We've been out of Kimchi for a while, so we've been long overdue to make some more. Thank goodness Mrs. Irish took the lead and did all the prep work...

...And with Covid, Flu, etc... Ramping up we needed as many of the good guys (Lactobacillus) thriving inside of us as we can get.

We do it a little different than the Korean Halmeoni do it. We chop the Napa cabbage and soak it in salt water for a few hours to kill all the bad bacteria so we can give the lactobacilli a head start. During that, Mrs. Irish minces Fresh Ginger and Garlic, cuts carrots and radish into matchsticks, and cuts up some green onion.

Then we drain off the salt water, and add all the above ingredients and a couple of tablespoons of sugar to feed the bacteria, about a half a cup of Korean chili flakes. We didn't add fish sauce or dried powdered shrimp to this batch. Sometimes we do.

I take all that and macerate it with my hands until it starts to get juicy. You have to use gloves or it will burn the crap out of your hands. Then take it and literally cram it all in jars firmly so as to get it all covered in the brine. Then I put on special fermentation lids to allow gas to escape, but no bad bacteria in. Leave it out for about 7 days to ferment and smell and taste to see if it is all ready.

I lasts for months in the fridge. The fridge slows the fermentation process. The longer it sits in the fridge the better it gets.

🥋 🇯🇵

that will peel the paint off the wall! looks good. definitely an acquired taste.

Love me some Kimchi.

It certainly is.

True story...

We thought we had found the holy grail of little mom and pop Chinese restaurants in Rainbow City called Royal Kitchen. (Since closed down because the lady retired.) We loved that place and loved the little Korean lady that ran it. We found out that she made kimchi there and sold it for just a few dollars, and thought "Oh boy this is gonna be great!"

Well we bought some and brought it home excited to try it.

Well... It was awful. We could hardly eat it. It was so bad. Maybe that's the way they liked it, or maybe like southern cooking different Koreans make things different ways depending on which grandmother makes it, I don't know. The only thing I do know is that ours was better than that Korean lady's in every way, which is why we keep going to the trouble of making it ourselves every few months.

You know I’ve never had Kimchi. I need to catch it in a restaurant and order some one day.

Go easy at first and eat it at a Korean restaurant as part of a bowl.

It's best as a condiment not a side dish. Sort of like Chow Chow or Relish or Sauerkraut. Mater of fact I put it on hotdogs all the time.

Are there various kinds? I've heard of it with just veggies, but I thought there was a version with fish in it as well. Am I dreaming that in my head?

There are numerous variations on it, I've even seen it made with Collard Greens.

Usually there is either some fermented fish sauce in it or dried shrimp in it to give it a Umami flavor.

And the classic recipe calls for rice flour, but we didn't have any.

Guy I used to work with had a Korean Wife. He would bring me homemade Kimchi. Man that stuff was good!

I love it. Cucumber kimchi is my favorite, or kimchi stew when it gets cold outside!

Got a recipe to link? What do you serve it with?