FEATURE
IMCOM-K • PAGE 16 http://imcom.korea.army.mil
THE MORNING CALM
Chef An Se-kyung talks to students attending her specially designed Korean cooking class for foreigners in her Plaisir Gourmand Cooking Studio. — Photo courtesy of An Se-kyung
Chef unlocks secrets of Korean cuisine By Erika Chester Special to Morning Calm Weekly
SEOUL – Outside chef An Sekyung’s apartment here, a chalkboard easel welcomes students to the Plaisir Gourmand Cooking Studio. After pressing the doorbell and being let in, it hits you: The tempting smells gently and temptingly waft from the kitchen. It’s time for a cooking lesson. And as your grumbling stomach quickly asserts, it will soon be time to eat. Her positive, friendly demeanor quickly dispelled any fears of snooty cook’s condescension. Her corrections are gentle, her praise quick and her food, fantastic, all combining to create a fun, open atmosphere. After getting her undergraduate degree in nutrition and master’s degree in hotel and restaurant management, she continued her education in Korea, attending the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine. She also studied and worked in the United States, attending the Culinary Institute of America, working at various well-known establishments in New York and Florida before returning to Korea. Here, she has her own cooking show, is a nutritionist and
has her Korean Cuisine Certification. During the four-day course, An taught: sundubu jjigae or spicy soft tofu soup; oi naeng guk or cold cucumber soup; haemul pajeon or green onion pancake; mandu or Korean dimsum and dumpling; dubu jeongol – a tofu and vegetable dish; dakgasumsal naengchae or chicken breast and vegetable mixed salad; dakgalbi or fried chicken and vegetables mixed with spicy sauce; golbang-e – a vegetable and escargot snack and bulgogi or marinated beef. One student had a straightforward reason for joining the course. “I like to eat,” said David Sadoun, a Parisian garment maker and designer who attended with his girlfriend, Erin Lee. “I like Asian food so I thought (taking the class) was a good experience.” Sadoun and Lee said they enjoyed the class, but had a hard time picking
their favorite dishes. Lee decided on sundubu jjigae, the soup she was eating. “I like its taste; it’s not spicy and it has seafood, vegetables and tofu,” she said. “It’ll be good for (my) health.” “Bulgogi,” Sadoun said initially, identifying the western-friendly beef dish as his favorite, then, prompted by An, seemed to change his mind. “Maybe this one,” he said, indicating the sundubu jjigae. Like many Westerners, Sadoun had only been familiar with bulgogi and bibimbap – a dish consisting of rice with mixed vegetables – before taking the course. Another student, Byeon Jin, a Korean student studying at Iowa State University, chose dakgalbi as his favorite dish. “I like it because there are lots of vegetables inside and out and it was spicy,” he said. An teaches regularly scheduled cooking classes for foreigners at a studio near Gangnam Station, but
Byeon, wanting to squeeze in some cooking courses before returning to Iowa, scheduled a more intensive course schedule. An has been conducting her cooking class for nearly two years. She said she began it because there were so few Koreans who speak English and can teach Korean cooking. She teaches primarily traditional Korean food to foreigners and some western fusion to Koreans. An sees her work as a practical way of helping to globalize Korean food, an effort she said, the Korean government is also undertaking. “Teaching foreigners here is the best way,” she said. After slicing, marinating, boiling, sautéing, and finally eating, stomachs are full, recipes are marked and serving dishes on the table are empty. The smells still linger in the air as the departing guests put their shoes back on and depart with delicious recipes and memories tucked away safely. To see Chef An in action, visit www. pseight.com and click on cooking. Her blog can be read at blog.naver.com/ plaisir_g. To inquire about her cooking class, send an e-mail to plaisir_g@ naver.com or call 02-3482-7482.
Chef An’s Bulgogi Recipe 1 ¼ lbs thinly sliced beef ½ onion 4 oz agaric mushroom Sauce: 3 oz soy sauce 1 ½ T sugar 1 T mirim, a Korean vegetable similar to chive 1 T chungju, a Korean rice wine 1 T plum extract 3 oz ground Korean pear 2 T chopped green onion 1 T minced garlic 1 T sesame seed oil ½ T sesame seed pinch of ground black pepper 1. In a small bowl, mix all sauce ingredients. 2. Marinate beef with sauce for 30 minutes to one hour. 3. Mince onion and tear mushrooms by hand to make them thinner. 4. Massage sesame seed oil into bulgogi meat just before cooking. 5. In a frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of water and add marinated beef. 6. When beef is cooked half way, add onion and mushroom.
Korean dumplings called mandu are just one of the dishes prepared by students attending Chef An Se-kyung’s cooking class for foreigners. — Courtesy photo by Erika Chester