![]() If you’re just looking for spice you don’t really need gochujang, you can add a couple (I said a COUPLE) drops of capsaicin. Chiles have their own natural, fruity sweetness, and rice, when fermenting, does as well. Sweetness: This may surprise some, but this is a huge component of gochujang. (But if there’s no heat at all then we’ll definitely let you know too, because that’s just an imposter right there). So we’ll definitely compare and record the spiciness of each gochujang to see the overall variation, but it won’t play an enormous role in the overall evaluation. Or if it’s too spicy… deal with it (next time just add a little more gradually). I mean it definitely needs to have a kick, but with an ingredient such as gochujang if it’s not spicy enough… add more. However, ironically, spiciness here is not super critical when evaluating the quality of a gochujang. Spiciness: Gochujang is many things, but it’s most synonymous with heat. If it says something to the effect of ‘burning’, ‘nuclear’, ‘super spicy crazy hot’… just know that they’re trying to warn you ahead of time.īUT WHAT ABOUT THE GOCHUJANG? Great question, marketing terms aside there are only a few main components we’re going to be looking at. The only words you need to pay attention to (in my opinion) are the ones that have to do with heat level. ![]() I’m not sure exactly what difference or impact this has but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out to see if there is a trend with all of the ones that are.Ĭhal – Sweet rice, most gochujang’s have some sort of fermented rice component, I myself am not aware of which types of rice or derivatives of rice produce the best gochujangs, but here they’re implying that theirs is of a high quality.įrom my experience… these are all basically just marketing terms. Taeyangcho – this just means the chiles are sun-dried. It basically implies that the pack you’re holding is very high quality. ![]() Sunchang – refers to Sunchang County which is renowned for its gochujang. ![]() All that matters is that if you want to talk about Korean cooking you need to include gochujang in that conversation. Like an anchovy and tomato paste bomb of flavor… but I digress. Gochujang is eminently more versatile and complex, I recently started mixing some in whenever I go Italian and it’s taken my pasta sauces to another level. Now, I love sriracha, not knocking them at all, but it’s more of a condiment than anything. Also, sriracha’s explosion in popularity this past decade or two has left me wondering why gochujang is still a relatively unloved and unknown monster. Gochujang is no different, if you’re OK with a sub par gochujang don’t complain when your jiggaes, fried rices, soups, sauces, what have you end up being sub par as well. Like olive oil in Italy, masa in Mexico, fish sauce in Thailand the quality of your dish hinges on the quality of a few essential, primal ingredients. Regardless of where it’s from, gochujang is serious stuff. My parents have jars of gochujang in their fridge that family members lugged over from Korea, homemade jangs made by grandmas that just had to share their batch with their church, even a couple new age gochujangs made from young hipsters in Brooklyn that my sister bought. All this to say that gochujang is essential to Korean cooking, and to Korean people. Chungjang is important as well, but since it’s mainly used in jjajangmyeon and other derivations it’s not on the same level as the Three. Part of the Holy Trinity of Korean cooking ( The Almighty Jangs as I like to call them): gochujang, doenjang (fermented soy beans), and ganjang (soy sauce), you can’t get more essential and elemental than that. The base for practically every sauce, stew, or soup, mixed into your bibimbap, tossed with your fried chicken, gochujang is to Korean cooking as butter is to French. Gochujang is the quintessential Korean ingredient spicy, fermented, sweet, rich, earthy, relegating this elemental substance to a mere condiment would be sacrilege. If Kimchi is the Holy Mother then gochujang is the… dharma, the sacred essence from which all things come (have to use my Religious Studies major whenever I get the chance).
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