Tips for Getting Started
The universal elements of Korean cooking are the bold balance of spicy, sweet, salty, and umami flavors. Understanding these principles and following a few tips will help you execute many delicious Korean dishes.
It's All About Balance
Spicy
We think many Korean dishes occupy a middle ground in terms of spice level—in broad generalities, spicier than Japanese food, and maybe not as spicy as the spiciest Thai food. It all depends on how much gochugaru (ground dried red chiles) you use. As with the use of any kind of chile, it comes down to individual preference, so use more or less in your recipes to suit your taste.
Sweet
Many of our recipes use maesil cheong (plum extract syrup), and some use corn syrup or sugar. Some degree of sweetness is a common flavor profile in Korean cooking. The intention is not to create a dessert-type sweetness. To Koreans, sugar is just another cooking ingredient to enhance flavors and create balance, much like salt.
Salty and Umami
Besides salt, we use soy sauce, fish sauce, gochujang (red chili paste), and doenjang (fermented soybean paste), all of which also contribute to umami flavors. Miwon matsogeum (MSG seasoning salt) and Dasida beef stock powder are also contributors of these flavor profiles.
Start building your Korean pantry
The top five essentials to buy first are gochugaru (ground dried red chilis), gochujang (fermented red chili paste), soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and maesil cheong (plum extract syrup). See Building a Korean Pantry for more ingredients and keep building!
Mince garlic and freeze it in bulk
Korean cuisine uses a lot of garlic. Process a pound of peeled, rinsed garlic in the food processor until minced and freeze it for convenience. If you flatten the minced garlic in a zipper lock bag before it freezes, you can simply break off pieces as you need them and leave the rest in the freezer.
Invest in a sharp knife
Lots of attention is given to ingredient prep, both to achieve the right shape and size of vegetables and to cut them in an aesthetically pleasing way. Take care that your knife sharpener is handy and regularly used. See our Basic Knife Skills Class if you need to brush up on your sharpening skills.
Find a good ingredient source
Though Korean food has become wildly popular and its ingredients more accessible in this country, for many staple items you’ll need to find a good Korean or Asian grocery store in your area or order from H Mart, Amazon, or other online retailers. See Sourcing Korean Ingredients for more information and shopping tips.
Adjust your mindset
Making good, authentic Korean food isn’t difficult, but it is a labor of love. Don’t expect to find too many shortcuts for convenience (though we do take a few!). When you see a recipe that looks long, give it a read and you’ll find that each step is actually simple.
Meal-prep your banchan
As long as you have your pantry ingredients on hand, most banchan recipes that can be made ahead come together very quickly. If you’re just getting started, preparing three or even two banchan is a great start. Try to balance your banchan selection with a mix of leafy vegetable–based banchan, starchier vegetable banchan, and protein-rich banchan. Feel free to mix in some store-bought items to broaden your choices.
