North Korean cuisine. North Korean cuisine, dishes, recipes, history. Features of North Korean cuisine
In the 70s the government North Korea set a course for expanding relations with other countries. At this time, the first tourists began to be allowed into Pyongyang, and North Korean goods and establishments began to appear abroad. One of these “traveling” attractions were restaurants of traditional Korean cuisine, which opened in Russia and Europe.
There are two official establishments in Moscow, which are supervised by the DPRK Embassy - the Koryo and Rynrado restaurants.
Features of North Korean cuisine
The cuisine in the North and South of the peninsula is not fundamentally different, so there is no need to talk about the peculiarities of North Korean dishes. Like South Korean ones, they are distinguished by their spiciness and abundance of spices, and are represented by vegetables, meat, fish and seafood.
It should be noted right away that there is no traditional exotic dog meat in restaurants. Meat is mainly chicken and beef.
At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that when Koreans say that their food is spicy, this most often means that it will be very difficult for Russians to eat it. If you don’t like hot food, it’s better to immediately ask the waitress to reduce the amount of spices.
North Korean Taedongang beer enjoys a good reputation even abroad. However, it is not always possible to try it in restaurants - most often guests are offered Czech, German and Russian drinks. In general, it is unlikely that you will be able to try traditional alcohol or soft drinks. Visitors have to be content with the usual tea, juices, soda and alcohol of their choice.
They eat in restaurants with chopsticks and spoons, depending on the dish. There is a wide variety of treats - up to two hundred items. At the same time, the portions are quite large, so many visitors recommend not ordering many dishes at once or dividing them among a group.
The disadvantages of the menu include a small selection of desserts - they offer only three options, which are made from sweet beans and sesame. In addition to traditional cuisine, they also offer European dishes, but, judging by reviews online, they are rarely ordered. with visitors. One of the assumptions why they don’t hire well talking people- “prevention” from conversations on unwanted topics.
At the same time, it is believed that waitresses in their homeland received education in the service sector and earned a good reputation. Under other circumstances they would not have been allowed to go abroad.
There is also a theory about beauty: the tenderness of girls and their embarrassment due to incorrect pronunciation of words should cause a contrast with the image of the DPRK in the world. Everyone is accustomed to the marching step and military uniform, but in reality they are faced with meek and attractive Korean women.
True, visitors often note that waitresses are reluctant to make contact, smile little and act aloof. However, what some visitors perceive as unfriendliness, others regard as unobtrusiveness. Previously, groups of musicians and dancers often performed in North Korean restaurants, but this is no longer practiced in Koryo and Rynrado.
You can order a performance separately and in advance - for example, for a banquet. Restaurant representatives explain this by the fact that Russian visitors, much more than Asian ones, like to relax in a calm and quiet environment.
However, for those who want to have fun, Koryo has a karaoke room - one of the favorite leisure activities in North Korea.
The TV in the restaurant shows Korean channels - most often you can catch news broadcasts, concerts or performances of North Korean artists. The interior is also decorated with the colors of the national flag - for example, the bar counter in the center of the room is painted red, white and blue.
And if visitors are especially lucky, they will be able to receive a free copy of the legendary Korea magazine in Russian.
I don’t know about anyone, but I adore Korean cuisine.
In Moscow, however, there are not too many places where you can enjoy it.
Nevertheless, they exist, and one of them is the Koryo restaurant on Ordzhonikidze Street.
This restaurant is unique because it is owned by North Koreans, and they cook and work there.
The interior is appropriate, but the atmosphere is very friendly, almost homely, the cuisine is excellent, and the prices are very affordable, which cannot be said about some other Moscow Korean restaurants.
Among the visitors there are many Koreans, apparently South Koreans, as well as Japanese.
There is a secret VIP room with karaoke, it seems that it is only for North Korean citizens, at least they are the only ones who go in and out from there as far as I can remember.
Having recently visited Koryo once again, I decided to report to the public, should there be one.
The hall is quite spacious, everything is very ascetic, which, in fact, is to be expected from a North Korean restaurant.
There is a television showing performances by North Korean ensembles in front of large halls filled with military personnel and workers.
Every now and then images of Kim Jong-un appear on the screen, as expected.
Nearby there is a hanger with Korean national women's costumes. They say that waitresses used to dress in them and perform Korean songs for visitors, but I have never seen this myself.
The waitresses, by the way, are all tall and pretty. There is also a bar counter, where without it.
But let's move on to the main thing - the food.
The menu in the restaurant is extensive, and in addition to Korean, there are also Japanese (sushi, rolls, etc.), and even so-called European dishes, like Olivier and even borscht.
The portions are mostly small, with the exception of a few dishes, the serving is simple and slightly careless, but this is compensated by prices in the region of 200-400 rubles. per dish.
What Korean meal is complete without the main thing? national dish, kimchi? None, of course.
I am ready to testify that Koryo serves the best kimchi in Moscow. This is just super kimchi, I would say. There is a large portion and a small one, which is what we ordered.
Shrimp dumplings - amazingly delicious.
Glass noodles with mushrooms are also a winner.
Zucchini in batter, stuffed with shrimp. I don’t know how they managed to stuff the shrimp into the zucchini, but the result was impressive.
The waitress warned that they took a long time to prepare, about 30-40 minutes, but they arrived after 20.
The main dish is perch in soy-orange sauce - a head-scratcher. The fish is tender and the sauce is amazing.
Squids fried with hot pepper. Korean cuisine in general is known to be predominantly very spicy. This was confirmed by these squids.
The highlight of the program is bibimbap. Something like Korean pilaf - boiled rice in a very hot cast iron (a crispy crust should form), on which various vegetables, nori and an egg are laid out. Sometimes it comes with meat, but in Goryeo they cook without it. Spicy gochujian paste also goes there, and everything is mixed immediately before use.
I must say that the bibimbap this time was not the best I have ever tried. But maybe I'm just too much of a fan and being picky.
So, somehow we had dinner. With beer for two 3400 rubles.
Cuisine of North Korea - culinary traditions and cooking methods of the state of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (not to be confused with the Republic of Korea).
Characteristic Products
Food of plant origin
Meat and fish
Dairy
Spices
Traditional dishes
Bread
Soups
Main courses
Naengmyeon, which means cold noodles in Korean, is perhaps the most common food in Pyongyang, this dish has a strong cultural history, there are stories and songs about her. Pyongyang cold noodles are made from buckwheat. It is black and served in a clear, cold broth and usually contains an egg and a few pieces of meat. Koreans wish long noodles for long life or long years in marriage. Everyone at the wedding is treated to cold noodles, so it would be very rude to say, “No noodles, thank you.”
Most North Koreans are obsessed with cabbage kimchi, and a spicy version of the dish is now on the list. cultural heritage United Nations. North Korean kimchi usually comes with a lot more spices and herbs than South Korean kimchi.
The biggest cliche of Korean cuisine is dog meat. By the way, Koreans don't call it dog meat, in North Korea it's called sweet meat. Dog meat is a delicacy in North Korea, and people can afford it maybe once or twice a year. In most cases, tourists are offered dog soup. It is usually very spicy, and it is actually quite difficult to discern the taste of the meat. There are several restaurants in Pyongyang that specialize in dog meat, with dog ribs and steak being the most popular dishes there. By the way, in North Korea there is a culture of keeping dogs as pets - there are guard dogs and there are farm dogs. And one more question that often arouses interest - What breed of dogs do Koreans eat? Koreans eat dogs of a specially bred breed for this purpose - Nureong.
Salads and snacks
Dessert
Beverages
Alcohol
In 2000, North Korea imported the entire Ushers of Trowbridge (UK) brewery to the capital to make Taedonggang, the country's most popular beer now. Back then, all this happened for the sole purpose of publicly declaring that North Korean beer is better than South Korean beer... and now it really is. True, this is most likely not the merit of the North Koreans, but a flaw of the southerners, their beer is of painfully low quality. Let's return to Taedong, named after the river that runs through Pyongyang. North Korea has a special beer economy - men receive beer vouchers every month. However, those who refuse beer will be given more food - so this is a rather difficult choice. Besides, if you want to drink beer, you can go to a trendy bar and buy a pint there for two or three dollars, or go to a more proletarian place and get it for a voucher or for money - about 25 cents.
Another very popular drink in North Korean cuisine is soju. A fairly cheap drink with an alcohol content of 20-40 degrees. Soju is more popular in Pyongyang, while the even cheaper makgeolli predominates in rural areas. In North Korea, it is customary to pour three shots of soju for someone who is late for lunch or dinner.
North Korean cuisine traditions are not very different from their South Korean “relatives”.
A characteristic feature of the national cuisine of North Korea has, of course, become unprecedented simplicity - Koreans simply mix everything, using literally any products and the most common processing methods. However, of course, there are differences between the traditions of each region, and this, in principle, is quite explainable by different climatic and natural conditions, as well as the influence of the peoples of countries bordering the DPRK.
Recipes North Korean cuisine. Dishes for the holidays. National New Year's recipes.
First meal:
Main dishes:
The main local cuisine is rice in all its types and cooking methods. Moreover, the role of this cereal is so great in Korea that in almost all establishments there are simply no other dishes other than using rice. The most popular dishes are ordinary boiled rice without salt, unleavened rice porridge called “pap”, rice balls, rice cakes (“jahltok” or otherwise “tteok”), pilaf “bibimbap”, prepared according to a special recipe, soup “kuk”, which is served with regular boiled rice , sandwiches made from vegetables, rice or omelet called “kimbap”, red pepper paste with the addition of rice and cold vegetables and many other types of rice - sour, plain, sweet, tart with a huge variety of additives, spices and fillers.
There are also appetizers, presented in a fairly large variety, and even quite often they have a brighter taste compared to the main courses. When setting the table, Koreans place small plates of appetizers around a dish of rice, and during the dining process, various appetizers are mixed directly to the taste of the diner.
The most popular snack in North Korea is pickled or pickled cabbage called kimchi. Despite the fact that at first glance, the method of preparing this snack is quite simple, in fact it has a lot of options. For example, “kimchi” with carrots, radishes and various other vegetables is also sometimes added with edible herbs and garlic, onions and peppers and even fruits.
And for special gourmets - salted shellfish. Koreans themselves say that kimchi has more than 500 varieties.
Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the famous “Korean carrots”, so popular here. Like kimchi, this snack has many recipes - more than two hundred. Apart from these snacks, also widely used are different kinds mushrooms and the traditional dish “he”, made from meat, vegetables, seafood or fish marinated in vinegar or salted or in soy sauce.
Enough important place Various soups occupy the daily diet of the people of the DPRK, and any Korean meal necessarily begins with broths. The most interesting thing is that the meat that was used to cook it is usually served as a second course.
As for drinks, traditional for Koreans are various decoctions of herbs, barley and rice, as well as mineral and ordinary water. By the way, they don’t drink them at the table; usually during dinners they drink alcoholic beverages, of which there are quite a lot here. National cuisine North Korea is very unique but at the same time delicious.
North Korean dishes are not fundamentally different from those in the South. However, over the 60-odd years of separate countries, food traditions have changed. This is due, first of all, to the emerging difference in cultures. North Korea has a low standard of living, so traditional meat and fish dishes are not always available to residents. In South Korea, the influence of Western countries has increased, so traditional dishes have been greatly “diluted” by European and fast food.
National characteristics of Korean cuisine
The basis of nutrition is rice. It is served as a basic dish in a bowl for each participant in the meal. It has a crumbly or sticky consistency and is also used to make flat unleavened bread. According to Korean tradition, the remaining dishes are served in communal bowls, from which each diner takes a portion. The menu consists of 6-7 dishes, includes soups, vegetable stews, salads, noodles, boiled meat, raw fish.
In North Korea they eat with chopsticks. However, unlike other Asian countries, they are not bamboo, but metal. Also, a spoon is always served for lunch, which is used to eat soups and liquid porridges.
Sticks and boats have symbolic meaning, and their use is subject to strict rules of etiquette:
- chopsticks should not be stuck vertically into rice or other dish;
- they are placed flat on a bowl, inserted into a special hole in the plate or placed on a separate stand;
- It is indecent to leave food remains on chopsticks or a spoon.
Dishes are eaten in a strictly established sequence- soups, then noodles and vegetable stew, and only after that - snacks and salads. Rice is consumed in parallel with other dishes, just like bread in our culture. You can start eating only after a person older in age or social status has done so. In North Korea, you should never leave an uneaten portion – this is considered an insult to the memory of people who died during the famine.
Traditional dishes
The cuisine of North Korea is distinguished by a variety of spicy, lightly salted dishes. Traditionally, this is explained by climate characteristics - heat and humidity led to food spoiling quickly, and the use of spices avoided this. The main spice is red pepper. Its high concentration gives North Korean dishes a specific orange color.
Western media write that there is still an acute shortage of food in the country, but it is difficult to verify this information. However, there is every reason to believe that locals and tourists eat differently. Traditional dishes North Korean visitors try in local restaurants.
They serve:
- Kimchi– pickled spicy vegetables, mainly – Chinese cabbage. This dish is the “calling card” of Korean cuisine. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- Bulgogi– beef or pork cooked during the meal. It is marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil and cooked in portable roasting pans on the table.
- Bibimbap– assorted vegetables, mushrooms, noodles, meat, fish, raw eggs. The ingredients are placed in a common dish according to “sectors”.
- Kusku– buckwheat noodles with vegetables and meat in cold broth. Served with boiled egg. This dish is traditional during the holidays. Long noodles are a symbol of prosperity and longevity; refusing them is an insult to the owners.
- Ttok– a traditional dessert, rice or flour pies with filling. There are more than a hundred varieties of this dish.
In the coastal areas of North Korea, fish dishes are more popular than meat dishes; in the interior of the peninsula, the opposite is true. The use of sauces and dressings is considered an essential element of local cuisine. Food is complemented soy sauce, gochujang - spicy soy paste and doenjang - fermented soy puree with a specific smell.