Maesilcha is Asian plum tea made by marinating maesil (Asian plum) with sugar or honey, and then diluting that liquid with cold or boiling water. Maesilcha is served chilled in the summer. It is high in organic acids, which are good for relieving physical fatigue, quenching thirst and stimulating appetite. Ingredients ● 500g plum, 500 g sugar, 2 tsp pine nuts, 2.16 kg water 1. Wash the plums i...

You can follow a recipe to the letter, but you don’t really begin to cook until you learn to play with your food. To be precise, learn to play with a few key ingredients and cooking techniques to boost the flavor of a dish, moving it from boring to beautiful. Consider a simmering pot of split pea soup we made the other day. Followed the recipe to the letter. Didn’t need salt. Didn’t need pepper....

Here’s an exceptional white wine made by genius Port producer Dirk Niepoort _ and it’s priced well under $20. Instead of a blend, Niepoort makes this entirely with the native Loureiro grape fermented and aged in stainless steel. And he gives it the same attention to detail as his more expensive whites. The 2010 Niepoort Docil is crisp and fresh yet nuanced and more complex than many a Vinho Verd...

In South Korea, whiskey has long held onto a steadfast position as a popular libation for business and social gatherings. Mixed with beer as a “poktan” drink or served up on the rocks or straight, the spirit maintained a secure position in the alcohol market that appeared unshakable. Then the makgeolli boom took off several years ago and the shift from whiskey-formulated “poktan” drinks to soju...

This is a zippy Trebbiano from an estate in Italy’s south dedicated to organic farming. I can remember when it was nearly impossible to find a crisp white from that region. But Cirelli’s 2010 Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is as refreshing as lemon sorbet. The fruit tastes ripe and golden, but the wine is bone dry. It’s just what’s needed if you’re serving a seafood salad or pasta. It’s great with vegetabl...

Tteokguk is a soup made of diagonally sliced rice cakes simmered in beef broth, garnished with pressed meat, and fried egg white and yolk strips. People enjoy tteokguk made with sliced garaetteok on the first day of the year. Garaetteok is a rice cake that is pulled into a long rod. It is eaten in hopes of expanding one’s property. Ingredients ● 600g white rice cake ● 300g beef (brisket or sha...

“People went for the ambiance. But right now, people want to know what they are drinking and they want to know the quality of what they are drinking.” An’s goal is to help them do just that. “I want my store to subtly educate customers about specialty coffee,” he said. An first opened Coffee L E C in Bundang a little over a year ago, then moved to his current location in Sinsa-dong last Octobe...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Paula Deen, the Southern belle of butter and heavy cream, makes no apologies for waiting three years to disclose she has diabetes while continuing to dish up deep-fried cheesecake and other high-calorie, high-fat recipes on TV. She said she isn't changing the comfort cooking that made her a star, though it isn't clear how much of it she'll continue to eat while she promotes heal...

Eomandu is thinly sliced white fish fillet (croaker, sea bream, flatfish or gray mullet) that is stuffed with beef and vegetables, coated with starch, then steamed. The white fish fillet as dumpling skin is unique, light and sweet in taste. It was originally a summer dish but now people enjoy it on special occasions year-round. Ingredients ● 3 white fillet fish (croaker, codfish, frozen pollack...

He may have inadvertently paved the way for McDonald’s, but great Victorian chef Auguste Escoffier was so slight a man that he even couldn’t reach the stove. He had platform shoes made and went on to cook his way into culinary history. In a time before Twitter or even phone service, Escoffier, who was born in 1846, quickly rose to become known as the Ambassador of French cuisine and was eventuall...