The budae came out just fine—the way it always does. I've been making budae-jjigae for so long, now, that I can do it in my sleep. My other stew, however—the seafood stew—didn't fare so well. Tonight, I learned the harsh lesson that you can't assume that the base for one Korean stew is just like the base for another. It ain't, and I've now discovered that the hard way. I'm not saying my seafood stew is inedible: far from it. It's fine on its own terms, but I think a Korean who tried it would say it doesn't taste Korean—or that it doesn't taste like anything. After having spent so damn much on ingredients, though, I have no choice but to eat my way through both of these stews. What a disappointment.
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The seafood stew looks like a good jjamppong (짬뽕).
ReplyDeleteBrier,
ReplyDeleteIt does look that way, doesn't it. Alas, mine was missing all the fattiness and saltiness of properly nasty-good jjambbong.