Special Cookware
The only special cookware I anticipate needing for my 301/302 Korean dinner is an indoor grill of some kind. I have a small electric grill that I may use at the table, or I may use my double-burner cast-iron stovetop grill pan instead. It will depend on how the rest of the meal preparation goes, and how patient my dinner guests are. The rest of the meal I should be able to prepare in my everyday cookware.
12:11 AM PDT Permalink |

Designing a Table Setting
Last month on my shopping trip to San Francisco's Japantown, I bought lots of Asian-style serving dishes. Although most of them are distinctively Japanese, many of them are quite rustic and can be used for cuisines from other cultures as well. Among my purchases was a beautiful homespun-style table runner in a glyphic pattern with matching placemats, napkins and chopsticks. I'm hoping the set will lend itself to the aesthetics of the Korean food.
12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

About the Fresh Ingredients
The fresh ingredients for my 301/302 Korean Dinner & a Movie are all things that I can buy at my neighborhood grocery store, so the shopping is going to be easy. I still want to do it as close to the day of the dinner as possible, because baby greens and fresh mint are on my list. They lose moisture and wilt very quickly in the refrigerator, and I want them to be as fresh and flavorful as possible. The most common Korean fruits for my fresh fruit dessert are apples, Mandarin oranges, watermelons, table grapes, persimmons, and Asian pears, so I will be selecting those varieties that look most appetizing this time of year. And since I'm going to be serving a mixed grill for the entree, I want to shop at a grocery with an on-site butcher where I can pick out individual cuts of meat instead of buying them in pre-packaged portions.
09:36 PM PDT Permalink |

Tracking Down Exotic Ingredients
With all the shopping I've done in the past two months for Asian ingredients, I'm going to get off easy this time. For my Korean 301/302 Dinner & a Movie, the only specialty ingredients I'm missing are the Korean Chili Paste, Korean Chili Flakes, and Korean Chili Powder. I already have panko bread crumbs, Asian fish sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, mirin, sake, soy sauce and turmeric left over from my Japanese and Vietnamese dinners.
12:34 AM PDT Permalink |

A Shopping List of Ingredients

Specialty Ingredients:

Korean Chili Paste, Korean Chili Flakes, Korean Chili Powder, Panko bread crumbs, Fish sauce, Sesame oil, Rice wine vinegar, Mirin, Sake, Soy sauce, Turmeric

Fresh Ingredients:

Large Prawns, Beef tenderloin, Beef short ribs, Lamb chops, Cucumbers, Red Onion, Scallions, Carrots, Bell pepper, Zucchini, Mushrooms, Ginger root, Daikon radish, Garlic, Sesame Seeds, Asian pear, Fresh fruits in season, Lettuce, Napa cabbage, Mint, Chicken broth

Basics:

Flour, Eggs, Oil, Sugar, Brown sugar, Salt & Pepper

12:04 AM PDT Permalink |

Deciding on the Dishes for a Korean Dinner
After much research and deliberation, I have finally decided on all the dishes for my 301/302 Korean dinner:

Appetizer: Prawns with Kimchi and Chili Aioli
Soup: Iced Cucumber Soup
Salad: Mesclun Greens with Sesame Vinaigrette
Main Course: Mixed Korean Bulgoki Grill, Vegetable Pancakes and Fried Rice
Dessert: Fresh Tropical Fruits in Season

12:03 AM PDT Permalink |

Designing the Menu
For my Korean dinner, I want to go strictly mainstream traditional. Given that this will be the first time I've ever cooked a Korean meal in my own kitchen (although I've had cook-it-yourself Korean barbeque in a Korean restaurant), I definitely want to stick to the basics and don't want to foray into any Pan-Pacific fusion-type cuisine on my first try. No doubt, one of our confident and creative Napa Valley chefs could get away with ad libbing on all the Korean flavors, but I'm sticking with old-school recipes.

So, with that in mind, for my 301/302 Dinner & a Movie menu, I'm thinking: a light appetizer, a classic soup, a mixed green vegetable salad, traditional Korean barbeque (maybe even cooked at the table on an electric grill), and a fresh fruit dessert.
12:03 AM PDT Permalink |

Getting Acquainted with the Cuisine
In my research of Korean cuisine, I have learned that, although exotic to my western palate, the most popular traditional dishes are mainly composed of commonplace meats, seafoods, vegetables and seasonings. No doubt, it’s the way they are combined that give them their ethnic flair. Typical dishes include fresh green salads, hearty soups, savory stews, meats and seafoods simmered with fresh vegetables, barbequed meats, fermented seafoods, pan-fried omelets, rice medleys, steamed or pan-fried dumplings, and boiled, pickled or sautéed vegetables. The most esoteric ingredients appear to be chrysanthemum greens, bellflower root, and chili paste. Other than that, even the spicy kimchi recipe doesn’t call for anything I can’t buy at my local grocery store.
02:08 AM PDT Permalink |

My Cookbooks
The Essentials of Asian Cuisine has recipes for quite a few classic Korean dishes such as a hot-pot called Shinsollo, a rice dish called Bi Bim Bap, pan fried vegetables called Jeon, a salad made with mesclun, a spicy kimchi recipe, and a Korean barbeque dish called Dak Kui. The ingredients to prepare them are all remarkably commonplace, and don't seem to need any exotic condiments or spices. But I'm still going to seek out a few other recipes from the Internet before I make my final decision on the menu.
12:29 AM PDT Permalink |

Looking for Recipes
Today I spent a couple of hours browsing through my cookbooks looking for Korean recipes. The Essentials of Asian cuisine offered quite a few traditional dishes, but it was the only book in my collection with any Korean recipes. So, I turned to the Internet instead. There I found a wealth of alternatives, especially on AsiaRecipe.com, the Food Network website, and AsiaFood.org. So with all the choices I discovered, I need look no further.
12:06 AM PDT Permalink |

My Korean Cuisine & Cooking Experience
My experience with Korean food is very limited. I've never cooked a Korean meal in my own kitchen, and I've only eaten in a Korean restaurant a few times in my life. There was a Korean Barbeque restaurant in the Tokyo suburb of Shinjuku, near the conversation school where I worked. It was one of those places with the little grills in the middle of the table, and the waiter would bring all the raw ingredients for you to cook yourself. I've always enjoyed that type of dining, so I used to eat there once in awhile when I had plenty of time to relax and idle over dinner.

So...needless to say, the learning curve is going to be rather steep on this month's Dinner & a Movie. But after last month's Japanese extravaganza, I think I'm up to the challenge.
12:12 AM PDT Permalink |

July's Dinner & a Movie
Welcome to July's Dinner & a Movie. After the two easy choices of The Scent of Green Papaya and Tampopo, last week I spent a whole afternoon researching all the films from each Asian country. I want to include a widely varied mix of cultures and cuisines for my monthly Dinner & a Movie project. What I found, however, was somewhat surprising: many Asian countries have a very limited film industry, and those films that do exist are rarely available on video. Nonetheless, I did manage to put together an eclectic list of twelve films that I think will be of interest to all. So, this month's Dinner & a Movie will feature Korean cuisine and the Korean film 301/302. I'm definitely looking forward to both.
12:00 AM PDT Permalink |

Tampopo Film Review
Here is a link to my review of Juzo Itami's Tampopo, my favorite food movie of all time:

Film Review: Tampopo (Written, Directed and Produced by Juzo Itami).

12:28 AM PDT Permalink |

Tampopo Dinner & a Movie Recipes & Cost of Ingredients
Here is a link to the recipes and photos for making a traditional Japanese dinner:

Tampopo Dinner & a Movie Recipes and Photos

The cost of the ingredients for my Tampopo Japanese dinner are listed below. Keep in mind that the prices are based on buying everything new rather than using ingredients that I already had in my pantry. Of course there were lots of things left over for future meals, so the actual cost of the dinner based on the quantities of the ingredients used to make the dishes will be much lower than the grand total of stocking a pantry from scratch for preparing Japanese cuisine.

The Cost of Ingredients:

Sembei Crackers - 3.00
Tobiko (Flying Fish Roe) - 2.52
Nori (Seaweed Wrappers) - 1.59
Sushi Rice - 1.99
Rice Wine Vinegar - 2.29
Sesame Oil - 1.99
Miso - 5.33
Wakame Seaweed - 1.79
Tofu - .79
Kombu Seaweed - .99
Daikon Radish - .25
Wasabi - 1.59
Kazuo (Bonito Flakes) - 2.99
Sesame Seeds - .99
Soy Sauce - 2.99
Mirin - 3.79
Gari Shoga (pickled ginger) - 2.99
Tempura Batter - 1.59
Soba Noodles - .99
Sake - 6.99
Sapporo Beer - 7.98

Fresh Ingredients:

Cucumbers - 2.97
Tuna - 8.37
Salmon - 4.25
Crab - 1.99
Scallions - 1.00
Garlic - .49
Lemon - 1.00
Avocados - 3.00
Chicken Breasts - 7.99
Thin Sliced Beef - 2.03
Large Prawns - 4.03
Ginger Root - 1.05
Carrot - .50
Green Pepper - 1.37
Red Pepper - 1.44
Large Mushrooms - 1.50
Zucchini - .35
Spinach - 2.50
Eggplant (Japanese) - 1.69
Napa Cabbage - 2.02

Basics: Eggs - .50
Sugar - .50
Oil - 2.50
Cornstarch - .10

Total: $108. 56

12:30 AM PDT Permalink |

How Everything Turned Out for My Tampopo Dinner & a Movie
Last night's Japanese dinner was Oishii! Delicious! ...and Yokkata! Wonderful. I knew going in that, with so many dishes, I had composed a very challenging menu, but I really wanted to do it up in authentic Japanese style. And believe it or not, there were hardly any leftovers. Rene and Will really did my dinner justice. After 10 hours in the kitchen (that's right, t-e-n hours, non-stop), I was still too revved up to eat everything on my plates. So I enjoyed the sashimi, miso soup, and tempura with a couple of Sapporo beers, which helped me relax, and then, along with a little hot sake, I continued to nibble on the rest of the dinner throughout the movie.

Although I often make Japanese-style dinners, this was by far the most elaborate attempt I have ever made, and I wanted everything to be perfect. And with few exceptions, it very nearly was. My presentations and garnishes turned out exactly as I had envisioned them, and the flavors were very close too. The only things that didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped were the sushi rice, the Eggplant with Miso, and the tempura. Although they were all delicious, they weren't quite perfect. The sushi rice wasn't quite sticky enough. I think it needed to cook a little longer, and could have used a little more vinegar and sugar. The Eggplant with Miso was a little less glazed and a little more saucy than I'd imagined, and a little salty as well. But Rene thought it was delicious and said it was one of the best dishes on the table. The tempura was tasty too, but the batter didn't explode into that lacy, crispy, golden crust that I'd hoped. I think my oil may not have been quite hot enough. So I think I'm going to make another batch of tempura later in the week, all by itself as a main course, so I can focus on refining the technique.

The photos turned out pretty good too. Unfortunately, since the camera arrived so late, we didn't have the luxury of time to fully explore its features. My son Will played photographer, standing by with the camera as each dish was plated up. He took a photo of each one, and then carried them all to the table. I couldn't have done it without him.

It was such fun watching Tampopo again. I'd seen it several times already, but Rene had only seen it once before, and it was the first time for Will. He was delighted, and Rene remarked throughout how many funny scenes he had forgotten. And of course, the Japanese banquet we'd just enjoyed made it all the more relevant.

When it was over, Rene succumbed to sleep, and Will toddled off to play a late night online video game on the computer. And although I had spent the entire day on my feet, I still mustered the motivation to clean the kitchen. I don't know where I found the energy, but I'm glad I did. And when I awoke this morning, Will had already put away all the dishes and the kitchen was in apple-pie order!

So...I'm declaring my Tampopo Dinner & a Movie a big success, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Tomorrow I'll be uploading all the recipes and photos, and the day after, a link to my Tampopo film review.
12:03 AM PDT Permalink |