Ferment
Kimchi
김치
Also called napa cabbage kimchi, baechu kimchi
Salted, seasoned, fermented vegetables. Baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi is the famous one, packed with chilli, garlic, ginger and often salted seafood. Young kimchi is a salad. Old kimchi is an ingredient.
Origin
Korea. Every household brine tastes a little different.
Flavour
Sour, spicy, garlicky, alive, with a fizz at peak. Young kimchi tastes of salted cabbage and chilli. A pasteurised jar tastes of pickle.
How it is made
Cabbage is salted to draw water, rinsed, then coated with gochugaru, garlic, ginger and often jeotgal or fish sauce. Vegan versions skip the seafood and still ferment.
How to use it
Eat young kimchi as banchan, cold, with a little of its brine. Once it is nicely sour, chop it for kimchi jjigae, kimchi-jeon or kimchi fried rice, and cook it in a little fat plus pork or tuna so the sour meets oil. Squeeze it before it hits pancake batter or the batter goes pink and wet. Simmer for stew; do not boil the life out of it. Taste the brine before you add salt to the pot.
Storage
Fridge, in a jar that can vent — it keeps fermenting and can leak.
Recipes using it
Checking your allergy settings…