slice, roll it up and serve it to the guest's plate.

The various side dishes in Korean cuisine are also very special. They are spicy, slightly sour and not very salty, such as kimchi, pickled cucumbers, spicy platycodon, pickled green peppers and perilla leaves... served with meat. Mainly barbecue, meat and vegetables are mixed together and complement each other. There are three things that make Korean cuisine particularly simple: simple recipes, simple structures, and simple preparation methods. First, let’s talk about the simplicity of the recipe. In Korean restaurants, there are no recipes and they are written directly on the wall. Or if there are recipes, they are simple on one page, with only four or five types, so you can see them clearly at a glance.

Ordering is easy, you don't have to say anything after you sit down, the waiter puts all kinds of side dishes on the table first, and everyone orders a soup at the end. You don't have to worry about the staple food, rice comes with it. The soup and rice are served together. You eat yours and I eat mine independently, and the side dishes are shared. According to statistics, the average time it takes Koreans to eat a meal (based on lunch) is 15 minutes.

The simple structure mainly refers to the structure of Korean cuisine. The meals that people usually eat are nothing more than these three combinations: soup + rice + several dishes of kimchi, none of which can be missing. Even high-end Korean cuisine has only infinitely increased the types of kimchi.

The preparation method is simple, and Chinese food emphasizes frying, frying, deep-frying, steaming, and stewing. Korean food is basically boiled and marinated. Doenjang soup and kimchi soup are boiled; rice is boiled; kimchi is pickled. That’s why Koreans like open kitchens very much. There is no oil fume, just a little water vapor at most. Cooking for ten or eight years will not blacken the ceiling.

The complexity is mainly reflected in the materials required. Doenjang soup, which Koreans often eat, does not appear to be complicated when it is cooked. However, there are seven or eight kinds of ingredients needed to prepare such a bowl of soup: doenjang and chili sauce are naturally the most important ones. Needless to say, onions and garlic are also indispensable. These are all ingredients. The main ingredients are tofu, watermelon, onions, small fish, clams, red peppers, green peppers, mushrooms, etc. This is just a bowl of ordinary miso soup. Not to mention the slightly more complicated seafood stew pot.

Korean dietary lifestyle has formed its own inherent national characteristics in its long process of formation and development. In terms of dietary structure, rice is the main staple food, and other grains must be processed into dry rice for consumption. In addition, soup is a must-have on the dinner table. Among the non-staple foods, Koreans particularly like to eat wild vegetables, such as platycodon, bracken, water celery, adenophora, tea leaves, dandelions, tabby greens, etc. Among the meat fish, beef, dog meat and pollack are the main ones.

In addition, Koreans also have the habit of drinking cold water. They rarely drink boiled water or tea like the Chinese. Reflected in the way food is eaten, Koreans eat fish, meat, and vegetables, which are relatively light. Cold and raw dishes are the main processing methods, and chili is an essential seasoning in every dish. Relatively speaking, Koreans don’t like stir-fries and stews very much. In the daily diet of Koreans, rice is the main staple food, supplemented by various grains; non-staple food is mainly soup, kimchi, and sauce, including some stir-fry dishes.