Lincoln Noodle House Hot Sauce [In search Of]

LTH,

Ever since Lincoln Noodle House closed my wife has been lamenting the loss of their table hot sauce. I've looked in any number of Korean stores, from the new H-Mart to Chicago Food corp to the little jewel New Chicago Kimchee, no luck.

The closest I've gotten is New Chicago Kimchee's Ssamjang, kind of a cross between Kochujang (Korean chili pepper paste) and Dwenjang (Korean soybean paste), though my wife says this is not it.

I'm betting LNH made the sauce in-house, maybe a mix of Ssamjang and ? I could use a little help, either recipe wise, and I may be off base with the Ssamjang, or an off the shelf product.

Lincoln Noodle House's table sauce


New Chicago Kimchee's Ssamjang


My wife's favorite dumplings w/sauce at the now defunct LNH


Lincoln Noodle House [RIP]


Enjoy,
Gary

New Chicago Kimchee
3648 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-583-4442

Hi Gary,

I have been a lurker on these boards for quite some time and your post and cry for help inspired me to register.
While I have never been to the now closed Lincoln Noodle House, I think my grandmother may have made something very close to their dumpling sauce.
Usually with dumplings, we Koreans use cho kang jang (vinegared/seasoned soy sauce), much in the same way Koreans also use cho ggo choo jang (vinegared red pepper paste). It's just a kicked up version of these very familiar condiments. I think that they must have made this in-house
Cho Kang Jang is made with a thicker version of soy (I can't remember the korean name) and may include any number of these things: red pepper powder, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, green onion, ginger, whole toasted sesame seeds, and crushed toasted sesame seeds, which thickens the mixture somewhat. Maybe your beloved hot sauce also used ggo choo jang or even deng jang as well to make it tastier?

On a somewhat unrelated yet tangential note, my father used to thin out and spice up his cho ggo choo jang with a splash of lemon-lime soda. We then dipped pieces of steamed squid in this spritey-spicey goodness. Yum! You may have also seen cho ggo choo jang in the Korean version of chirashi (known as hwe-dup bap)

Hope this helps

Sharona

Sharona wrote:...Usually with dumplings, we Koreans use cho kang jang (vinegared/seasoned soy sauce), much in the same way Koreans also use cho ggo choo jang (vinegared red pepper paste). It's just a kicked up version of these very familiar condiments. I think that they must have made this in-house
Cho Kang Jang is made with a thicker version of soy (I can't remember the korean name) and may include any number of these things: red pepper powder, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, green onion, ginger, whole toasted sesame seeds, and crushed toasted sesame seeds, which thickens the mixture somewhat. Maybe your beloved hot sauce also used ggo choo jang or even deng jang as well to make it tastier?

Sharona,

Many thanks for this description of the dumpling sauce; it sounds fabulous and, though I'm sure getting it right will be not so easy, it should be fun experimenting with combinations of these ingredients.

Thanks again and welcome to LTH... and thanks to Gary for posting the illustrated query.

Antonius

Gary, don't remind me about LNH. That was one of the pasta Chicago trinity, along with Katy's and Andrzej. And the wok-blackened kimchee fried rice was a brilliant, elemental dish.

Sharona wrote:Usually with dumplings, we Koreans use cho kang jang (vinegared/seasoned soy sauce), much in the same way Koreans also use cho ggo choo jang (vinegared red pepper paste). It's just a kicked up version of these very familiar condiments. I think that they must have made this in-house

Sharona,

A good place to start experimenting from, thank you very much. I'm also going to try your father's "spritey-spicey" dip, it sounds really quite good.

Thanks again.

Enjoy,
Gary

I'm happy to be of assistance on my first post! A small addendum:

While talking on the phone to my dad tonight about Korean food and Super H Mart, I mentioned to him the mysteries of Korean dumpling sauce and we proceed to have this exchange (think funny Korean dad accent--If I end up going to the LTH picnic I can do some impressions):

Dad: You know some guys they put the barbecue sauce in the kan jang for the mandoo.

Me: What?!

Dad: Yah.

Me: Like KC Masterpiece?! Barbecue, barbecue?

Dad: Yah, Yah, or whatever they want.

Me: No s***

So I thought I'd just throw that out there. Do with it what you will.