For most of my adult-ish life, I didn’t enjoy drinking as much as my peers. Something about the too-quick acceleration into wooziness and a loss of control probably tripped me out. However, when thinking back on my time living in different cities, I noticed that for about four months, my aversion to drinking disappeared. Not only did it disappear, but I actually became quite fond of it. Weekdays and weekends, lunch and dinner, I drank. And so did everyone around me. You might be wondering, “Ben, what happened?” There is a crystal clear answer: I was living in South Korea.
In South Korea, and in Seoul specifically, drinking seemed core to the culture and lifestyle of students and working people alike. Some nights, a few friends and I would go to 유가내 (Yoogane), a spot specializing in 닭갈비 (dak-galbi, a stir-fried chicken and vegetable dish). We ordered dak-galbi surrounded by a ring of mozzarella cheese for dipping. At first, I was a bit surprised by the cheese. But what really blew my mind was how perfectly the spicy and savory dish acted as a vehicle for copious amounts of ice cold alcohol. We’d sit around the table playing silly drinking games, chipping away at a hefty pan of spicy and bubbling dak-galbi. Sooner than expected, we were buzzed and primed for a solid night out.
Sounds magical, right? It really is. But how did this perfect dish come about? Dak-galbi originated in the 1960’s in Chuncheon as a cheaper alternative to charcoal-grilled (gui) dishes. It’s large portion size and low cost earned it the nicknames of “university student’s galbi” and “people’s galbi.” It’s classified as anju, a type of food that is eaten alongside alcohol, and you’ll see why.
It’s fascinating how quickly a person can drain an abnormal amount of alcohol when you put a pan of dak-galbi in front of them. A drink in your left hand, and chopsticks in your right, time and space as you know them fade into the background. If it’s below freezing and the plastic chair you’re sitting on barely supports your weight, it doesn’t matter. You’ll find yourself entranced by a bubbling pan of chicken and cheese, pushing the limit of how much you can eat. While eating, you might ask yourself “wait, how many drinks have I had?” And you won’t be able to recall because you were too busy indulging. You’ll leave this meal feeling full of spicy food, cold alcohol, and pure pleasure.
Join me Wednesday March 17th 2021 at 6pm PDT (add to calendar) and at 7pm CET (add to calendar) to crack a bottle of beer and soju, and dig in. You heard that right, I’m doing a second cooking session + stream. People who live in Africa and Europe can now join me. It’s double the fun!
Get the recipe:
Cheesy Dak-galbi With Beer and Soju
Now, let's get THICC. In case you forgot, THICC stands for techniques, habits, ingredients, concepts, and context.
If you’re curious to learn more about the hows and whys of this dish, check out my Notes on Cheesy Dak-galbi with Somaek.
THICCs to focus on:
balance (concept) - Rich cheese balances spiciness through casein proteins latching onto capsaicin and taking it away. Both natural sugars from the vegetables and added sugar from the rice syrup balances the heat of chilis with sweetness. Additionally, this dish has well balanced textures with chewy rice cakes, tender vegetables, meaty chicken, and stringy mozzarella.
textural contrast (concept)- Stringy mozzarella, chewy rice cakes, soft sweet potatoes, slightly soft carrots with a slight bite, broken down cabbage, onions, and perilla leaves, and meaty chicken thighs all occupy different textural frequencies and work together to create textural balance.
natural sugars, sugars (concept) - Carrots, onions, cabbage, and sweet potatoes all have natural sugars and carbohydrates in them. As they cook, the complex carbohydrates break down into fructose, glucose, sucrose, and maltose with the help of enzymes and heat. In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee states that “most sweet potato varieties sweeten during cooking thanks to the action of an enzyme that attacks starch and breaks it down to maltose, a sugar made up of two glucose molecules that’s about a third as sweet as table sugar.” Rice syrup and gochujang provide a hefty dose of sugar and a nice shine to the dish. They also act as thickeners for the broth, making it more easily coat pieces of vegetables, chicken, and rice cakes.
complexity, depth of flavor (concept) - The flavor of this dish is deep with sweetness, savory umami from soy sauce and gochujang, and layers of aromatics. To add more depth, you could brown the meat and/or veggies before moving onto the stewing step. Harold McGee states that “foods cooked by “moist” techniques — boiling, steaming, braising — are generally pale and mild compared to the same foods cooked by “dry” methods — grilling, baking, frying.” There is a version of dak-galbi where the meat is charbroiled beforehand, giving it a browned and smoky flavor. You can also put kimchi in the dak-galbi to make it even more complex. Savory glutamic acid from fermentation, as well as sourness from the lactic acid present in kimchi would provide additional complexity to the dish.
The main adjustments I made to Maangchi’s recipe were the addition of a few ingredients, as well as a heads up about the rice cakes. Maangchi used to have a slightly more complicated version of the dish which included gochujang, but she removed that ingredient to make it simpler to source, presumably. I reintroduced gochujang, and reduced the rice syrup quantity because gochujang has sugar in it and I didn’t want the sauce to become too sweet. I add in green onions for color and a bit of flavor. I also think it’s better to wait until the last 5 minutes of cooking to add rice cakes instead of putting them in with everything at the beginning. Waiting ensures a more chewy and less soft rice cake texture, which I prefer, and also helps ensure the rice cakes don’t stick to the pan, and don’t break into pieces. If you’re using thick tubular rice cakes, I’d put them in at the beginning to ensure they cook all the way through.