Big Crock of Kimchi

Despite a continuing obsession with David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook, I had completely avoided making kimchi due to fear that fermenting cabbage in our fridge would push my very understanding wife completely over the edge. However after closely reading a few accounts of kimchi making, it became clear that I could cap the cabbage therefore eliminating the offending odor from seeping into everything in the fridge (and outside).

On a weekend when she was out of town, I ran to Joong Boo Market to pick up supplies. Given the parameters and ingredients, success was a virtual impossibility. I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Kochukaru, jarred and salted shrimp, and Usukuchi? Please. No labels in English and no idea what to look for made it difficult. Finally, I broke down and asked a nice lady selling rice wine vinegar in the back. I used my iPhone to bypass any pronunciation issues and was taken to the ingredients. It was humbling to say the least.

Pre-Wilted Napa Cabbage

It only got easier from there. The first step was chopping, adding salt and sugar and wilting the cabbage overnight. The cabbage nearly halved in volume.

Green onions, garlic, and ginger

Next, a ton of garlic and ginger was minced, green onions were chopped, and carrots were julianned.

The salted shrimp are tiny. U-12,000?

Then the kochukaru (red pepper flakes), jarred salted shrimp, and sugar were combined with the fish sauce and the usukuchi and the kimchi paste started to resemble a form that I expected. Note that I added a little water to achieve the desired texture.

Kimchi paste

After adding the green onions, ginger, garlic, and carrots to the mixture, I stirred the mixture to combine and, finally, in my biggest bowl, I added the cabbage.

The process of finding the ingredients was difficult and I am not certain that the cost of ingredients, when compared with buying great kimchi, was justified. Chang recommends waiting two weeks before tasting the kimchi, so in another week, I’ll update this with results.

Everything, but the Cabbage

Edit: For all of the recipe hounds. There is a public source for this recipe here.