Gamja, Not Ganja

Like many Korean dishes, the ingredients in gamja-t’ang taste better than they sound. Gamja means potato, and indeed there are potatoes in gamja-t’ang, but the other ingredients are what make it so tasty. Green onions, cabbage and/or kimchi, hot peppers and ground wild sesame seeds are boiled at a high temperature along with the main ingredient: pork vertebrae/spine. The high boiling temp allows the meat, cartilage, and tendons to become tender to the point of nearly falling off the bone. That said, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to pick all the meat out of the nooks and crannies of the vertebrae. Your chopstick skills will need to be keen to get every  morsel. The meat that does fall off the bone becomes part of the soup base, which is spicy, but not as spicy as many Korean stews. If you can get over the fact that you’re eating spine, it’s one of the tastiest Korean stews available in Hawai‘i.

In Korea, I seem to remember gamja-t’ang being a post night-out 2am stew. Perhaps one needs to have been drinking all night to enjoy vertebrae. Either way, it’s a tasty treat that, as far as I know, is only available at the Frog House restaurant on Kalakaua. Last night omma and I did take out with an extra kimchi jun.

gamja-t'ang

kimchi jun

mahalo frog house

panchan

vertabrae

Choon Chun

In Korea, the city of Chuncheon is known primarily as a romantic weekend getaway for Seoulites. The city is picturesque and has been used as the backdrop to many Korean movies and dramas.  I felt lonesome the first time I went (in 1994) as everywhere I looked I saw young couples holding hands whilst walking along one of the area’s many lakes. What’s a lonesome twenty-something to do in such a sad situation? Eat…and drink. I did…and I did.

My first stop was a restaurant that served Chuncheon’s other claim to fame: dalkalbi. Ckicken, a gochujang-based sauce, ddok, pa (spring onion), carrots, sweet potato, and other a la carte items are cooked in an iron pan at your table. The remains are usually used as the base for fried rice that culls together all the best bits from the pan. Kimchi, mu (radish), and mul kimchi (water kimchi) often accompany dalkalbi as panchan (side dishes). Of course no spicy dish would be complete without a bottle of soju.

In Hawai’i there are only two places to get dalkabli: Little Seoul and Choon Chun Dalkalbi (alternative spelling of Chuncheon). I’ve never tried the dalkabli at Little Seoul, but I have at Choon Chun, and it is good great. Recently moved from its King Street location to Kalakaua Avenue, Choon Chun’s recipe has gotten consistently better to the point that it rivals even the original Chuncheon dalkabi available in Korea. The new location is bigger, parking is easier, and the menu has expanded to include new items such as a full selection of ggoch’i (BBQ on a stick). The new decor appears to be trying to capitalize on the K-pop/drama craze as much of the seating allows for cozying up to your dining partner. The food highlight is the “Happy Menu (I or II),” which features a number of price-reduced dishes and cheap served-in-a-frozen-mug beer. It’s a good opportunity to try something new like nunmul seu (literally “tear shrimp”), a very, very spicy grilled shrimp. There is also a pre-cooked version of dalkalbi for those who don’t want to have it cooked at the table. The up (down?) side being that you won’t leave smelling like chicken stir fry.  

The other highlight of Choon Chun? Without doubt it’s the fried chicken. The Korean version of fried chicken is superb and deserves it’s own post, which will come later.

Choon Chun Dalkalbi

Pre-cooked dalkalbi