Kimchee Chigae + Pork Belly Wrapped Garlic [Pictures]

LTH,

Kimchee chigae has been fermenting in my brain ever since viaChgo posted a recipe to Hammond's fizzy kimchee thread. Wednesday, before lunch at Kappy's, I stopped at Chicago Food Corp for the ingredients.

Chicago Food Corp gets mentioned on LTHForum quite often, for those who may not know it's a full service Korean grocery with everything from a Sneeze-Proof Panchan bar


to full service produce, meat, seafood, dry goods, cooking equipment, even a small lunch counter.

I went with viaChgo's basic recipe, simmer kimchee with fresh pork belly, and added tofu, green onion, soy bean sprouts and green Korean hot peppers. Peppers were added at the start with the kimchee and pork belly, tofu after about 40-minutes, green onion and soy bean sprouts at end of cooking.



My wife and I ate the very delicious soup, thanks viaChgo, with rice and a few panchan I purchased from Chicago Food Corp, dried anchovy, squid and soybeans.


Rice was made in my 15-year-old, still works perfectly, 2-button, non-fuzzy logic Hitachi rice cooker.


As I am a firm believer in Nothing says Excess like Excess I also made Fried Pork-Wrapped Garlic from this months Saveur, March '05. Really quite simple, wrap lightly steamed garlic cloves in thinly sliced fresh pork belly that's been dusted with flour, little s/p in the flour.


Deep-fry, drain, lightly salt and pepper, eat.


I was sorely tempted to make Bacon Tempura from the same issue of Saveur, but, in a burst of moderation, decided to live to cook another day.

All in all a delicious, and inexpensive, meal. Thanks viaChgo.

Enjoy,
Gary

Chicago Food Corp
3333 N Kimball Ave
Chicago, IL
773-478-5566

G Wiv wrote:

Interesting teapots. You ever drink any good tea out of those?

The fried pork-wrapped garlic seems remarkable creation, and yours look tastier than the ones pictured in Saveur (which look like regular bacon, while yours have a more cracklin'-type appearance).

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:Interesting teapots. You ever drink any good tea out of those?

Hammond,

Yes, the occasional "good" tea is drunk in the Wiv household. For example just last night I had a cup of Huang Jin Gui from Todd & Holland, which I believe is one of the teas you so kindly gave me for my B-day, and Ellen, English Breakfast tea.

We've been working our way through tea I recently bought at the Natural Tea Shop in San Francisco's Chinatown. Green tea, Peony White tea, Rose bud mixed with Globe Amaranth, Hang Zhou Chrysanthemum and Korean Ginsing Oolong. The green tea is most unusual in it has a slightly sweet flavor when brewed.



Enjoy,
Gary

Natural Tea Shop
1199 #D Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
415-982-8989

Todd & Holland
http://www.todd-holland.com

Hey Gary,

I didn't notice this thread until just now! Your chigae looks tasty! Kimchee chigae is one of those dishes that's totally adaptable to individual tastes & homemade ones are always better than restaurant versions, in my opinion. I do believe that the pork belly makes a difference though, compared to other cuts.

Jes Gary!
This food looks amazing! I start to feel sorry that I am on a diet, will try it the fist time I am off it!

I didn't get a picture, but I made this soup last night, from the recipe at
http://koreanfood.about.com/od/soupsand ... chigae.htm
and it was so easy and so good! I didn't have kochukaru so I used aleppo pepper flakes and a dash of smoked paprika, and instead of all water used 2/3 chicken stock. The meat I used was "bacon" - though it was just that cut, not smoked or preserved in any way. I will most definitely make this again - as a week night supper, it really rocks!