The atlas · A cuisine · Korea

Korean

Also Hansik

A cooking of ferments — kimchi and the jang pastes — with rice, soup and a table of small side dishes at every meal.

Where it comes from

Korean food rests on fermentation: jang, the family of soy-based pastes and sauces (doenjang, gochujang, ganjang), and kimchi, of which there are hundreds of kinds. Kimjang, the late-autumn gathering to make a winter's kimchi together, was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2013.

Chillies arrived in the late sixteenth century, and red kimchi as we know it is younger than many people think — before then kimchi was seasoned with salt, garlic and ginger. A meal is rice, soup and banchan, the small shared side dishes.

Where in it

  1. SeoulA royal capital for six centuries: court dishes like japchae and bulgogi came down to its restaurants, and its markets and street stalls gave the country tteokbokki.BulgogiJapchaeTteokbokki
  2. ChuncheonA lake city in the hills north-east of Seoul, known above all for dakgalbi, and for makguksu, cold buckwheat noodles.Dakgalbi
  3. JeonjuThe old heart of the fertile Jeolla region, whose cooking many Koreans call the country's best: a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, known for bibimbap and bean sprout soup.BibimbapKongnamul gukbap
  4. BusanKorea's great port: fish markets, and cooking shaped by the refugees who crowded in during the Korean War — pork soup, milmyeon cold noodles, seed-stuffed hotteok.Dwaeji gukbapHotteok
  5. JejuA volcanic island to the south, of black pigs and the haenyeo, the women who dive for shellfish: pork noodle soup, grilled black pork and abalone.Gogi guksu

How it cooks

Fermenting
Kimchi, jang and jeotgal (salted seafood), each ageing into something deeper.
Banchan
Small side dishes — pickled, seasoned, stir-fried — shared from the middle.
Seasoning with sesame and garlic
Toasted sesame oil and raw garlic to finish vegetables and namul.
Grilling at the table
Meat cooked over charcoal in front of you, wrapped in leaves with ssamjang.

Always in the kitchen

gochujangdoenjangsoy saucegochugarusesame oilgarlicspring onionnapa cabbageKorean radishdried anchovyshort grain riceperilla leafrice cakes

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

KoreanKimchiNapa cabbage salted, then rubbed with a paste of chilli flakes, garlic, ginger and salted seafood, and left to ferment.No one here has made it yetKoreanKimchi jjigaeA stew of old, sour kimchi simmered with pork belly and tofu until the broth turns deep red and savoury.No one here has made it yetKoreanBibimbapRice topped with seasoned vegetables, meat, an egg and gochujang, mixed together at the table.No one here has made it yetKoreanBulgogiThin slices of beef marinated in soy, sugar, pear, garlic and sesame, then grilled or seared fast.No one here has made it yetKoreanTteokbokkiChewy cylinders of rice cake simmered in a sweet, hot gochujang sauce with fish cakes and spring onion — Korea's best-loved street snack.No one here has made it yetKoreanJapchaeGlass noodles of sweet potato starch, tossed with beef, mushrooms and vegetables — each cooked separately — in soy, sugar and sesame oil.No one here has made it yetKoreanHotteokA yeasted pancake, pressed flat on a griddle around brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts that melt into a molten syrup.No one here has made it yetKoreanKongnamul gukbapRice in a clear, hot soup of soybean sprouts and anchovy stock, with an egg — Jeonju's morning bowl, and its cure for the night before.No one here has made it yetKoreanDwaeji gukbapRice in a milky pork-bone broth with slices of boiled pork, seasoned at the table with salted shrimp, garlic chives and a red chilli paste.No one here has made it yetKoreanGogi guksuThick wheat noodles in a rich, cloudy pork-bone broth, under thick slices of boiled pork — Jeju's noodle soup, once made for feasts.No one here has made it yetKoreanDakgalbiChicken in a gochujang marinade, stir-fried at the table on a wide iron pan with cabbage, sweet potato, rice cakes and perilla — and rice fried in what's left.No one here has made it yet

How it got here

Late 1500s · from The AmericasChilliesChillies reached Korea in the late sixteenth century, probably by way of Japan. Red kimchi, as we know it, came later still — before then it was seasoned with salt, garlic and ginger.Kimchi →

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Korean yet.