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Category Archives: Food and Culture

Eggs Baked on Elvan Stone

January 13, 2007 Category: Food and Culture

On my birthday, I got this weird present. They weren’t wrapped with pretty pink ribbon nor beautifully packed with wrapping paper, since I got them on my birthday, I consider that they were my birthday present.

The present I got is eggs baked on Elvan stone. Have you ever had eggs baked on Elvan stone before? I wouldn’t think so. It was my first time trying these eggs too.

You can see them at a sauna (public bath) in Korea. They are called “Maekbanseok gyeran” (Maekbanseok is Elvan stone and gyeran is an egg) Apparently lots of people love to eat those eggs there. Eggs baked on Elvan stone are more expensive than normal eggs, my sister thinks that one egg is about US 50 cents or more. The person who gave them to me works at a sauna, so he said he got it cheaper than retail price.

It takes about 3 hours or more to bake the eggs on the stone, and they taste really good when they are still warm, but they were cold when I had them. It tastes like roasted chestnuts to me (only the egg white part). The unshelled egg is soft, delicate, and shiny. When I first cracked the shell, I thought they were boiled in soy sauce or something.

Now you would wonder why these eggs are so special? I did too.
I couldn’t find any reason for their popularity, but Elvan stone is known as a really useful stone for health. It gets rid of harmful metals in your body, it is good for the skin (it cleans skin diseases, like pimples, tumors etc), and when it is heated, it releases far infrared rays, which are good for blood circulation, delaying aging, and activating cells. So eggs baked on Elvan stone must be good!

In English, there is some information about Elvan stone at Olumpus Spa. It summarizes pretty well. Now I feel like going to a spa and having some warm baked eggs on Elvan stone. What about you?

Other health related Posts

Radish and Oysters on Rice (Gulbap in Korean)

Ginger Tea (Saenggang Cha in Korean)

Ginseng Tea (Insam Cha in Korean)

Tags: Baked-Eggs, Elvan-Stone, Food and Culture, Korean Food, sauna

Brown Seaweed Soup and My Birthday

January 11, 2007 Category: Food and Culture, Kitchen Talk, Soup and Stew

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Brown Seaweed Soup and My Birthday flowers

(Flowers from my honey)

When is your birthday, Sue? Triple one, that’s the date I was born.

It can confuse people with November 1st, but still, pronouncing triple one sounds kind of cool.

It was very noisy from the early morning today. It was still dark outside but the strong smell of sesame oil woke me up. My two little sisters were up to something (they have been staying with us for two weeks now), making me some birthday soup.

What is birthday soup?

So called brown seaweed soup (miyeok-guk) is the birth day soup in Korea. However people eat it on normal days as well.

Why do people have it on a birthday?

Brown seaweed soup was actually consumed by a woman who delivered a child. Because it helps to clean blood vessels and to produce milk, it has abundant iodine to reduce the swollen body and calcium to help build strong bones, which are all important for both mother and child.

It is symbolic to have on a birthday, because while a baby’s mother has this soup, the baby also eats it through the milk. Though, my theory is to remind people about their mother’s hard work for delivering them and say thank you to their mother on their birthday. So on your birthday, you should say thank you to your mother.

This is a picture of the brown seaweed soup (Miyeok-guk) my sisters made for me.

I don’t know what she added to season it, but it would probably be some salt. The obvious ingredients are brown seaweed, some beef cuts, and sesame oil. It was delicious yet the sesame oil overpowered the overall taste. I hope my sister doesn’t read this post. Because I said it was very good. Sister, the thought is what counts!!

My sisters are self claimed night elves. They’ve been baking cookies, cakes and helping me cooking meals while they are staying with us.

Chocolate cake from the night elves (they used a prepackaged mix)

Brown Seaweed Soup and My Birthday cake1

Tags: Brown-Seaweed-Soup, Food and Culture, Kitchen Talk, Korean-soup, Miyeok-guk, Soup-and-Stew

Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party

January 5, 2007 Category: Food and Culture, Red Meat

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Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party on the magazine

It’s been a very long time since I last had samgyeopsal. I think Koreans have to eat samgyeopsal on a regular basis – Otherwise people go crazy like me.

According to a recent Korean news paper, Koreans consumed about 17 kg of pork per person in 2005, compared to beef – 6.6 kg and chicken – 7.4 kg, and more than 50 % of the pork was the samgyeopsal. To meet this consumption, Korea has imported massive amounts of samgyeopsal from 14 countries, the amount was about 85,000t for the last 11 months. Why are Koreans so crazy for samgyeopsal?

Well, for me, it is delicious. That is all I can say. I especially like it when the meat is cooked in a golden crispy way.

The reason I haven’t had it for a long time was, simply, I didn’t have a grill plate for it. I wasn’t going to buy it until I moved out from this house, because I didn’t want to increase our load, but my tolerance had nearly reached the limit. I decided to buy a grill pan finally, whether it will be a burden or not. (I will tell you about the grill plate in the next post.)

This is the samgyeopsal we ate. (1.4 kg served 4 people – about US $22, I know it is a lot to eat, but we haven’t had this for nearly for 8 months, we were like some kind of hungry wolves. )

Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party pork

It was s~o good, the meat was melting in my mouth. I totally loved having baked Kimchi with the meat. It is another level of delight.

Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party cooking

Enjoying Samgyeopsal dos and don’t

Have some fresh vegetables with the meat. You can wrap the meat with some lettuce and Perilla leaves (Korean style sesame leaves – Ggaennip in Korean). It is healthier and also helps digestion.
Bake some garlic and spicy green chilies on the grill and add them when you wrap the meat. It really enhances the taste.
You can also bake some fermented Kimchi on the grill. Some restaurants serve you 1 year old fermented Kimchi. It is not as horrible as you may think, it totally rocks. Some experts say that it is the best part of having samgyeopsal.
Cook the meat on the strong heat for a short time. That way you don’t loose the meat juice (you don’t want it to go dry).

Don’t

While the meat is cooking on the grill, don’t turn it over every so often. Apparently the more you do, the more it looses its flavour. Some experts say that only turning the meat once is best.
Don’t stretch out your hands to pick the meat from the opposite side. People get angry at you. (Every wolf is hungry here)
Don’t keep eating. You need to learn the beauty of cooperation by joining in turning the meat when it is cooked. You are a mean spirited person if you keep eating while the others work together to turn the meat.
Don’t eat the meat when it is burnt. It is bad for your health (The burnt part can cause cancer).

I couldn’t keeping taking pictures after smelling it (and who would?), so I can’t give you a visual image of “dos and don’t”, yet I am going to hold another party soon, then I can show you more of the side dishes I made.

Related Posts

BBQ Grill Plate

Pork Belly BBQ (Samgyeopsal Gui)

Steamed Pork Wrapped in Leaves (Bossam in Korean)

Steamed Pork Ribs (Dwaeji Galbi Jjim in Korean) – Natural Sauce Version