Sunday, June 28, 2020

Kimchi? Blame Columbus

we just finished watching the older KDrama Jewel in the palace, (parts of it are on you tube if you don't have a Kdrama streaming site in your area).

Since the heroine starts out as a palace cook in training (and only after being exiled after being framed for "treason" does she become a lady physician), the film has many cooking scenes that puzzle us, since we don't recognize the dishes being cooked.

Here is a short example of cooking ladies preparing a dish;



We know nothing about Korean cooking, so have started watching Korean cooking videos on youtube.

Here is the recipe for Kimchi, the Korean version of Sauerkraut, but with one difference: Unlike the Dutch/German version, the Korean version usually includes hot pepper powder, making it quite spicy.



and here is one for Korean BBQ that one of my Korean friends made for us when I was in Medical school:





notice one important ingredient?
Red Pepper. They didn't have it in Korea at the time when the first drama was supposed to have taken place. From an article on Kdramabuzz:


The red chili pepper. It’s the reason kimchi has such a distinct color and spicy flavor. The element capsaicin that’s part of the red chili pepper holds the vegetables fresh for a long period of time. Even after storing kimchi for months, the eater will always experience the sensation of biting into something fresh and crisp....
But red chili peppers were not always an essential part of the kimchi that we know today. Koreans didn’t know the red chili pepper until the late 16th or early 17th century. Portuguese traders, who brought it from central America first, introduced it to the country. That’s why early historical makings of the dish do not mention the red chili pepper at all. The first description of seasoning kimchi with red chili peppers appears in a cookbook printed in 1765. 
The black pepper is one reason the Europeans wanted to find a new route to the "spice Islands", but ironically, the same traders brought the red pepper to Asia,where it became very popular:

so if you like Kimchi, or Thai food, or the spicy cuisines of China, blame Columbus.

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