Gochujang

Gochujang

What it is

Chilli reached Korea only in the sixteenth century, yet within a hundred years this fermented paste of chilli, glutinous rice and soybean had become the country's defining flavour. Families kept earthenware jars of it on the roof to ferment in the sun.

In the kitchen

It is sweet as well as hot, so it burns easily. Add it to a sauce off the heat or late, never at the start of a sear.

Goes with

Toasted sesame oil Garlic Soy sauce Spring onion Sesame Ginger Pork Rice

Also used with

Cheongju Doraji (balloon flower root) Pork uterus (kobukuro) Maesil cheong Maneul-jangajji Kkaennip (Korean perilla leaf)

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