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DISPATCHES
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FOOD&DRINK
CUSTOM
INSPECTION
Know the right way to
drink
soju
The Korean distilled alcohol
soju
, made from grain or sweet
potatoes, comes with a long
list of traditions that you’d
do well to keep in mind while
drinking. It also can reach 45
percent alcohol, or 90 proof.
So if you can manage to stay
sober enough to remember your
manners, here are a few tips for
downing it correctly.
Rule #1.
Do not fill your own
glass. Just sit back and someone
else at your table will fill it for
you (but not unless your glass is
completely empty).
Rule #2.
Use two hands to offer
and accept
soju
, to demonstrate
respect. When receiving a drink,
you should rest the glass in your
left palm and hold it with your
right hand, perhaps bowing
your head slightly to indicate
additional respect to the server.
Rule #3.
To pour a drink for a
friend, hold the bottle in your
right hand, with your left hand
touching your right forearm or
COMING IN
FAST ANDHOT
The spice is right at Seoul’s
eokbokki
takeout joints
GIVEN THAT KOREA
is known for an
unflinching dedication to spicy dishes,
it’s no surprise that a major comfort food
here—akin tomac and cheese in theU.S. or
mashed potatoes in the U.K.—consists of
ricenoodles swimming inanuclear-orange
sauce made of red-hot peppers.
Originally a mild, savory dish of the
Korean royal court,
eokbokki
is a stew
of noodles, scallions, seasoned fried fish
cakes and, most important,
gochuchang
,
a toe-curling red pepper sauce.
Tteokbokki
rapidly increased in heat in the years fol-
lowing theKoreanWar and soon appeared
on street corners and dining room tables.
In the past few years, dedicated fast-food
eokbokki
shops have popped up all over
Seoul, a racting locals looking for a quick
meal and foreigners wary of traditional
unlicensed
pojangmacha
(coveredwagon)
street vendors.
Each
eokbokki
shop, like the corporate
franchise Jaws on Hong-Dae Street, offers
a different take. “There are lots of versions
thesedays, some containingbraisedbeef or
sausage,” saysDaniel Gray, chiefmarketing
officer of Seoul’s O’ngo Food Tours. “Some
outlets even like to make
tteokbokki
a
completemealbyaddingeggsandgreens, or
more noodles.” Popular
shabu-shabu
joint
Chaesundang, for instance, has a Korean
sausage variationandone accompaniedby
gunmandu
(pan-fried dumplings) served
with fried
gopchang
(small intestines). Theone
constant, it seems, is that
sauce. Want a fan with
that? —C.D.
CINDY-LOU DALE (MARK T)
SOME LIKE IT
SCORCHING
Tteokbokki
with
scallions and
black pepper
Go Fish
Snag the freshest catch at Noryangjin fishmarket
Between the hours of 1 and 6:30 a.m., Seoul’s Noryangjin fish
market turns into a 65,000-square-foot auction floor where
restaurants and retailers bid on the day’s catch before the start
of business. Fish are filleted in seconds. Octopuses suck at fish-
mongers’ hands. Pink slabs of skate fly through the air. And then,
as abruptly as it started, the chaos ebbs and Noryangjin turns into
a slightly less hectic place for visitors to snap up the freshest fish,
hairy crabs, mollusks and octopuses—many of themstill alive upon
purchase—available in Seoul.
Make your selection
,
and it will be swiftly killed and cleaned.
Then it can be carried upstairs to the dozen or so restaurants that