All language subtitles for Korean.Food.Made.Simple.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[Lively fanfare music]

It's Saturday night in Seoul,

and everyone is out enjoying
Korean fried chicken and beer.

But it's not just American-style
food that the Koreans
have adopted.

They love America's national
sport too:

baseball.

[Cheers and applause]

[Dramatic percussion]

[Cheers and applause]

[Chanting]

Yo!

- Hey.
- How are you?

-Alright!
-I've got us some
amazing munchies.

-Oh my goodness, we've got a
feast in front of us.

-Judy: Yeah.
-Whoa!

Whoa!

[Cheers and applause]

-Welcome to Korean Food Made
Simple!

[Slow world beat music]

[Judy]:
My name is Judy Joo.

I'm a Korean-American chef
and food writer,

now living and working
in London.

And I'm passionate for
the Korean flavours I grew
up with in the States.

In this series, I'm travelling
back to South Korea

from the buzzing metropolis
of Seoul

to the swarming beaches
of Busan.

Introducing the people and
places who inspire my cooking,

and sharing with you the best
of Korean food.

Back in my kitchen, I'll show
you my simple tasty twist on
classic Korean dishes,

and how a few simple
Korean ingredients
can transform a meal.

There's always more to life
with some spice.

And hopefully inspire you to try
some tasty Korean flavours,

with family and friends.

[Judy]: In this show,
I make modern Korean classics
with a global twist.

First up, my ultimate version
of a national favourite:

Korean fried chicken.

I share one of the hottest
global food trends

with spicy
Korean-Mexican tacos.

And I show you my own
sweet fusion,

making Italian granita
with Korean plum wine.

Also, I meet the guys bringing
Korean-Mexican flavours

home from the US back to Seoul.

And I try out the latest
cocktail trends Korean-style.

This is my kind of cocktail.

[Judy]: But first,
I'm off to find out why Korean
fried chicken

is the tastiest
and the best on the planet.

Korean fried chicken,
or KFC as it's known here,

might've been inspired
by the American version
20 years ago,

but the Koreans
do it very differently.

This is a classic case of where
they've taken something American

and made it so much better.

And they have this really great
technique of double frying it.

They render the fat out
in the first fry

and in the second fry they get
the juiciness of the skin
locked in somehow.

This really is
my guilty pleasure.

It might not be the most
traditional dish,

but it is a popular
modern classic.

This young graduate
spent three years perfecting
his chicken recipe

and in a few months he's
grown from a tiny stall to a
three-storey restaurant

with queues around the block.

-Hi, how are you?
-How are you?

-I love the name of
your restaurant.

-Yeah.
-Chicken in the Kitchen.

-Yeah.
-Why do you call that?

-Oh, it's handmade.

-Judy: So everything is fresh.

You make it here?

And you spent a really long time
developing a secret recipe.

- How long?
-Three years.

-Three years.
- That's like a PhD
in fried chicken.

Oh my gosh, this is massive.

You have lots of different types
of fried chicken on here.

[Crunch]

Wow, that's really good.

-Man: Oh, thank you.

-That is really tasty.

I heard your secret
lies in some of your marinade.

-Yeah.
-What is in your marinade?

-Uh, garlic and ginger,

onion and basil,
rosemary, oregano.

Tastes good and homemade.

-What a combination.

This is another winning
combination.

-Yeah.
-Beer.

-Chimaek.
-Chimaek.

-Chikin and maekju.

Maekju is beer.

-Chicken and a cold beer.

-Yeah.
-I love it.

-Thank you so much.
-Thank you so much.

-Cheers.

[Light pop music]

I'm literally obsessed
with Korean fried chicken.

And since it's a Korean-American
thing, it really echoes to me

and I feel like I'm destined
to develop the best
Korean fried chicken.

And what I'm doing here
is I've got just

a pre-coating of corn flour,

which is going to suck
out all the moisture
from the skin.

Little bit of baking powder

and I put some salt and pepper
just to have a little
bit of seasoning.

Lay them out
so nothing's touching.

And this is going to sit...

out for about 30 minutes
to an hour

so they dry.

And that's all set.

Wash your hands when you're
working with chicken.

And then the second part
of my ultimate

nerdy fried chicken
is the batter.

I'm starting out with corn flour

and half the amount
of plain flour.

And the same amount
of matzo meal.

Now, this is another
Korean-American twist
that I've added.

Matzo meal is Jewish flatbread
cracker, if you will.

And I like it because it retains
its crispiness for a lot longer
than regular bread crumbs.

Some baking powder.

Some garlic powder.

Now I'm going to add some
onion powder.

Black pepper.

Sea salt.

Chili flakes, the gochugaru,
which is going to add some heat
and smokiness;

and the Korean chili paste,
which is gochujang.

A bit of water now

and then the geeky ingredient
today is vodka.

And vodka is a little trick
that I learned from working
in kitchens

about how to keep crusts
thin and crispy.

My oil's at about 180,
360, so I'm good to go.

Grab a chicken thigh

and I'm going to shake off
anything that's excess.

And my technique is that you
hold it in the oil just
for a few seconds

just to get a seal.

Otherwise it's going to sink
straight to the bottom
and stick to the bottom.

And then you can let it go.

And you should always fry
with a thermometer,

just so you can keep track
of your temperature as well.

And you do have to be careful
when you're cooking
with hot oil.

And since those thighs were
quite large, that's going to
take about 10 minutes to cook.

And Korean fried chicken is
always served with a little bit
of something on the side,

and this side
is with pickled radish.

These are Korean radishes.

Any white radish will do.

And it adds a really great
crunch and tartness.

This is a really simple,

quick and easy recipe.

[Crunching]

Everything is about

cutting things down
into bite-sized pieces

so that they're small
enough to eat with chopsticks.

Sugar,

splash of rice wine vinegar,

equal amount of water.

And give this a little bit
of a shakey-shakey.

[Sloshing]

You want that sugar to dissolve.

And I like to leave this for
24 hours at room temperature
to ferment,

but you can eat them
right away

and you have a little bit
of a last-minute pickle.

[Crunching]
Mm.

This has been about
10 minutes now.

These are looking--

ooh--

beautifully golden brown.

[Sizzling]

Wings are definitely
my favourite part of the bird,

and that's from when I was a kid

and I used to just love
the skin on chicken.

These don't take as long
to cook either,

for about six to eight minutes.

And I've made a little bit
of extra sauce on the side.

This just has soy sauce,
sesame oil,

garlic, ginger,
gochujang and brown sugar.

I'm going to add a little bit
of America twist:

ketchup.

[Clinking]

It's almost like an Asian-style
barbecue sauce.

Going to serve up.

The thing with fried chicken
is that you have to eat it
while it's piping hot.

The faster you eat it,
the crispier it'll be.

[Crinkling]

Ah, I love this.

And this is my ultimate
Korean fried chicken.

[Gasp]

Wow, I could eat
a bucket of these.

[Judy]: Itaewon
is an area of global restaurants
and cafes in Seoul

where you can find everything
from French patisserie
to Turkish kebabs.

And the newest trend to hit
Seoul is Korean-Mexican food.

These tasty Korean-style tacos
have been successfully imported
from the US

by four young
Korean-Americans.

-This is the kind of stuff,
as Korean-Americans,

we all grew up in the States and
we all grew up on Korean food,

we all grew up on Mexican food,
right?

If you think about it,
Korean and Mexican
go really well together.

-Yeah.

-If you come to a Korean
barbecue joint, what do you do?

You put the meat in some
lettuce and then you wrap
it up and eat it.

So it's like a little taco.
The only difference is...

instead of using lettuce

-we use a tortilla.
-Judy: That's great.

I notice there was a really
interesting hot sauce
in the kalbi one.

-What is that?
-The samjung aioli.

-That's what I was tasting.

I was like, ooh gosh,
I'm tasting a lot more--

-I think that ingredient
right now

has a lot of potential
in different dishes.

You know, any kind
of fermented bean paste,

soybean paste,
it adds just that extra,
that saltiness, kind of...

-Both: Umami.

-Judy: So what is your
favourite dish here?

-Man: Probably the kimchi
carnitas fries.

-Judy: Okay.
-Man: So we have French fries
from America.

-We have braised carnitas
that we braise for
eight hours on top,

and then we have
the sautéed kimchi,

which is from Korea
obviously, with sour cream,
some hot sauce--

-Judy: So it's like kimchi
[Unclear] on top.

-Man: Almost, almost, so
probably our most popular dish.

-The sour cream helps a lot
too, 'cause the spiciness,
it kind of cools it down.

-This is the perfect fusion
dish for me.

Do you guys eat here
all the time?

-Sid does.
-He does.

[Laughter]
Can you tell?

-Alright guys, here are
your drinks.

-Judy: Whoa.
-Server: [Unclear] sunshine.

-Judy: Okay,
so what is this one?

-Server: That's called
an apple makkolita.

Makkoli is actually
the traditional
Korean rice wine.

-Judy: Ooh.

-So it adds almost like a
yogurt-like texture to it,

very soft.

And it helps the harshness
of the alcohol;

it makes it
land softer.

-Is this your invention?

-That is our
bartender's original.

-I love the atmosphere
that you guys have created here
with the perfect combination

of fantastic fusion drinks
and fusion food.

Cheers!

-Cheers!
-Thank you.

[Clinking]

[Judy]: Coming up,

my simple recipe for stunning
spicy pork tacos.

And in Seoul I explore the
fashionable

and growing trend in
cocktails using local spirits.

I love the ginger one.

[Slow world beat music]

[Judy]: I'm executive
chef and food writer Judy Joo.

And this is my guide to
the very best of Korean food.

Back in my kitchen,
I'm putting my twist on
classic Korean dishes

for you to cook at home.

Later I meet a friend of mine
who's passionate about

putting authentic Korean
liquors on the map.

And I mix a taste of
traditional Korean fruit

with an Italian-style dessert:

plum wine granita.

But first, my sweet and spicy
pork tacos.

I've developed my own version
of Korean and Mexican tacos.

But here I'm going to use
some pork tenderloin.

And because this is a fusion
Korean-Mexican version,

I'm going to start by cutting
this really thinly
in the Korean style.

And this, because it's been
partially frozen,

cuts really, really easily
and that helps
with the cooking time--

this will be done
in just minutes--

and also helps the flavours
permeate right through.

Now for the marinade.

Bit of soy sauce.

Just a drizzle
of toasted sesame oil.

Some roasted sesame seeds.

[Click]

I like to use already-ground
pepper when I cook Korean food.

We always use soy sauce
and salt together.

One doesn't replace the other;

they have different types
of flavours

and a different
level of saltiness.

Garlic, a couple of cloves.

I'm going to use gochujang, and
this is going to add not only
some spice but also sweetness.

If you don't always have
mirin on hand,

you can substitute just
some lemon-and-lime
flavoured soda.

Now this is pretty much just
going to add some sweetness.

It's not going to give
the alcohol taste
that you usually get with mirin,

but it's a great substitute
and it almost gets the job
done just as good.

And that is going to sit
in this marinade for up
to an hour or overnight

until it's ready to fry.

[Trickling]

I like to make a bit of a Korean
slaw to go on top.

And this is more of a fusion
part of the recipe.

Okay.

So I start with a very hard...

[Crunching]

stubborn cabbage.

And I've got a magic shredder

and this makes very thin...

strips.

You don't need that much,
'cause this is just a topping.

[Scraping]

Some red onion,

a little bit
of tart green apple.

I used to live in California
for a few years

and back then the two largest
ethnic communities

were Koreans and Mexicans.

And because of that,
the two cultures definitely
melded together

to create a very
interesting cuisine,

Korean-Mexican cuisine.

[Clank]

Going to add a squeeze
of lemon juice.

Just use your fingers as
a sieve, catch the seeds.

And then because it is
a type of slaw,

we're going to use mayonnaise,
but our Asian mayonnaise.

This has a bit more vinegar,

so it has a nice tang
to it as well.

Sour cream,

sesame oil,
not too much.

Pinch of salt.

And to spice things up,
some Korean chili powder.

Just mix that through so
everything is coated.

I've got some fresh
corn tortillas,

which I'm just going
to fry on a dry pan.

And in Korea we wrap a lot
of things with lettuce leaves,

making things into tacos,
essentially,

just with
a different medium.

So it makes sense for us to wrap
with corn tortillas also.

[Sizzling]

Going to sauté this right up.

This pork is almost going
to be done before my tortilla.

I got to flip.

[Sizzling]

And that is done.

Now we're going to assemble
our tacos.

This, people are going to love.

The apple and the cabbage
really lifts this to a nice

refreshing level.

You can't make a Korean taco
without kimchi.

I love avocados.

I think they're
a fantastic fruit.

A dollop of sour cream.

A couple of tomatoes.

A few garnishing touches.

[Click]

Wrap these up.

Mm.

That...

is a deeply satisfying taco.

Fusion food at its best.

And those are my Korean-Mexican
pork tacos.

[Slow world beat music]

[Judy]: Soju
is Korea's national spirit.

It's inexpensive
and more soju is sold in Korea
than whiskey worldwide.

Now some artisan soju makers
are turning back

to traditional
distilling methods

to make a more refined soju.

Lucia Cho's company, Hwayo,

exports their soju to some of
the world's top cocktail bars.

What makes your premium soju
so different?

-Well, it's different
because it's distilled.

What we do is we distill it
at a lower temperature

so it doesn't burn and
has the right flavour.

-So what goes into your soju?

-It's very natural
and organic.

We only used two ingredients:

rice and water.

So actually we're going to taste
different ways, using cocktails.

[Rattling]

-Oh, two hands?

[Laughter]
I can do it both sides.

Oh, this looks great.

-Both: Cheers.

-Mm.
-Mm.

-I love the ginger one.

That's so smooth.

- Such a nice smooth, long--
-Yeah, it's not burning.

-And what is your dream
for soju cocktails or
soju in general?

-Well, I want people to know
right information about soju.

It has to be distilled to
continue the traditions.

So that's what I want.

- Geonbae.
- Geonbae.

[Judy]: Lucia hopes
everyone will learn to love soju

as much as the weekend
crowds do in Seoul.

Ask any young and hip Korean
where they want to be
on a Friday night

and the answer is Hongdae.

Although cocktails
were originally an import
from the US,

there is unique Korean way
to start the cocktail hour.

This is Vinyl, the bar that's
pioneered take away cocktails

in IV bags complete
with a straw.

What's more is that they're
about half the price
of a sit-down drink.

- Annyeong haseyo.
- Woman: Annyeong haseyo.

-I want something,
like, Korean maybe?

What do you suggest?

Let's try the maesil sour.

That's with the Korean
plum wine.

I'm very familiar with that,
nice and sweet.

[Unclear] started this place
with her brother
and sister in 2005

and it's got so much
character and personality.

-Gomabseubnida.
-Woman: Gomabseubnida.

-Mm!

This is my kind of cocktail.

Cocktails aren't the only use
for plum wine or Korean liquors.

And I've been particularly
inspired

by the plum wine which
I've discovered in Korea.

So I decided to come up with the
perfect combination

of a boozy fruit dessert
in a granita.

And this plum wine
even has green plums

that have been pickling

or getting drunk
inside of them.

And these are green plums
called maesil ju,

has a really nice
floral plum taste to it.

I'm going to add this at the end
of my granita-making process

because I do want to keep that
boozy alcoholness to it.

Going to kick that back.

[Clank]

And I'm just going to chop
these plums

into bite-size pieces,
just a rough chop.

Got about eight or nine
plums in there.

I'm going to use the ruby-red
plums just because I do think

that this colour lends itself to
make a more beautiful granita.

[Beeping]
I'm just going to put that
over high heat

and chuck in a bunch of sugar

and just mix that through.

[Sizzling]

The amount of sugar
that you put in at this point

really just depends
on how sweet your fruit is.

You can adjust it later also.

And that's going to come down
relatively quickly,

about 15, 20 minutes until

it's a bright ruby-red purée.

[Sizzling]

And I've got a little cheffy
trick here where I've got
a very fine sieve.

It's easier to pass through
the sieve while it's hot.

[Sloshing]
Oh.

Using a ladle,

you just push all
this liquid through.

And these conical sieves really
are the best tool

and you can get the most yield
of liquid for your juice.

I'm going to add
a squeeze of lemon,

just to brighten things up.

And it just adds a little bit
of tang and freshness
to the granita.

My little trick: I always add
a pinch of salt,

whatever I'm doing,
savoury or sweet.

Pastries and desserts can always
take a little bit of salt.

And in order to get the right
granita texture,

you have to add some water.

This is going to loosen it up
because it is quite syrupy.

The maesil ju, plum wine.

[Trickling]

And again,
I like to keep it boozy.

That's a good amount.

And just pour that into
a freezer-proof container.

Going to pop that
into my freezer.

This one's been in there.

[Thud]
[Clank]

And just scrape it
with your fork.

Break it all up.

[Clanking]

And keep on doing that
every hour or a couple hours

until the whole thing is frozen
and then you can serve it.

And something fun
that you can do while
your granita is freezing

is make a bit of
garnish using lemon zest.

I like these curly long peels

that you can make
with these zesters.

This is a real cheffy trick

of using lemon zest to make
things look beautiful.

And it's just a little hint
of bittersweet

to throw on top and
a bit of colour.

Just going to throw them
onto a plate,

add some superfine sugar.

And you just toss your lemon
zest around just enough to coat.

And you're going to end up with
candied or crystallized lemon.

[Clanking]

[Clinking]

So that's been in the freezer
for a few hours.

See, it's got those nice
slushy crystals.

This makes for a beautifully
refreshing dessert.

[Clink]

Little bit of fresh plum on top,

and my crystallized lemon peel.

And that is the perfect dessert.

This is a frozen cocktail
and the perfect end...

to a big spicy Korean meal.

[Dramatic percussion]

[Cheers and applause]

I've got blood sausage.

-A staple at any outside
feast.

-And odeng.
-Odeng.

-But served with ketchup
and mustard.

I've never seen that before.

-You know, half the people
here are here to eat.

The other half are here to watch
the game.

-But people are just eating.

-They're chowing down.
-Pigging out.

-Judy: And it's hard not to
get swept up in the atmosphere.

[Cheers and applause]