We planned it to be a thank you to the production crew and Ziyeon our translator for helping take Happy Bear's plans and make them a reality. Also, it gave Happy Bear team an opportunity for the team members to make their favorite Korean foods eaten on the trip.
To do it required team work coordination and an investment of time for recipes that some in the team were unfamiliar with.
We shopped at the Geureum Market for our products.
This is a timeline of our preparation.
10pm:
It started with the rice. Many people think they can not eat brown rice but I set out to prove that anyone can eat and like it by using an ancient technique back when everyone had to eat brown rice. By soaking it in bacteria culture, the anti-nutritive plant defences are broken down and when cooked it will be transformed into something as fluffy and delicious as white rice but all the nutrition remaining. So we soaked it and put a little bit of makeoli to help break down the anti-nutrients in it.
Then Anina and I started the lotus root. To make the lotus root we boiled the root and after boiling we put it in a pot with sugar syup, soy sauce, and water and started to make a reduction sauce. We stopped it to finish the reduction in the morning.
Andy jumped in and started and made his gosari namul.
I prepped the vegetables for the soup I planned on making. Deciding on the soup that I chose was based on what options were available for us. We set out to eat only ethically raised food so at the market without knowing the origin of the pork or the beef, I settled on the mussels and mushrooms available to make a mushroom and mussels stew.
I prepped the Solomon Seal Tea for the morning.
12pm
We were asleep.
6am
Mike and I woke up. I drained the rice and then cooked it in the rice cooker.
I had to time the soup so it would be finished just before our meal.
I put the lotus root on to reduce and finish.
By 6:30am
Everyone was awake.
I steamed the mussels. Anina helped me to sepparate the mussels and add them to the pot. The vegetables, liquid, spices were added and rested.
6:35am
The lotus root was finished.
6:45am
Mike finished the garlic shoots.
7:30
The production crew started to arrive.
7:45am
The soup is heated.
The banchans is plated by the Happy Bear members and put on the table.
7:55am
The soup is finished.
The rice is plated.
The table is set.
8am
The soup pot is placed on the table.
We started eating at 8:05am. The Korean could tell foreigners made it but they liked it. They remarked that Korean would have added more salt. There were misses to be sure but there were hits as well. But what we set out to do was accomplished. We got together to eat a meal we made together and enjoy each others company.
This is something rarely done in the modern world and is quite a rebellion against modern western eating style, because we were celebritating food made with a respect for the past. It wasn't eaten at a McDonald's driving in a car or eaten in a TGIF but in a home and eaten with a large group of people. Koreans do this all the time so it seems the perfect food style to represent this respect for the past. From that vantage of the past we believe we can move forward.
-Greg
Check out our recipe section for the recipes shown here.
Bellflower Root Muchim Gosari Namul
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Garlic shoots by Mike Sliced Figs
Brown Rice soaked and fermented and Mushroom and Mussell JJigae by Greg
Pickled Lotus Root by Anina
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