When I was a child I adored Jwipo (쥐포) so much. It was my favourite snack in the world.
Grilled Jwipo is sold on the street occasionally nowadays but it also used be sold at cinema snack bars as well. There was an episode when I went to see “Jurassic park” with my friend. I found that the snack bar was selling some grilled Jwipo, so I bought one just before the movie started. However as I finishing the one I had in my hand, I wanted to have some more. I ended up continually going backwards and forwards to get more Jwipo during the whole movie. I think I nearly ate about 10 or more of them (It was my second time watching the movie, for the record). It felt like I went to the cinema to eat those Jwipos instead of watching the movie, yet since then I don’t have any memories of eating Jwipo.
The other day, Zenkimchi wrote in his post that Jwipo is one of the strangest foods he had ever had, and that reminded of me how I fell in love with it at one time. So when I went grocery shopping the next day I instinctively grabbed Jwipo. The packet I bought only had 4 disks of Jwipo but it was extra big size for 3300 won (US $ 3.50)
I just baked them on a gas burner on medium heat. It was slightly salty and sweet, but fishy. It also was quite chewy. My jaw got sore a bit later. In general, it wasn’t as delicious as I remembered but it was a good snack.
Later I looked at the back of the packet and there were a couple of cooking methods recommended by the manufacturer. The first and second methods were for making spicy seasoned or soy sauce seasoned Jwipo as side dishes, which I will cover some other time. The third method was grilling Jwipo on a frying pan with some butter and the forth method was microwaving it slightly and using some Gochujang (Korean chili paste) or mayonnaise as a dipping sauce. The forth one is a common way to serve at a drink bar as well.
Jwipo is made out of filefish (dried, pressed, and seasoned). Once there was a rumor about filefishes that they are nearly extinct in Korea because of the massive consumption of Jwipo by Korean people. I have no idea if that is true or not.
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I just found some mini jwipo and it was amazing. It had sesame seeds on it also. I would have eaten the whole bag if the salt count wasn’t so high on it. Hmmm!!!
My company make DRIED SEASONED FILEFISH. If who’s need , maybe email for me. Thanks you
where can i buy this on line?
Hello,
I am researching an article on international cinema snacks and I just came across your great blog. I was wondering if you could email me any more info or if we could use your excellent pictures.
Please let me know on sonya.barber@redwoodgroup.net
Thanks so much
Sonya
Dear Sir or Madam
We are one of the leading seafood manufacturing and exporting companies in Viet Nam . Our main products are :
* Dried seafood :
- Dried Anchovy
- Dried shrimp:
Kind 1: 2560pieces/kgs
Kind 2: 1600pieces/kgs
Kind 3: 800pieces/kgs
- Seaweed:
Kappaphycus Alvarezii
Gracilaria Verrucosa
Sargassum
- Canned fish: sardine fish
- Sea Cucumber:
White Sand Fish
Black Sand Fish
White Teat Fish
Yellow Sanf Fish
We hope that our products will meet your need , If you are interested in our products , do not hesitate to contact with us for the further information .
We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible .
Best regards
Mss Thanh
Sale Department
Viet Delta Industrial Co.Ltd
20/5Dinh Bo Linh Str , Ward 24
Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City
Viet Nam
Tel : 84.8.5115601/03
Fax: 84.8.5114834
skype: marianguyen83
email:thanh@vdelta.com.vn
or maria@vdelta.com.vn
I love jwipo , but hubby can’t stand it. My daughter also likes it, but it is soo chewy. I’ll have to try the toaster oven version next time. There is a fish snack I have been looking for but can’t find anywhere. Someone gave me some they had made and it was kind of like jwipo, but not. It was flakier, it was not as sweet, but more salty. I can’t remember what it was called. It was a fairly common snack and popular with kids.
I’m from New Zealand, by the way, a country that loves seafood. However, the dried seafood is usually sold in pet shops. It’s cat food!!!
This stuff really stinks. Mind you, I have to hold my breath when I walk through the dried fish section at the supermarket.
fortunately i was able to eat my jwipo and he didn’t wake up. last time he said he couldn’t go 2 sleep becuz of the smell. good luck in austrailia. korean/australian fusion might be interesting, kangaroo kalbi perhaps?
bionicgrrl,
Gees, well I am sure there are some things that smell worse than Jwipo.
Were you successful eating them while he was sleeping?
BuddingCook,
really? I thought only Koreans would eat those. Good to know, thanks
yums. we eat this too i think.
my boyfriend begs me not to eat it whenever i have the urge. you would think he’s joking, but he’s not. i think he considers it the smelliest food in the world! i’ve tried eating it when he’s not home, but he always smells it as soon as he steps into the apt. after reading your post though i had to eat some. luckily he’s sleeping, hehehe.
Kirk, Is the smell really bad?
meyeonee, That is a good idea. Oven grilling would cook Jwipo evenly.
Equinox, I think charcoal grilled Jwipo would taste better too, but thinking about the effort, I don’t know if I want to do that.
tellos,
How did you find Australia so far?
Well, I will see how I feel about Australia soon.
Cheers.
…ok nothing to do with this topic, but you said you will go to australia, and that you are worried that you cannot find korean ingredient for your cooking.
so i can tell you, i just arrived in perth. and there is at least 3 korean groceries, a lot of korean restaurent.. so don’t worry. i even heard that in other cities, there is korean villages!!!!
hehe that’s it… just to tell you..
also, fish filefish… not my favorit….:-( but my girlfriend loves it… the squide too…
If charcoal is used to grill Jwipo, I think it will probably taste better. But the effort to set up the charcoal flame may be too much work to just eat a snack.
i stick mine in the toaster oven @ 400F and wait til it starts to bubble a lil bit…makes it sweeter…don’t keep it in too long after that or it will taste burnt.
My mom used to get this all the time when I was little. I haven’t had it in a long time, so I don’t know if I still like it.
The Missus loves this, though I can always tell when she’s eaten some…..