Korea meets Philippines~

I've been cooking different variations of Yukkaejang (Korean Beef Soup, Spicy).  In my opinion, Korean Beef Soup is a grandmother dish.  The aroma of Yukkaejang would spark childhood memories.  My variation is chicken Yukkaejang.  Really, the combination of spices in the recipe can be used for almost any protein~~  The key is that I'm beginning to understand how to make something red.  I mean, I'm still fascinated by the process of producing French sauces- making a Sauce bourguignonne, a Buerre Blanc- the brown and white. I've even made a dazzling yellow corn sauce to accompany whole lobster~  being a saucier requires finesse... 

Tonight, I was able to fuse primary ingredients of a beloved Bicol dish and a traditional Korean dish.   Bicol Express is a spicy dish stewed with peppers and pork.  The odor of pork is eliminated by ginger and lemon grass.  This is a well known fact for cooking pork.  The joke about Bicol Express is this:  An interesting conversation begins with the cook cutting peppers and then the conversation ends with the cook still cutting peppers.  Every bite is 1 part pork to 10 parts sliced pepper.  The dish is enriched with coconut milk.  The flavor profile is spicy, tear droppingly aromatic, and rich.  It can be stored for a long time because the peppers are so concentrated, it kills any filthy bacteria. 

Yukkaejang on the other hand uses gochu jang, red pepper powder, protein, and  namul (vegetables).  One can probably guess what the harmony is between these two dishes.  Yes, they are both spicy.  I'm not saying to simply mix gochujang with coconut milk, no.  Surprisingly, the ingredient that made the dish was the fish sauce.  Filipinos use Patis (fermented fish sauce) when adding green vegetables to soups and stews.  It was the fermented odor of this addition which united the two cultures.  Bicolanos would be taken aback  by the smell of kakduggi/kimchi, as Koreans would be perplexed by the fatty full bodied flavor of Filippino stews.  It was this stench of fermented fish that added the complexity.  The creation was outright delicious. 

Overall, I'm not quite sure what to call this red stew except 'Korea meets the Philippines', I don't know yet.  As for fermented foods, I think all cultures have a stench that they can associate with.  It's when you know you need to take a shower and yet, that odor makes you want to keep coming back for more.   

Cooks note:
Skim the stew~~