A Little Korean Help

July 25, 2008
I got this letter from a reader of Seoul Eats and I was wondering if anyone could help him out. What is MSG in Korean? Where do you think has the best Jja Jja Myun?

Dan

"After 35 years I am going to be visiting Korea this October. I can only imagine all the changes that I will encounter....

My question is, what sort of precautions should one take with the food these days, i.e., only bottled water, only hotel food (yuck) and etc? another question I have is about MSG. My wife is very sensitive to it and I would like to know the various Korean words for it so I can tell our server to leave it out. I imagine it is as difficult to avoid today as it was long ago as kimchi and most everything else uses it.

Feel free to use hangul to write the words our as I still read it but my conversational abilities are limited.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Can you get makkoli or dong dong jyu in Seoul and where is the best cha chang myun.

Thanks and sugo haseiyo."
Daniel Lee Gray

Posted by Daniel Lee Gray

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7 Comments

  1. Anonymous3:02 AM

    MSG = 미원, 조미료

    ReplyDelete
  2. Giraffe Pen7:34 AM

    PS- I've been to Korea before and in my opinion the best 자짱면 is in 인천. It's a little bit pricey over there but the quality's excellent. Then again I'm not much of an expert because I really love 추어탕 (chew-or-tang, which not many foreigners or young Koreans like) and 삼계탕 (sam gye tang, the boiled chicken with rice and ginseng). They give me so much energy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:46 AM

    People might understand what MSG is, but to be clearer, I'd say 화학 조미료.
    I am enjoying your articles about 맛집탐방! I will definitely visit all of them as soon as I get back home.^0^
    I hope you guys have a cool summer!

    ReplyDelete
  4. InMySeoul2:18 PM

    Any good Chinese restaurant worth its weight has good jajamyeon...Theres a ton of them in Seoul being that Jajamyeun is specifically a Korean/Chinese dish.

    What we usually do is each person get their own jajamyeon and then we get a big order of sweet and sour pork to share...I dont know what it is but it seems to go real well..

    I think the sweet and sour sauce is a good contrast to the dark, stout? sauce of jajamyeun. if that makes sense.

    ReplyDelete
  5. annamatic5:14 AM

    I never really liked Jjajangmyeon until I went to Yongjoung, near Anguk Station. They have a really awesome gochu (red pepper) jjajangmyeon available on Tues and Fri, and their fried mandu are purrrfect.
    용정 (Yongjoung)
    Anguk Station exit 3
    http://www.noodlefoodle.com/sto/hous_nodl_viw.jsp?txtDiv=060&txtHid=24

    photo here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/annamatic3000/241121195/in/set-72157603760083462/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Daniel Lee Gray10:24 AM

    Thank you for all your help! Also, I agree. Almost all Korean restaurants have jja jjang myeong. I think they are all basically the same because the sauce has a certain level of standard.

    Of note about MSG. MSG is a derivative of the sweet potato plant and many restaurants are adding potato starch to replace it and to use as a thickener.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous7:17 PM

    Korean word for MSG(Monosodium Glutamate) is 미원 (Miwon).

    Miwon is not a starch but rather a Flavor additive similar to salt. Called Accent in USA.

    It was invented in Japan and is called ajinomoto there.
    Supposedly imparts the difficult to qualify umami to foods.

    ReplyDelete

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