Kkakdugi

When I was a kid, my dad decided that he was bored with just making pickles. He further decided that summertime in Chicago was the best possible time to make kim chee on our front porch (screened-in, natch), in his stone crock. Not being Korean, this was my first exposure to kim chee, and the smell of fermenting cabbage in 90 degree heat was enough to turn me off the stuff for nearly a lifetime. When I told him about the spicy cabbage they serve a Lao Sze Chuan, he said, "That is very similar to kim chee. You should try it again." It was hard to overcome a lifetime of "EWWWW, that's STINKY!" but I did try. I found that I liked the flavor, but not the limpness of the cabbage. My dad, utterly over the moon that another family member was actually willing to eat the stuff, set about making batch of kkakdugi for me.

We had brunch at their house this morning, and he and I were excited to discover that I LOVE kkakdugi. My husband barely tried a tiny sliver of it, but I ate almost a whole small bowl (I only stopped to prevent unpleasant side effects).

On my departure, I was the lucky recipient of a full jar of kkakdugi to take home. It was a neat bonding moment, to finally realize I like something my dad has been attempting to perfect for the last twenty years:

Very nice story, sweetsalty. It sounds like the smell of the kimchee on a hot summer day was the deal-breaker for the younger you, though I guess it's also likely that your dad got better at making the stuff over the years. I know what you mean about the limpness of the cabbage in some kimchees -- I like the firmer varieties (although I suspect firmness also means less shot-through with pickleness).

You are probably right about that, though I think it's more the texture than the flavor that gets to me. However, I also don't like to eat yogurt with pre-mixed fruit, because I can't take that texture, either. I'm kind of a wuss.

I just realized that I got so caught up in telling my story, I forgot to include the recipe (this IS shopping and cooking, heh). I make no claims as to its authenticity, knowing absolutely nothing about Korean cooking, but my research-oriented father would probably be interested in people's opinions on that:

Half recipe


3 lbs. Korean radish (tae baek/daebu)

Small spring top radish or Chinese mustard 40 g

3 teaspoons pickling salt


Peel radish, chop in ¾" cubes. In a large bowl, sprinkle salt in successive layers turning once or twice per hour for 3 hours. Reserve juice, do not rinse radish.


Prepare brine in blender - puree:


½ cup water, reserve additional ½ cup

1½ cup frozen Korean peppers, thawed

1/3 cup Anchovy sauce (was omitted for the batch I tried)

15 g pressed garlic

2 Tbsp [scant] dried Korean pepper

large walnut-size ginger, grated

½ Tbsp sugar

Reserved juice from sweated radishes (1½ C), make up with water if not enough


6 large green onions cut in one inch pieces, then cut lengthwise in quarters.


In 2-3 gallon crock, place radish and green onion, mix well, cover with brine, mix well. Gently toss to distribute onion and sauce uniformly, add radish leaves, mix well. Cover with Saran and ferment 30-48 hours, pack in jars and refrigerate.

That batch looks right on! I love various radish kimchees. My fav is the smaller, long, whole radish kimchee with the greens attached - chong gak.

I've never considered making my own batch since it's easy to purchase but I've been thinking about giving it a go just to try it out and your dad's recipe looks like a good one to try. Thanks!