Saemangeum Sushi: A Different Creature for Each Eater

Our last lunch together was at Saemangeum Sushi Restaurant in Gunsan...and I would say the most ornate of all the meals. It started out downstairs in a fresh, bright/bold blue open room housing tanks of various fish, crabs, and sea squirts. Little red and white plastic flags representing different countries hung from the ceiling. It felt quite surreal, as if we had walked up a staircase that stopped suddenly in the clouds, and here was this room. We turned the corner and found the actual staircase which lead us to the restaurant. A couple banners with the logos and photos of KBS and another tv station decorated the wall, which meant good things.

We sat down on cushions on the floor of one of the few private rooms and marveled at the ocean view and the bright, sunny light coming in from windows. A perfect lunch atmosphere.

We were served first a large square platter of various sushi atop mounds of glass noodles and garnished with bright little yellow flowers with red tips, bunches of parsley and wedges of lemon. The only fish I could identify were sea squirt (which I'd been wanting to try for months!), salmon, and prawn, but there were four other varieties as well.

The sea squirt is that little orange-red, spiky-looking sea-anemone-like creature all over markets. I have seen women slicing them open at markets to reveal an inner orange meat similar to the meat inside a mussel. I was always curious but wasn't sure how to cook them. So at the restaurant they had sliced the 'squirt' open so that its outer skin fell in a blanket underneath the separate-cut pieces of raw flesh. The taste was bitter and I didn't want to take more than one as there were only a few pieces there to go around, so I never ended up finding the appropriate sauce to dip them in, if there was one. I think they could have been good had I matched them with a recommended dip, though. I always want to find a way to make an unappealing taste appealing, because I like the idea that everything can taste good, that there IS a way to make everything taste good. But maybe that is just too lofty a thought.

Next they brought out the platter of fish skin gelatin: grey gelatinous squares of pure fat from the skin of a particular fish. I was intrigued with this idea at first and wanted to try it in its pure form although they recommended it be dipped in sauce. They were right. I tried it again dipped in a soy paste. Better, but still not something I could eat more than two squares of. It literally melted into oil in my mouth and glided down my throat with no effort. I asked the waiter via translation about this dish, and he said 'if you eat this you will never need botox.' Ha.

Fish skin gelatin

Then came the side dishes: kimchi, radish marinated in chili sauce, pickled garlic cloves, cooked zucchini, lightly cooked bean sprouts, and sweetly marinated cold, shredded jellyfish salad ('hepari').

Then the raw oysters in a small black and sea green ceramic bowl nestled in glass noodles on a matching square dish, with a wedge of lemon on the side. Yum!

And finally, a delightful, savory, red-sauced medley of thin tentacle mushrooms, spring onions, garlic, various spices, and the most amazingly tender fish I've ever eaten! As opposed to many other restaurants I've been to in the west, where they skimp on fish, this stew was packed with both short and long fillets of fish. I was already quite full, but I had a difficult time putting my spoon down, as most everyone was finished by this point, and there was still fish left in the pot!

Fantastic Fish Stew!

What I liked most about this restaurant was that we got to try a few different fish both in their raw and cooked forms. It was satisfying to be able to taste them in both styles. Different flavors come out, different nutritional properties are available depending on whether it's cooked or not, just as it is with any food.

The beautiful sushi platter (orange creature above is the sea squirt!)

Flat-fish, simple and delicious in flavor - no need for much flavoring

The lunch spread

Flat-fish cooked in a savory chili-pepper sauce

Oysters! Atop glass noodles that apparently weren't for eating.

Saemangeum Sushi Restaurant

군산시 비응도동 62-12번지

063-464-1000

-Anina

The Happy Bears Go to Market!

The simple things. Good ingredients, good people. These are the things that make a difference.
On our Hansik Tour we were wined and dined, sure. But it was the simple things that made the tour special.

In the middle of our second day, after an early morning start that included making tofu from scratch, harvesting perilla seeds, killing and preparing a chicken, eating yet another delicious and traditional Korean meal, we were off to the market. I’ve never met a food market I didn’t love. But this one would be different.

In my hometown of Yeongcheon, we host one of the three biggest markets in our province. My comparatively small town of 100,000 people has a huge, sprawling 5-day market full of fresh and preserved, local and imported, animal and vegetable, whole and processed Korean foods. It is totally awesome. Except for one thing… I don’t know what most of it is.

I’ve been nick-named The Foodinary back home. The “food-dictionary”. It’s a mark of pride– I know my global ingredients quite well. I was already rather familiar with the food, having worked in a Korean restaurant and for a Korean family for 3 years. I’ve spent plenty of time and money in our Asian markets back home. I’ve brought home random produce to research and experiment with. But here… well… there’s just so much!

So on this second day of our Korean Traditional Food Tour for Foreign Foodies, sponsored by Hansik.org, I had a special treat. A translator. Our hardworking and committed translator who understood our intense interest in passion for food and who worked tirelessly to keep up with our questions and thoughts and the promptings of the production crew. Special thanks to Jhi-yeon, whose unique personality made a big difference for me on the trip. It was between her efforts, and those of fellow Team Happy Bear member Mike, who is inspiringly fluent in Korean, that I was in true foodie heaven. All good meals start with good ingredients. And finally, finally, I was able to ask questions!
What is this? What is this for? How do you cook it? Can I taste it? I’m not sure how much time we spent at that market wandering between the different stalls, sampling things, and buying ingredients for the Korean breakfast we planned for the next day, but it could have been all day and I don’t think I would have grown tired of it. I was nearly manic with excitement. If that video footage is ever broadcast, you will see five foreigners in white Hansik sweatshirts and one of them will have wide, excited blue eyes and will probably be babbling non-stop about wanting to try everything! That will be me.

Picture stall after stall of different seafood, different fruit, different greens, different sauces, meat cuts, bones, beans, grains. Intersperse with street food carts and vendors selling prepared Korean side dishes called “banchan” and you’ve got some of the picture. Outside the market, the culinary wonder continued with seed roasters & pressers, a stall selling new and traditional Korean jellies, and one selling an innovative hand-made tofu with four layers that each seemed to have some vegetable, herb, or spice giving it color. I nearly had to be pulled away from the wonder if it all. It was, by far, the highlight of the trip for me.
Its a pretty simple thing: A visit to the market alongside two people who patiently helped to answer all my excited questions. Some people like shoes. Some like sports. Some like electronics. I like produce.

~ Tanya

 Look at it all!

 Finally: "Jhi-yeon, what is this??"

 Ooh, hey, can I try this?!

 Hey guys, check this out!



 One of a dizzying array of fish selections.

 From the corner, you can see some of the vast variety.

 Anina gets a sample from a banchan (side dish) vendor.

 Hey guys, I found the lotus!

 Mike bought a DELICOUS box of figs for the crew and team! Wow!

 Hey, see that girl with the gaping mouth who can't look away from the produce for a minute?

Mike serves as very valuable translator and student while this vendor tell us what to look for when shopping for lotus! The joys of market shopping!

Anina's Lotus Root

  

There was a feeling reminiscent to that of a holiday in our own culture - Thanksgiving or Christmas. We stayed up into the midnight hour to prepare our recipes for the following morning's breakfast. There's nothing quiet as comfortable and homey as co-creating a common meal. Music, B-boy dancing, taking turns in the small kitchen space, cutting, rinsing, sprinkling, simmering, mixing, washing, cleaning....

 We were determined to re-create some of the amazing banchan dishes we'd tried at our first dinner...bracken root in perilla powder/oil; lotus root in syrup; and a few other dishes: tiny dried fish with peppers in sesame oil, soy sauce, and vinegar; marinated garlic scapes; cabbage in perilla powder; spinach with sesame seeds; the staple rice (we used brown, as its more nutritionally complete); cut up fresh figs; and mussel 'tang' (stew). An incredible breakfast!

We started our mission at the street market. The fleet of us went in search of our planned list of ingredients, along with our invaluable translator, producer and cameraman. We spent quite some time looking for and deciding on the appropriate/right amount of produce. I was aghast, as I never cease to be, at the abundant variety of produce which is still so enticing and wondrous to me even after 8 months of being here, and at the foods I don't know the words to. I stopped to admire the numerous banchan dishes at one stall and a woman offered me a sample of one dish - it was a mixture of back beans, dried banana chips, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, and figs in a thin syrup. She continued to feed me morsel after morsel, seed after seed, until someone else stepped in and relieved me from the tasting ( I was thoroughly grateful, but still full from lunch).

 Another exciting moment was finding a vendor who ground perilla seeds on the spot! into oil and powder! So lucky us, we got some.

I made the lotus root dish. Lotus root has intrigued me from the first time we met. A tuberous root at first sight, but when sliced it reveals a beautiful geometrical design inside. Its flavor is starchy and nutty. Its texture is crisp, but tenderly chewy. This root is versatile in its role, and can be eaten as fruit in numerous desserts; as an accompaniment to savory courses; and on its own as a side portion. Often compared to the Chinese water chestnut and similar in versatility to the potato, its high in fiber, vitamin C, some B vitamins, many electrolytes, and minerals.

 First I peeled the tuberous lotus root, then thinly sliced it, boiled it in water for about twenty minutes, then drained the water, added soy sauce, brown rice syrup, sesame oil, and a few dashes of apple cider vinegar. Constantly stirred for about half an hour, then kept adding more of the same ingredients to taste. After what seemed like eons of stirring and adding, stirring and adding, I let it sit for the flavors to concentrate overnight. In the morning, all was well and the dish was complete. It was a fair comparison in the end, to the lotus dish we had eaten at the restaurant the first night. The texture was tenderly chewy, starchy, and wholesome. Filling and sweet. Could make a good dessert as well. But it also melded perfectly with the other flavors of the morning. I'm becoming a proponent for foods that combine as many different flavors as possible in one bite. I also realize the importance of simplicity, but there is a time and a place for each. There's something inexplicably satiating about experiencing each sensation of flavor in one meal. Every taste-bud is quenched, which makes me wonder if every organ is also happy....

We had the driver evaluate our dishes honestly and he pointed out that only two of the 6 dishes we made were distinguishable as non-native-made dishes. He was impressed.

It proved to be surprisingly simpler than I thought to re-create such dishes. They are really all quite simple, but it takes taste-testing intuition and some time learning to navigate the markets to bring a desired result to fruition. I would suggest, if you are interested in making Korean recipes, to walk around the markets, ask questions (via translator is best, but a dictionary can also be an invaluable tool), browse recipes online, and don't be afraid to experiment!

Lotus root being cooked

Various banchan dishes

Geometrically-perfect lotus root

Morning's spread minus the brown rice

- Anina
http://happybeareats.blogspot.com/2011/11/meet-anina.html

Meet Anina

My parents have always raved over what a 'versatile eater' I was as a kid, eating any and everything they would feed me. To this day I am still fascinated, enthusiastic, and curious about sampling it all. As great as buffets are, they're almost too much for me to handle. Same with new grocery stores, especially in foreign countries! It's best I go to a grocery store alone so my friends don't have to wait for me as I lust over everything. I am particularly interested in food as medicine, as is much of Korean culture. This includes all of the marvels at Korean street markets: roots, leaves, powders, grains, stems, wild 'mountain herbs', nuts, you name it. If it comes from the ground it can be used as medicine. One of my favorite things about living in Korea and experiencing their cuisine is that every time I eat something with a native Korean, they always tell me something like "Oh, this is very good for your skin" or "this is good for your throat" and what have you. When I learned about this opportunity with Hansik, I was very excited to have the chance to become even more immersed in food culture and potentially discover more medicinal food secrets. -Anina