A Practical Guide to Korean Food and Korean Fusion Food

White wine for fish and chicken (left) and Red wine for red meat (right)

Koreans use refined rice wine fairly often for their cooking, including myself. It gets rid of the smell of meat and adds a refreshing taste to certain foods.

So I went looking for refined rice wine to add to our meal for the day. I went to a supermarket. Ah, wait a minute. I can’t get it at the supermarket like I could in Korea. So I went to a liquor store.

Of course I asked the wrong question and asked for cooking wine, and was given a red merlot and a white chardonnay. It cooked well with the meals, but I should have asked for the refined rice wine instead.

So I gave it a second try. This time the guy was puzzled until I said “like sake”.

Now I have found rice wine (It was Japanese sake), but at $27 Australian for 750ml compared to $8 for 1800ml in Korea I might have to rethink my recipe list.

Nothing is ever perfect, is it?

Chicken breast – I was going to use white wine for this, but I didn’t have a cork screw

Meal of the day – Club sandwich ( filling includes iceberg lettuce, baby endive, tomato, cheese and chicken fillet)

I will still try to find refined rice wine (a cheaper one) but if I can’t find it, I guess I have to stick with a red and white wine. How are you following my recipes about the refined rice wine? Do you use other wines instead? What is your cooking wine?

I got a question from one of my readers. She was wondering if I have any tips on how to pick a fresh white radish(Mu-무). Let’s see how I pick it at the market. I go to the white radish corner and stare around to see if there is a cute looking radish. Cute looking radish!?

What kind of method is that? I don’t know when that idea stuck in my mind, or maybe I read it somewhere that small radishes without any bruises or scars taste good.

To answer her question properly, I researched a little bit.

What is considered as a fresh and delicious radish

• Evenly sized with clean and smooth surface (no bumps on the surface if possible).
• Have as white skin as possible (it doesn’t taste as nice if it is darkish).
• Heavy radish
• Have as little green part near the head as possible, because green means it got too much sun so it doesn’t taste as nice.
• Cut one leaf. If its inside section is green and fresh it is a good one, if it is whitish is bad.

The picture below is the white radish I bought about a month ago. By the description above, I bought a bad radish. I thought it tasted nice though.

How to store a white radish

• Cut the leaves off and wrap it with news papers then keep it in the fridge. (The leafy part should face downwards).

So the conclusion is that I was partially right about picking a cute looking radish.
If you have your own way of choosing it, do tell me. I would like to know.

Related Posts

Thinly Sliced Radish Kimchi

Radish and Oysters on Rice (Gulbap in Korean)

Vegetables Wrapped with Pickled Radish (Mussammari in Korean)