MtnTraveler wrote:
>
> Arri London wrote:
>
> >> One ingredient that most Westerners seem to avoid when making kimchee is
> >> some sort of smelly fermented fish added into the recipe. If you have an
> >> Asian market near you, look for Japanese 'shiokara,' and add 1-2 TBS to
> >> your recipe. (It's often sold in small bottles and has a very strong
> >> smell!) In Korea people store their kimchee in large pots OUTSIDE their
> >> homes; on roofs, back stairs, etc., as the smell is too strong to keep
> >> them inside. This might be what is missing from your recipe. Many
> >> westernized recipes tone this down by using dried shrimp which gives a
> >> very different flavor.
> >
> >
> > That's why the recipe stated 'fermented shrimp' or dried shrimp. Other
> > recipes I've seen use other fermented fish products. The kimchi in jars
> > sold locally doesn't contain those things though.
>
> I don't think dried shrimp won't give it the fermented flavor that
> fermented shrimp would.

No of course it wouldn't. But Westerners might be more inclined to try
the dried shrimp route in preference to the fermented shrimp paste or
raw oysters.

>There are several good fermented seafood pastes;
> from Malaysia belacan or petis udang, Indonesian trasi, the Cambodian
> prahok, Thai gkabi (kapi,) etc., but for people without access to these,
> raw oysters would work fine. I keep dried shrimp on hand for Chinese
> dishes and as treats to feed my cat!

Our cats won't touch the dried shrimp I keep on hand. Used to use
blachan/trassi but the Maternal Unit doesn't like the smell

>
> A lot of 'commercially made kimchee,' made OUTSIDE of Korea, uses acetic
> acid to give it the 'fermented' bite of naturally-made kimchee. In fact,
> about 10 years ago the Korean food producer's association was up in
> arms trying to block other countries kimchee made with acetic from even
> being called "Kimchee!"

Fair enough. But the places I've eaten used the real thing. The
'fizziness' on the tongue is the giveaway. Acetic acid can never give
that fermented bite.


>
> In Korea, the end of October/beginning of November is the traditional
> time for making kimchee, and it's a neighborhood event. You can see
> gigantic piles of cabbages on sale in the street markets, and people
> purchasing 5-10 cabbages at a time to go along with a dozen large Daikon
> and other vegetables in preparation for kimchee making. The smell in the
> air is almost overpowering! If you like Korean food, it's wonderful!

Would love to go and see for myself. Used to eat in a tiny Korean
restaurant in London that made some of their own kimchi. Once they found
out that the roundeye (me) loved it, got a nice selection for free in
addition to what was standard with the meal.