The Hub of Sparkle!

Cross posting from FatManSeoul

The uberblog of Koreablogs, The Marmot’s Hole, found a fascinating article about the increased popularity of Korean and Asian food across America – including at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky:

The new Korean menu at Murray State University in Murray, Ky., is a hit, and the best proof is the empty plates. Dishes come back bare when students sample recipes such as beef bulgogi, seaweed soup and spicy chicken. To meet demand, the kitchen has more than doubled production of the recipes since the items debuted in August.“It’s amazing how many people are trying the Korean items,” says Director of Dining Services Richard Fritz, who introduced the menu after a staff trip to South Korea this summer. “We’re fairly fresh into this, and we want to see what overall acceptance will be. If we find it’s quite successful, our goal is to expand it.”

Consumers have turned many mainstream Asian dishes such as stir-fries and pad Thai into American staples, but there is still plenty to explore in Asian cuisines. Although 82% of respondents to R&I’s 2008 New American Diner Study said they had eaten Chinese food in the past year and 40% said they had tried Thai, fewer had delved into other Asian cuisines. Slightly more than 20% of respondents had Indian food at a restaurant in the past year, and 15% had tried Korean food. The numbers, although small, are strong enough to suggest greater menu potential for these cuisines—given the right approach.

At Murray State, the winning strategy wasn’t just to start off slowly with simple, approachable recipes but also to make sure dishes were done correctly from the beginning. Instead of asking staff to work through unfamiliar recipes and possibly introduce Korean menu items that were not up to par, Fritz recruited an expert. Korean-born Soojin McKibben, married to a member of the university’s international studies program, prepares the dishes with help from staff cooks.

Early big sellers include seaweed soup, made with sautéed beef, wakame seaweed, soy sauce, fish powder and fish sauce, and beef bulgogi (thin-sliced beef marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic and onions and then grilled).

“Our goal is that long-term, our cooks will be familiar enough with the dishes to make them authentically,” Fritz says.

It’s not just university cafeteria’s getting in on the act, either:

When Chef-owner Glenn Harris at The Smith in New York City wanted to add “a vegetarian dish that wasn’t boring” to his updated brasserie menu, a spin on the Korean rice-and-vegetable bowls called bibimbap fit the bill. An ideal fit for restaurant kitchens, the versatile dish can accommodate just nearly any ingredient on hand.

Traditional renditions feature white rice, mushrooms and sautéed vegetables such as cucumbers, zucchini, daikon and spinach. Harris’ adopted version starts with sushi rice par-cooked risotto-style with vegetable stock. For pickup, the rice is sautéed in sesame oil with garlic, shiitake mushrooms, spinach, edamame and green onions and then piled into a hot cast-iron bowl. Customers can stir in the soft, sunny-side up egg and puréed kimchee on top.

And meanwhile at the Blackbird in Chicago:

Fresh, halved artichokes are fermented for seven to 10 days in ginger, red bell peppers, red finger hot peppers, garlic, salt and sugar. To serve, they are sliced thin and tossed with apricots for a sweet, acidic complement to the spicy, more bitter kimchee. For textural contrast, Sheerin dehyrates some of the artichokes and adds the crispy bits to the mix.

“It’s classically an Asian technique, but I wanted to use more of an American style,” he says.

And here’s an breakdown of exactly how to win over the hearts and stomachs of the unadventurous eater:

Understanding which lesser-known Asian dishes are likely to translate well across audiences and mixing in their components among familiar recipes also is the approach at Gyenari Korean BBQ & Lounge, a contemporary Korean-Californian concept in Los Angeles.

“A lot of Korean food is not too far of a stretch,” says managing partner and Executive Chef Robert Benson. “Braised short ribs—people love that in America. The Korean version, kalbi, is the same idea but a little sweeter, a little spicier.”

Besides kalbi, the menu includes pa jeon—savory Korean pancakes traditionally made with green onions and often seafood. They make crisp, tasty vehicles for an assortment of on-hand ingredients.

Gyenari does a typical version with shrimp, calamari and kimchee in a batter of rice and white flours, eggs, water, salt and baking powder, and an all-American adaptation with applewood-smoked bacon, Cheddar cheese and sour-cream-and-chive dip. The quick-cooking pancakes are sautéed in 8-inch pans to give them their shape and then flipped and deep-fried.

Fatman is going to go out on a limb and say that interest in Korean food among Americans is definitely picking up. Of course it’s already a popular cuisine in places like LA and NY (and that popularity extends far beyond the ethnic Korean communities there) but while we don’t see it being transferred whole and entire (Although kids in Kansas wolfing down bowls of miyeokguk certainly makes us wonder . . . after all, that’s certainly not one of those Korean foods that has a ready equivalent in western cuisine) we’re happy to see that there’s not just one, but several approaches that seem to be working. Our only question now is when will indigenous fusion interpretations start to take a more adventurous look at international food? You can’t just keep squeezing honey-mustard sauce on everything.

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