Traditional Korean pastes are the backbone of the delicious and intense Korean cuisine. Used as one of the main ingredients of a course or only as sauces to significantly strengthen the impact of a bite of meat or fish on the palate, they enhance the tastes of many traditional and famous South Korean dishes with a completely unique flavor.
The taste buds cannot fail to immediately recognize the presence in foods of some of the most common traditional Korean pastes such as the Gochujang sauce – 고추장, the Doenjang sauce – 된장 and the Ssamjang sauce – 쌈장. Rather strong and unique flavors, created by equally intense processing and ingredients, richly enlivening the taste of the course you are tasting!
Gochujang sauce – 고추장:
A spicy and thick sauce, with a bright color based on red chilies – 고추.
The first time I saw a red color lighting up the dish I was eating in some restaurant in South Korea I thought the food was dipped in a tomato sauce with a little hot chili pepper, but I was wrong …! Actually it was always this delicious condiment with a sweet and salty flavor, commonly used in many recipes of the Korean culinary tradition.
As mentioned, the main ingredient is red chili powder, meju – 메주 (fermented and dried soy, which is usually found in brick form), rice, yeotgireum – 엿기름 (sweet powder made with malt barley which converts rice into sugars) and salt.
Everything is left to ferment in traditional onggi – 옹기, terracotta pots typical of South Korea: a process that today is only used more for home-made artisanal productions, as it is now the Gochujang sauce – 고추장 has been commercialized by big industry since the late 70s.
Appreciated since ancient times in Korean cuisine, pepper was used before the introduction of chili pepper (coming from America and brought to the Korean peninsula around the sixteenth century by the Portuguese). In addition to the delicious flavor, it is also loved for its beneficial properties for the human body, beta-carotene and vitamin C are considered anticarcinogenic and the chili pepper has cooling, antibacterial and fat-preventing effects.
Gochujang sauce – 고추장 is used as a base for other dips and in various courses: as soups, in salads, for the famous tteokbokki – 떡볶이 (white rice cakes sautéed in a pan), for bibimbap – 비빔밥 and for marinating meat ( like for bulgogi – 불고기), fish, seafood and shellfish (such as juggumi – 주꾸미). Delicious even just to dip a green pepper in it!
Doenjang sauce – 된장:
An enveloping and thick sauce with a brown color (can be lighter or darker depending on the fermentation time), savory and pungent scent based on fermented soybeans.
This is another sauce with a rich taste, present in every cuisine of South Korea: the Doenjang-jjigae soup – 된장 찌개, which takes its name from the ingredient that gives the characteristic flavor, is one of the most loved dishes by Koreans, eaten accompanied from rice and kimchi – 김치.
Doenjang sauce – 된장 is based on soybeans boiled in salted water and then, once cooled, it is crushed and compressed, obtaining at the end of the process a product which is given the shape of bricks called meju – 메주 which are then hung and left to ferment, dry and harden for several months. This too is a condiment that is easily found in supermarkets and grocery stores. Much easier to buy it than to make it at home, especially for the timing needed for the aging … although the flavors are obviously different.
Known in Korean cuisine for hundreds of years and eaten as a condiment, base for many soups and the famous Ssamjang sauce – 쌈장. Delicious spread on lettuce leaves and cucumber or carrot slices. Doenjang sauce- 된장 is also believed to have beneficial properties for the body, with vitamins C and B … some say it extends longevity.
Ssamjang sauce – 쌈장
A super appetizing sauce that is usually prepared just right before eating, made with Doenjang sauce – 된장 and Gochujang sauce – 고추장 mixed with sesame oil, onion, garlic, shallot, sugar or honey and green hot pepper is often shredded.
The name derives from the term ssam – 쌈 which means wrapped, usually the meat is dipped in the sauce and then rolled in lettuce or perilla leaf creating a very tasty fragrant mini roll with the typical flavor of Korean cuisine, to which it is usually added rice, kimchi or other banchan as you like. Perfect with grilled meats like samgyeopsal – 삼겹살 (barbecue pork belly). Also delicious to dip a spicy green pepper.
The Ssamjang sauce – 쌈장 immediately bewitched me for its delicacy but at the same time the strong flavor, simple and perfect, especially for the way it balances and enhances the taste of grilled meat.
It is served at every restaurant that cooks the typical Korean barbecue.
These are the 3 main and most common traditional pastes of Korean cuisine, there are many others but for sure they are based on one of these. They are not too spicy unless you add a lot of chilies and usually contain no trace of meat or fish, so they are also good for vegetarians, although sometimes anchovies can be added in the Doenjang sauce – 된장 to enhance the salty flavor, so be careful!
