Chef Forum banner

Ja Jang Ribs (Korean fermented black bean glazed pork ribs with maple soy)

5K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  chrislehrer 
#1 ·
Just writing the title of this thread alone made me salivate. But then there's that video... where she spends too little time describing the dish that seems truly scrumptuous.

Anyone has any idea how this could be made, or knows of a recipe (if it's any kind of classic in Korean cuisine)? I suppose I could just thin out black bean paste to glaze the ribs while they grill.... but is that all? Should I add tons of garlic, ginger, white vinegar, mirin....?? Of course I could just experiment making different recipes once a week until I find something I love... hehehe...

The Ja Jang ribs start being discussed at around 9:50 into the video:

 
#5 ·
Thanks for the answers! So after watching your video teamfat I headed to the store and realized perhaps I didn't have the right fermented bean paste? Mine is the Healthy Boy brand, it looks more brown than black, and it's Thai. I'll have to find some other uses for that (not sure what).

Food Bottle Liquid Fluid Ingredient


So I went to the store and bought some new stuff that I've never used before. Tonight should be a fun night. Any feedback you may have on these ingredients is more than welcome!

Food Food storage containers Ingredient Condiment Mason jar
 
#7 ·
Thank you mjb.

Yes that stubby jar is what I bought after watching the video you shared, so thanks for that. I've never had Gochijuang before but it's in so many Korean recipes I just had to give it a try. They have huge buckets of the stuff (got the tiniest I could find) so I'm assuming they use a LOT of it.

The Thai Dancer paste is called "Chili paste in bean oil (mild)" and the ingredients listed are Shallots, Garlic, Sugar, Soybean Oil, Dried Chili, Dried Shrimp, Fish Sauce, Tamarind. Surely can't be bad right? On the sticker a very European-and-not-Thai-at-all-looking ham and lettuce sub sandwhich is featured with a little bowl of the stuff next to it. Surely some kind of condiment.

Ok so I'm just too curious, I'm opening the jar.

Wow so that's not at all what I expected! Very dense, tightly packed stuff, lots of oil. Very pungent. Tastes a bit fishy and very shrimpy. Not the kind of flavor I'm used to and I'm not sure I'd use it as a condiment, but I can see how that would add tons of umami to a sauce for noodles or rice or something.

On the far right is a pack of Korean noodles. This was the toughest thing for me to choose. I stood in front of the huge Asian noodle shelves with no idea what they were. So many of them, and I didn't know what to take so I took those kinda randomly.
 
#16 ·
For reference's sake, think of gochujang as chili-flavored (and not just a hint, btw) miso. You can use it exactly the same ways as you might use miso, and get that same intense salt-umami-sweet flavor, but gochujang also has a dense, complex chili flavor.

As an example, you can find zillions of recipes online for miso-glazed broiled fish, usually cod. Try that with a 50/50 mix of miso and gochujang and see what you think. I think "genius!" but there are others who would be horrified.

There is also doenjang, which is again rather like miso but with that weird, fermented, funky taste cranked to the nth degree. Crazy levels of umami, but you have to like that funky smell and taste.

For me, mixing doenjang, gochujang, and maybe a little miso to soften the edges makes an amazing marinade which can and should be cooked in if possible, as for example by broiling. In that kind of context I find miso a little "meh" unless the fish and the miso are spectacularly good and the person doing the cooking is ridiculously more skilled than I am.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top