KOREA FOUNDATION

A great cauldron is placed in the front yard of a rural home. Something is cooking in the pot as the firewood beneath crackles and burns. The cook stirs and stirs, without stopping. This is the proper way to make patjuk, red bean porridge. The porridge is served steaming hot, so blow on it to cool it down before biting into one of the sticky rice balls floating in the porridge. You won’t be able to resist licking your spoon to get every last sweet drop. If you eat warm patjuk alongside cold dongchimi, winter radish water kimchi, with thin pieces of ice floating on top, the combination is beyond deion. How can you wait until winter arrives to indulge? A one-time major holiday called “Little New Year’s Day” in Korea, Dongji, the winter solstice, has since lost much of its luster, but the appeal of Dongji patjuk remains strong.
  Europe, too, has its own unique dishes to beat the cold. Britain’s mince pie is said to bring luck in the New Year if one eats one pie a day throughout the 12 days of Christmas, beginning on Christmas Day. Mince pie is made by filling a flour pastry crust with dried fruits, spices, and suet (animal fat). It may not grace the Christmas dinner table, but it is just the thing to warm the belly of Santa Claus on his long night of Christmas Eve travels. Mince pies can be kept in tins even after Christmas to be shared with guests who pay a visit during the year-end and New Year holidays. What could be more heart-warming than that?
  In the landlocked Czech Republic, fish are more cherished than meat, and on Christmas, fried carp, or smažený kapr, graces the dinner table instead of turkey. As the year comes to its end, it is easy to see fishmongers at Czech markets dressing the carp and people lining up to buy the fresh fish. The dish tastes much like other fried fish, but its characteristic fishy smell is best subdued with a glass of Czech beer, famous for its wonderful taste.
  In Morocco, tajine is the most popular winter favorite. Named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked, similar to the Korean ttukbaegi, tajine is boiled and served warm for lunch or dinner. Indeed Korean diners may be reminded of the more familiar doganitang, ox knee soup. Moroccan families usually have several tajines of various sizes, and it could be said that tajines, both the food and the pot, are symbols of Morocco.
  This year, the biting cold has yet to arrive in earnest, but when it comes, it can be beaten back with patjuk, mince pies, fried carp, or tajine. Few welcome the drop in temperature, but who could turn away the delicious foods that come along with the chilling wintery weather?

Written by Kim Shinyoung
Illustrated by Jeong Hyoju

#patjuk #mincepie #smazeny_kapr #tajine