Category Archives: blackbird

I’ve wanted an onggi since I saw the beautiful jang garden at Baekyangsa Temple (see below). And I wanted one of the traditional ones they still make in Jeolla-do. There’s nothing like an onggi for managing fermentation: it allows carbon dioxide to escape without allowing molds and other pathogens to settle in the ferment. BecauseContinue reading “Makgeolli”

I’m a cook, not a baker. The difference is kind of the difference between an engineering mindset (start with a basic design, hack until success is achieved) versus a scientific mindset (test a hypothesis through experiments in which you control for variables; also, actually read the directions). I’m definitely an engineer. I encountered whole-wheat JapaneseContinue reading “Whole Wheat Japanese Milk Bread: Attempt #1”

So, the umeboshi turned out great! I figured burying things in salt was a safe bet, and I was right. After they sort of equilibrated for a month, I made two different dishes with them: ume onigiri and an ume martini. I first saw this kind of ume onigiri on Midnight Diner, which I’ve toldContinue reading “Umeboshi update: onigiri and ume martini”

I can’t remember whether I first learned about hoshigaki: it was either on Japanese Style Originator (I think episode 16 on fall foods? It’s not on Netflix anymore, so I can’t check), in which a wife sends her husband out to drink beer with a dried persimmon in his pocket, a traditional remedy against hangoversContinue reading “Dried persimmons (hoshigaki)”

I’m not sure what my attraction is to food that could kill me. I think it’s just that I like strong and unusual flavors, and these tend to come along with concentrated chemicals of other kinds. I’m pretty sure it all started with Amaretti di Saronno, the wonderful little crunchy Italian cookies. They taste soContinue reading “Cherry Pit Bitters”