Comments on: 7. Loan dishes, loan ingredients.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:56:17 +0000

A great photo. We have to do more on this. And I think temperatures are also important. Even if you can cook the veg quickly, the rice (or lesser starch) cannot be hurried.

By: Ji-Young Park

Ji-Young Park — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:27:28 +0000

An example of a traditional Korean stove, the kind we had when I was a little girl in Seoul, but we only had one burner.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/63/219925264_1ccc42bf5d.jpg?v=1168867143

It’s heated by large cylinders of charcoal and we had round bottomed pans made of iron, like the ones shown in the photo. I’m not sure about this, thinking a bit out loud, I wonder if the lack of stir-frying has something to do with the kind of temperatures achievable and sustainable with that kind of stove and also the real need before industrialized food chains to preserve seasonally available vegetables.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:21:38 +0000

So much to figure out about Korean food. Following the wonderful contributions by Donald Wagner some months ago, it seems to me likely that woks as a common tool for everyday use were a late introduction to the Chinese. Perhaps that accounts for their not making it to Korea.

By: Ji-Young Park

Ji-Young Park — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:08:43 +0000

I’ve been thinking Chinese influences in Korea: cultural, linguistic, philosophical and of course, culinary. One gap that has always struck me is that Koreans don’t stir fry, not in a wok or a shallow pan. Frying in any form at home was not common at all in a traditional kitchen with a charcoal burning stove. And when it was done, pan frying usually involved battered things (jun), not moving things about rapidly.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Karen, worthy of a long reply which will come, I assure you.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:50:00 +0000

It may be my lack of exposure to the term ‘loan’ being used in this way, but when I think of a ‘loan’ I think of whatever it is composed of being eventually returned to the source.

Is this a part of what you are talking about, Rachel? Is there a bit of leaving a thing then taking it away back to wherever it came from (leaving the environment it entered slightly altered due to the effects of what was ‘loaned’?)

And can you more closely define the difference of a loaner and a fusion cuisine?