Eun Jeong went to her friend’s wedding yesterday. She was designated as the official wedding bouquet catcher. I couldn’t make it to the wedding, but I begged her to take the camera with her and at least get some pics of the food.
She returned with some good photos of the wedding and the food. Even though she said the food wasn’t good at this particular wedding, the dishes served were typical for modern Korean weddings.
I myself have been to a couple of weddings here, and I think the best thing about them is the food–unlike you like the gaudy Las Vegas style of the modernized weddings here (the traditional weddings are much cooler events).
At the top is bulgogi. There’s usually a main meat dish. Well, westerners would call it a main meat dish.
To Koreans, rice and soup are the main dishes. The soup is guksu, similar to Eun Jeong’s special Janchi Guksu. Being a catered event, the noodles were too soggy in this one.
The big main soup here is a large bowl of Galbi Tang (don’t pronounce it like the space age orange beverage). It’s a simple soup of beef ribs in beef stock with some scant noodles and sliced green onions. I actually had that for lunch Friday. It’s great for winter time. In this case, it was too bland, and the meat was too tough.
What else can we unwrap here? Just like westernized Korean weddings, I think Korean wedding caterers miss the point. You know, even if the food isn’t fresh, at least take the plastic wrap off before the guests arrive.
Some fruit. That’s good. And some Twigim–deep fried stuff. In this case, it was cold and soggy. At the top is my favorite Korean wedding food, Yuk Hui. It’s Korean Steak Tartare. In fact, it kicks the French version’s butt. Raw sliced tender beef mixed with Korean pear, sesame oil, and garlic. I went to a wedding a year ago and luckily sat at the Western table. Since most of them were picky eaters, I got loaded down with this delicate and so sinful treat. At this wedding, though, Eun Jeong said it wasn’t fresh–a common theme with the foods from this caterer.
Lastly, it looks like we have some seafood snacks, in this case, shrimp and steamed squid, the prerequisite kimchi, and a scary looking salad.
Generally, though, I like the food at Korean weddings. If you get invited to one, try to avoid laughing during the ceremony and really enjoy the great hospitality and food.
Monkfish bake.
I adapted this recipe from one that I saw Antonio Carluccio make (he is one of my big influences). The potatoes go kind of sticky and are so moreish it’s unreal.
You need – for 2-3 as a main course:
2 monkfish tails
5/6 large potatoes
2 large tomatoes
olive oil
4 bay leaves
handful basil
parmesan, grated
salt and pepper.
Peel and slice the potatoes as thinly as you can. Layer half of them in an oven proof dish and pour over a little olive oil, add half the basil and some black pepper.
Remove the monkfish fillets from the tail bone, and cut into bitesize chunks or strips.
Arrange the monkfish on top of the potatoes, forming a second layer. On top of the monkfish sprinkle on about a handful of the parmesan. Put the other half of the potatoes on top of that in the same way as the first half creating a kind of potato and monkfish sandwich.
Push the bay leaves amongst the potatoes and sprinkle over about 1 tbsp of sea salt.
Slice the tomatoes in the same way as the potatoes and layer them on top. Add the remaining basil and top with a couple of handfuls of the parmesan.
Finally lug on loads of olive oil, or ‘abundant oil’ as Antonio says, and cook in a pre-heated oven at 200°c for about 35 mins. Excellente!
Don’t know about the liver. Maybe sushi.
One of our clients asked us to help him with his proposal. In order to make it more romantic and surprising, we hid their gay man wedding rings in their Korean food.