Glossary of Korean Foods and Terms

Mini-Glossary to Some Basic Korean Dishes and Terms

An-ju	Appetizers for drinking snacks or nibbles consisting of an array of dishes or bowls of nibbles spread out on the tabletop to dip into usually savory, pungent and strong-flavoured foods that help promote a healthy thirst, to be quenched with copious amounts of soju, makkolli, or beer.
Chon-gol	Korean one-pot stew, usually a combination of meat, fish, beancurd, and/or vegetables, often cooked at the table over a burner. Similar to Japanese sukiyaki.
G-ui	Barbequed or grilled food, often cooked at the table over a burner or charcoal. Pulgogi or bulgogi, Korean style marinated barbequed beef, is the most  famous and most delicious such dish.
Guk or Tang	Boiled soup or stew.
Jon	Batter-fried vegetables, meat, or fish. Pajon green onion pancake is the best known of many varieties.
Kal-bi	Short ribs, either barbequed or braised in soy sauce.
Kim-chi	Virtually the national dish of pickled vegetables, usually first salted, then seasoned. There are countless varieties, though the most common consists of salted Korean cabbage, layered with garlic, ginger, chili pepper, and salted or fermented fish, shrimps, or oysters. Some say kimchi is an acquired taste; we say it is one well worth acquiring.
Ko-chu-jang	Hot chili and bean curd paste which is one of the staples of the Korean kitchen.
Ku-jol-pan	Nine-sectioned lacquerware dish filled with mixtures of meat, seasoned  vegetables, fish, and pancakes: another example of elegant refined palace food.
Mae-un-tang	Korean "bouillabaisse" an outstandingly delicious hot and spicy  fish soup that contains great chunks of a variety of seasonal fresh fish and other seafood, stewed with chili pepper and kochujang.
Man-du	Korean dumplings, filled with ground pork, kimchi, spring onions, and bean curd, usually poached in a richly flavoured beef broth (maj-du-kuk), steamed (jjin-man-du), boiled (mul-man-du), or fried (yaki-man-du).
Na-mul	The generic term for seasoned vegetables, sometimes served raw, stir-fried, lightly steamed, or boiled. Namuls are served at every  Korean meal, and are made with any number of vegetables, as well as with wild roots, sprouts, stems, and leaves.
Naeng-myon	Cold buckwheat noodles.
Pab	Steamed rice, the everyday staple of Korea.  (Uncooked rice is ssal.)
Pi-bim-bap	One of the classics of the Korean kitchen, a one-dish meal consisting of a mixture of rice and an assortment of cooked cultivated and wild vegetables, perhaps some meat, a fried egg, and topped with a generous dollop of kochujang.  Traditionally served in a very hot earthenware bowl with a raw egg, which cooks from the heat of the bowl.
Pin-dae-ttok	This mung bean pancake is another favourite street food or drinking  nibble, cooked  and served piping hot off the griddle and usually  filled with ground meat, bean sprouts, chillies and fresh coriander.
Saeng-son-hoe	Raw fish.
Pok-kum	Stir-fried or braised dish: nakchibokkum, stir-fried baby octopus is  a popular drinking food.
Shin-sol-lo	Splendid medley of meat, fish, vegetables, gingko nuts prepared in a special Shinsollo pot kept warm with charcoal in its chimney. A dish formerly eaten only by royalty.
Twoen-jang-tchi-gae	A mouthful of a name for a pungent and unforgettable soy bean paste soup that is virtually the soul of Korean cuisine deeply-flavored and scented, this simple soup is an everyday staple, as essential as rice and kimchi.
Tubu	Tofu or beancurd.
Yuk-hoe	Korea steak tartare, raw ground or finely chopped beef marinated with soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and sesame seed and served on bed of shredded Korean pear.
Thanks to the Victoria Hotel, from whose web site this information was obtained.

 

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