Korean cuisine

Iconic Korean Ingredients with Chef Jun Lee of SOIGNÉ in Seoul

We talk to Jun Lee ’10, executive chef and owner of restaurant, SOIGNÉ, in Seoul, about iconic Korean ingredients including barley rice, barley tea, seaweeds, and kimchi. SOIGNE is a two Michelin-starred restaurant with a theater-like dining experience, and a menu that changes every 3 months.
Jun Lee graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in 2010. While at the CIA, Lee worked at Thomas Keller’s three Michelin-starred Per Se, where he met Per Se head chef Jonathan Benno, whom he later joined on the founding team of Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Lincoln. After 4 years of living in New York City, Chef Jun Lee returned to his home country of South Korea. Following several successful pop-up restaurants in Seoul, Chef Jun Lee opened his first restaurant, SOIGNÉ.
Watch the full Asian Plant-Forward Kitchen: Korea documentary and find plant-forward recipes at https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/korea

Welcome to the Asian Plant-Forward Kitchen: Korea

Welcome to the Asian Plant-Forward Kitchen, a first-of-its-kind educational video curriculum initiative, produced by The Culinary Institute of America and Pulmuone. The series documents the best of plant-forward culinary traditions in Asia. First stop: Korea.
In many ways, Korean cuisine is uniquely suited to the plant-forward movement. Korean culinary history encompasses an immense collection of vegetable dishes. In this part of Asia, Buddhist monks and nuns introduced elaborate vegan temple cuisine over 1,600 years ago.
In this chef’s tour of Korea, we’ll take a stroll through GwangJang market; we visit Michelin-starred restaurants SOIGNE, Joo Ok, and Mingles in Seoul; and meet the venerable Jeong Kwan Seunim, a Buddhist nun who talks to us about the philosophy behind her world-famous temple cuisine. Join us on this appetizing tour of South Korea as we reveal the innovative and inspiring plant-forward flavors that are attracting diners from around the world.
Watch the full Asian Plant-Forward Kitchen: Korea documentary and find plant-forward recipes at https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/korea

Mayfield Hotel & Resort’s Korean Barbecue and Butchery Demonstration

Jia Choi, professor of Korean food studies and C.E.O. of Ongo Food Communications and O’ngo Food Tours, takes us to see a butchery and Korean barbecue demonstration at Korea’s Mayfield Hotel.
Get recipes and watch the full series here!
 

Korean Barbecue at Seoul’s Majang Meat Market

Jia Choi, professor of Korean food studies and C.E.O. of Ongo Food Communications and O’ngo Food Tours, takes us to sample Korea’s finest beef at Majang Meat Market. She grills the beef on a table top pine charcoal grill, and eats her grilled meat wrapped in lettuce and topped with garlic, green onion, sesame oil and pickles.
Get recipes and watch the full series here!
 

Korea’s Barugongyang Buddhist Temple Restaurant with Monk-Chef Dae-Ahn Sunim

Next we visit the Barugongyang Buddhist Temple, where monk-chef Dae-Ahn Sunim shows us traditional Korean temple cuisine at a lotus-themed lunch. Dae-Ahn shows us some dishes from her strictly vegetarian menu, including a bamboo shoot salad, a steamed potato dumplings, green tea tofu, wild burdock with a pine nut sauce.
Get recipes and watch the full series here!
 

Gochujang: Korean Red Chili Paste

Kimchi Master Chef Lee Ha Yeon shows us how to make classic Korean red chili paste. She uses ground dried red pepper, fermented dry soybean powder, cooked sticky rice, malt, dark soy sauce, sea salt. The best chili pastes are aged for 5 years. This chili paste is used in bibimbap, meat marinades, and many other Korean recipes.
Get recipes and watch the full series here!
 

Korean Royal Court Cuisine

Korean Royal Court Cuisine was enjoyed at the court of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910. Jia Choi, professor of Korean food studies and C.E.O. of Ongo Food Communications and O’ngo Food Tours, shows us the twelve dishes served as a part of a traditional meal.
Get recipes and watch the full series here!
 

Seoul’s Gwangjang Market

Jia Choi shows us Seoul’s Gwangjang market, which is one of the oldest markets in the city. Here shoppers buy groceries and enjoy street foods from the more than 5,000 stalls.
Get recipes and watch the full series here!