Just a note on Korean cooking

Author Notes

It is difficult, if not impossible, to come up with a sure fire recipe that has a list of exact quantities of ingredients that will work every time. What tastes really good when prepared today may be just average next week if you follow a precise "formula" recipe. Korean cooking is mostly done "by sight" and "by taste". The ingredients themselves will have different tastes, texture, and qualities depending on where and how they were grown, raised, or manufactured. The taste of fresh meats and vegetables will vary by season and climate.

One example is the variations in spice levels of xx peppers. One pepper will be fine and the next from the same batch will knock your socks off. Napa cabbage is sometimes very sweet and sometimes not. Another is the difference between grass fed and corn fed beef (with all the variations between).

In Korea when shopping in the open markets you will often see elder Korean women "nibbling" different vegetables, herbs, and spices as they are shopping. They are "taste testing" the ingredients to determine whether this or that will work in the dish they will be preparing.

Any Korean recipe should be used as a guideline and adjusted by taste as needed.