Chef Hyejin If you don't like salmon then you should leave my blog. Please just go, I don't care who you might be or why you dislike it, just disconnect your computer and go. I love salmon. I love it even more when I can get a lot of it. The other day after a fish market tour, I stopped over to talk with a vendor and enquired about buying some. So after some haggling, I got a whole half of a salmon - enough to make about 6 good fillets. The good thing was that they already deboned it and put it on a nice fake plank (it's faux styrofoam) for taking it back home. But I didn't go home. I went to my cooking school where Chef Hyejin lovingly prepared it for lunch. The first day we just had some sashimi with sliced onions and lemon. The next day we pan-fried some with some orange miso sauce. The rest we froze for another day. The salmon came out to be about 60,000 won but some times you have to splurge, right? Dan Salmon Salmon Belly Sashimi

Hyejin's DD Fried Chicken Hyejin DD Fried Chicken Hyejin's DD Fried Chicken I am lucky to work with a group of very talented chefs that work diligently. Chef Hyejin has been working with us for over a year and I have seen her grow as a person, chef, and teacher in that time. She has an incredible arsenal of techniques and the keen attention to detail that transform food from into an experience. One of our first students, Joseph, has been taking classes with us for one year because he is planning on opening a fried chicken restaurant in his homeland. His family owns a chicken farm there and fell in love with the way Koreans do chicken. Hyejin has developed many recipes and sauces for Joseph and we think we are nearing chicken perfection.  In the pictures you can see the different types of chicken she has come up with. We learned the best way to add crackle to the chicken is to dredge the chicken in a mix of flour and corn starch and then let it sit for at leas...

Sundubu I am such a lucky boy. I get to eat homemade food everyday. Today I ate Sundubu, Dubu Jorim (braised tofu in sauce) and Pajeon (Seafood Pancake). Thank you Chef Hyejin for preparing lunch. Dan

Gyeran Mari Here is the perfect gyeran mari that chef Hyejin made at O'ngo Culinary Schoo l for lunch. I have tried to make this before and for some reason, mine came out green (I think it was the seaweed that I put in the center before I rolled it). Making a perfect Gyeran Mari takes skill and patience. Apparently Hyejin has it and I don't. Here is a good recipe for one. 

Salmon Salad So...you might have noticed that I haven't been eating outside as often these days. It is partly because I have been busy with work, but mainly it is because Chef Hyejin cooks a delicious lunch for us everyday. Yesterday I had a salmon salad with balsamic dressing, doenjang stew, daktoritang, and soy sauce pickles. Everything was absolutely delicious and much better than what I could get at many restaurants. (Maybe we should open up a restaurant.) Here are some shots of the food. Cheers, Dan Daktoritang Soybean Pickles

Chuncheon Dakgalbi I got a request for a Dakgalbi Recipe today, so I asked Chef Hyejin to send me her recipe and here it is.  This dish originated in Chuncheon which is located in the northern part of South Korea. The city is famous for chicken and it was the place that most chicken farms were originally located. This was originally a dish enjoyed by college students because it was a lot of food that was delicious and cheap. The chicken and vegetables are cooked in a large pan in the center of the table. In Chuncheon there are many many Dakgalbi restaurants. After eating the Dakgalbi, the left over sauce is often mixed into rice and then stir-fried with roasted laver in the center of the table. Different Variations of the dish include Pumpkin, Sweet potato, Perilla Leaves, and chewy rice cake. Foreigners love this dish because they prefer chicken to pork or beef. Also, it's fun and interactive to eat. It's like hot wings but cooked in a pan right in front of you! Re...

In restaurants when you fire a dish, it means that you are to start cooking the dish for service. There is no way that one can cook a dish from scratch so the food is kept in a suspended state before it is heated just before it arrives at the table. When you pre-fire the dish this is when you set the plates and garnish plates before the waiter gives the cue to fire the dishes. To orchestrate the perfect meal takes timing. The chef and the service must be in cue. Everything should be planned out so that wine flows freely and the conversation never stalls. The service should be invisible. A couple weeks ago, our company was asked to do an off-site catering event and these are some of the pictures that I took. Cheers, Dan Table Setting Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart Cream of Tomato Soup Chef Hye-jin in the state of pre-fire School of Salmon Dessert We would like to thank Suji's Restaurant for providing the cheesecake for dessert.

For a catering gig that our company did (yes, we do private dinner catering...interested^^). We had to come up with a special menu for some VIP guests. We started with a Gruyere tart with caramelized onions and followed that with a creamy tomato soup. For the entree we went with grilled salmon with a grapefruit butter sauce. We got fresh Alaskan salmon from the fish market and seared it and served it atop of wilted spinach and buttery mashed potatoes. The sauce was a grapefruit sauce reduction with whisked butter. The dish tested well in our test kitchen and when we went to the dinner, every plate was clean. Our next course was a salad with a red wine vinegarette, roasted walnuts, and gorgonzola cheese. I know a bit strange to have a salad before the dessert, but it totally worked. For dessert we had cheesecake with a blueberry sauce followed by coffee. All-in-all, a very good meal and I think the 12 guests at the party enjoyed it. Come take a cooking class or take a Cul...

Panfried Tofu in a potato thickened Soybean Sauce Chef Hyejin's newest creation. It is two big blocks tofu that are shallow fried in oil until the outside is crispy. The sauce is a soybean sauce (tengjang or dwengjang) that has been thickened with shaved slivers of potato and flavoried with potato, mushrooms, soy sauce, sugar, and chili peppers. The sauce was a harmony of flavors and textures and went well with the tofu.