9.20 Cabbage Kimchi
Was going to skip kimchi making this weekend even though I’m almost out of jars... (so far have been getting nothing but rave reviews from friends!) but then saw a pretty little head of napa cabbage at key foods and decided to pick it up. It weighed in at about 2.15 lbs and cost $3.70 which seemed pretty steep and it’s probably a lot cheaper in Flushing. But I didn’t have time to drive over this weekend so it worked out just fine.
I wanted to try out a salt water bath vs. salting the leaves dry. I split the cabbage in half and dry salted the leaves of one half with 2 TBSP (which seemed like a small amount) and put the other half in a salt water bath with about 10 cups of water and 1 cup of salt. They both salted for about 3.5 hours and I turned them around about every half hour.
I noticed with the salt bath the leaves seemed pretty firm still, so that’s something to watch out for. Especially the center core seemed to be very stiff whereas the dry salted one did not. It may need more time with the salt bath, or to be dry salted for a little bit afterwards.
I decided to add a little extra ginger to this batch (about 1 tbsp more than I usually do) because I thought it would bring out a little more sweetness and flavor. I also added a little less garlic because I read from my new book that it’s not necessary to put so much (even though I still put 5 cloves in each batch). I used anchovy sauce instead of regular fish sauce, and also tried soaking the gochugaru in the anchovy sauce for about 15 minutes before adding it to the porridge. Lastly, batch 2 I put straight into small 8 oz jars and batch 1 went into a large jar with about half a room of air in it (which makes me nervous because I’ve read you’re really supposed to fill it up and not let oxygen in... we’ll see how this effects the taste!)
Recipe:
Batch 1:
Salt .5 head napa (1.25 lbs) with 2 TBSPs of salt for 3.5 hours turning every half hour (except that last hour when I drank a pina colada at Broken Land with Kat)
Wash thoroughly
Make porridge with 1.5 tsps of sweet rice flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 TBSP white sugar (added after thickened)
Cool porridge, blend 1/4 onion, 5 cloves of garlic (without ends), about 1.5 inch piece of peeled ginger. Mix 1/4 cup gochugaru with 2 TBSP of anchovy sauce and let it sit for 15 minutes. Combined all with 1 TBSP of chopped fermented shrimp with some brine.
Paint onto leaves and put into a way too large container with about half of its space left & seal on counter. The weather is considerably cooler than all the other times I made kimchi, it’s about 70 degrees tonight and looks like the week will be mid 70s.
Batch 2:
Mix 1 cup salt with 10 cups water in a large bowl and plop that other half a head of napa (1.25 lbs) in there for 3.5 hours turning every half hour (again, except for the last hour because I was drinking a giant pina colada at a bar
Return from bar and wash thoroughly.
Make porridge with 1.5 tsps of sweet rice flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 TBSP white sugar (added after thickened)
Cool porridge, blend 1/4 onion, 5 cloves of garlic (without ends), about 1.5 inch piece of peeled ginger. Mix 1/4 cup gochugaru with 2 TBSP of anchovy sauce and let it sit for 15 minutes. Combined all with 1 TBSP of chopped fermented shrimp with some brine.
Paint onto leaves and put into 4 8oz jars (because I’ve run out of the 32 oz jar) squish pretty tight. Notice that this is like the perfect amount of spicy paste and I’m not left with a ton. Also the color seems a little brighter and less thick. Seems promising.
Things to note when tasting:
* Note how expensive per lb napa cabbage is at H Mart
* Does salt bath taste different from dry salting? Was the salt bath batch too hard because the salt didn’t wilt it down as much?
* Does leaving half a jar unfilled make the kimchi taste bad because of the air that gets in?
* Does dividing into smaller jars effect taste?
Things learned:
* When adding fermented shrimp, blend with onion/ginger/garlic
* half a napa cabbage (1.25 lbs) fits into 4 8oz jars.
* Wear a god damn apron because you always end up getting shit all over your clothes
* For the love of god, take your contacts out before making kimchi. Eventually you are going to have to stick your finger in your eye to take them out and despite hours passing since your hands were covered in red pepper flakes, it will still burn the crap out of your eyeball.