The Korea Herald

Pop a cork with a New York state of mind

Nov 2, 2011

ALBANY, New York (AP) ― When Billy Joel sang about “a bottle of white, a bottle of red” 40 years ago, the Long Island native probably wasn’t in a New York state of mind. But the wine universe is growing and changing, and today New York regularly tangles with Washington state in a two-coast tussle to maintain the No. 2 spot in behind California for domestic wine production. And it’s not just abo...
Topsy-turvy wine weather makes grape sorters shine

Oct 28, 2011

BORDEAUX (AFP) ― A topsy-turvy growing season, which zigzagged from drought to hail to heat wave, produced a distressingly mixed crop in Bordeaux this year ― but gave optical grape sorters a chance to shine. As oenologists deepen their understanding of how the components in grape skins, pips and juices influence the aromas and taste in the glass, they’ve become increasingly serious about sorting...
Insamcha (Ginseng tea)

Oct 28, 2011

Insamcha (Institute of Traditional Korean Food) Insamcha is tea made with ginseng. It has a strong fragrance and taste. Ginseng is a special product of Korea, and is thought to be good for physical strength. Certain studies have found that saponin in ginseng has anti-cancer properties. Korean ginseng has been identified as having the highest saponin content. Ingredients ● 100 g ginseng (fresh ...
Wine of the Week: 2004 Weingut Brndlmayer St. Laurent ‘Ried Ladner’

Oct 28, 2011

When I invited a new friend to dinner last week and asked her to bring a wine, she asked about the menu. And evidently she listened, because she came up with the most brilliant match for the Hungarian goulash: this St. Laurent, a close relative of Pinot Noir, from one of Austria’s best wine estates. Soft and earthy, with a brilliant cherry color and just the slightest hint of strawberries and plu...
Carnivore’s paradise

Oct 28, 2011

Customers can grill prime meat purchased from Majang Meat Market (like the hanwoo chuck tail flap pictured here) at wholesale prices and enjoy it with sides at the Meat Village Butcher Shop for 4,000 won per person. Self-selected prime cuts for a bargain at Majang-dong’s butcher-restaurant What if you could pick the cut, the grade and the exact quantity of meat you wanted to eat at a restauran...
Culinary wizards to experiment with Korean food

Oct 25, 2011

Seoul Gourmet 2011 also offers master classes, gala dinners by Korean chefs Six international star chefs ― four of them running Michelin star restaurants ― will visit Korea next week to discover the essence of Korean ingredients and use them in their creative dishes. Seoul Gourmet 2011, a premier culinary festival coming into its third year, will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 at four luxury ho...
Japanese chocolate: rising star in Land of Rising Sun

Oct 24, 2011

PARIS (AFP) ― Move over azuki and sweet sticky rice. While Japanese pastry chefs may have started using cocoa a few centuries after the West, this once foreign flavor has captivated Japan’s confectionery world. Japanese chocolate makers and pastry chefs were the star guests at the 17th Salon du Chocolat held in Paris this week. One of them, Susumu Koyama, 47, was even named “Best Foreign Chocola...
Port wine keeps its past, looks for future

Oct 24, 2011

PINHAO, Portugal (AP) ― When Dominic Symington looks out from his shady hillside garden across the vineyards of Portugal’s majestic Douro Valley, he sees centuries of family and European history. British families like the Symingtons have been at the heart of this northern Portuguese region’s port wine trade for generations. Dominic Symington, one of seven in the family wine business, has an ance...
Hard Rock vodka latest duet of music and liquors

Oct 21, 2011

Do you like your vodka classical? Or are you a little bit rock-n-roll? Whatever your taste, there’s a label out there for you as liquor producers join forces with some big names. One of the newest brands to get in the musical spirit is Hard Rock Vodka, made by Boca Raton, Florida-based Ultimate Beverages, which has licensed the Hard Rock brand from Hard Rock Spirits, LLC, which was made famous b...
Some like it really hot

Oct 21, 2011

IMPHAL, India ― Mexican jalapenos, Sichuan mala peppers, African kambuzi ― mere child’s play. Although many places claim to have the maddest, baddest chile this side of Hades, northeast India’s “ghost chile” is scientifically recognized as the hottest commercial chile pepper on the planet, 200 times spicier than jalapenos. The peppers are so hot that workers handling them wear goggles and gloves...
Bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes)

Oct 21, 2011

Bindaetteok is a savory pancake made of ground mung beans, meat, vegetables and kimchi. It was originally used as the supporter for the fried meat on a large dining table. Later, it became a delicious-looking food for a binja (pauper), so it was named “binjatteok” (pauper’s cake). Bindaetteok (Institute of Traditional Korean Food) Ingredients ● 1/2 cups thin skin mung bean (geopi-nokdu), 1/4 t...
Warm patjuk for a crisp autumn

Oct 21, 2011

Red bean porridge, sweet or savory, steps outside winter for a fall outing Patjuk, that comforting pottage of red beans, is often pigeonholed as a winter specialty, reserved, as turkey is for Thanksgiving, to be eaten on Dongji, the shortest day of the year. According to Lee Hyo-gee’s “Korean Cuisine Culture” (Shinkwang Publishing Company, 2001), bowls of red bean porridge dotted with tteok sha...
Wine of the Week: 2010 Trajarinho Vinho Verde

Oct 14, 2011

The 2010 Trajarinho Vinho Verde is a bottling well worth seeking out. Look for the characteristic tall slope-shouldered shape and the distinctive Trajarinho label. (Los Angeles Time/MCT) In Porto, I remember eating sardines grilled outside a little restaurant near the sea accompanied by gulps of chilled vinho verde. It’s easier to find the wine here now, and this bottling is well worth seeking o...
Food trucks often a gateway to opening a restaurant

Oct 14, 2011

LOS ANGELES ― The food truck revolution is moving indoors. The owners of some of the most successful trucks are using the knowledge, fame and bankability gained from operating their mobile eateries to start sit-down restaurants. “To grow a restaurant from the ground up is impossible,” said Eric Tjahyadi, who with his brother Erwin and two other partners started the Komodo Truck with its Asian-i...
Seolleongtang (Ox-bone Soup)

Oct 14, 2011

Seolleongtang (Institute of Traditional Korean Food) Seolleongtang is a soup made by simmering ox bones, intestines and shank for a long time. The name of the soup comes from a story in which the king held a memorial service at the seonnongdan (an altar) with his officers, and offered an ox as a sacrifice and shared ox bone soup afterwards with the attendants. Ingredients ● 1 kg ox-knee bone, ...