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Posted

Mike,

So did I, so I googled it and kimche seemed to be preferred. Also they listed KimChe. I always spelled it kimchee.

Who know who is the final authority!!!

Posted

Looks like the standard "bucket on the bsmt. floor" method used by every Korean eatery in Chicago.

I can't open the photo for some reason...is there something there other than a bucket?

I spell it both ways; surprisingly, it tastes the same no matter how I spell it....(?)....

Posted
Originally posted by kurt

Looks like the standard "bucket on the bsmt. floor" method used by every Korean eatery in Chicago.

I can't open the photo for some reason...is there something there other than a bucket?

I spell it both ways; surprisingly, it tastes the same no matter how I spell it....(?)....

Ok I'll bite. What is kimChi-e? Is it any thing like fried possum?

Posted

Hi,

It is not "fermented cabbage" it is quite simply pickled vegetables or fruits. Kimchi can be pickled cabbage, onions, peppers, cucumbers, watermelon rind, turnips, parsnips, potatos, potato skins, carrots, beets, and just about any other kind of fruit or vegetable that you want to preserve by pickling with garlic, peppers, water and salt. Cabbage is just the most common form because it's the easiest and cheapest to grow.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Posted

When I was young and single I went out clubbing with an Air Force buddy. I met a good-looking young lady with some kind of Asian heritage, danced with her, moved over the her table, and started talking to her. The music cranked up again, she had to lean in closer and damn near yell for me to hear her, and OH MY GAWD! Her breath almost made me wretch right there in front of her. I quickly wrapped it up and went back to sit with my buddy. I told him what hapened. He danced with her, came back and said just one word; "Kimchee".

I knew I couldn't possibly kiss someone who's breath was that bad. Next.

Brian G.

Kimchee, the Best Boy Repellant Known [:-crazy] [:-yuck]

Posted
Originally posted by hausdok

Hi,

It is not "fermented cabbage" it is quite simply pickled vegetables or fruits. Kimchi can be pickled cabbage, onions, peppers, cucumbers, watermelon rind, turnips, parsnips, potatos, potato skins, carrots, beets, and just about any other kind of fruit or vegetable that you want to preserve by pickling with garlic, peppers, water and salt. Cabbage is just the most common form because it's the easiest and cheapest to grow.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Huuuh...... I always thought there was some element of fermentation in the process.

Didn't know it was only pickling.

I've had the turnip variety, but mostly its' cabbage.

Posted

Mike,

I thought the day would never come that I would have to call you out on an issue, but Mike, your wrong about this. It most certainly goes through a fermentation process.

Posted
Originally posted by AHIS

Mike,

I thought the day would never come that I would have to call you out on an issue, but Mike, your wrong about this. It most certainly goes through a fermentation process.

Yeah, most pickling is a fermentation process. I come from a family of picklers - my dad would pickle anything - and most of the processes involved fermentation.

I made kimchee for a few years. My wife always objected to the smell but I liked it. Then I had one bottle explode and she put her foot down. No more kimchee making allowed.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Posted

I currently have a couple big pails of cabbage and various vegetables pickling in my basement. It does produce a nasty smell, but there is nothing like cabbage rolls made with homemade pickled cabbage.

-Brad

Posted
I made kimchee for a few years. My wife always objected to the smell but I liked it. Then I had one bottle explode and she put her foot down. No more kimchee making allowed.

Jim,

Considering your favorable statement to Jeremy after his C-4 comment the other day , I'm curious as to whether it really was the pickling that caused that explosion.........

Posted
Originally posted by AHIS

Mike,

I thought the day would never come that I would have to call you out on an issue, but Mike, your wrong about this. It most certainly goes through a fermentation process.

I'm sorry, but you're quite wrong.

Kimchi literally means pickled. Fermentation is the process of chemically converting something through the production of yeast and bacteria and it results in alcohol as a by-product. Pickling is a process wherein food is preserved in a brine solution that won't support bacterial growth and there is no bacteria, yeast or alcohol in kimchi that's made correctly.

There's this belief among many westerners that kimchi is fermented because before the days of refrigeration Koreans would seal large clay crocks of prepared vegetables or fruit and bury them underground to keep them airtight and cool while the brine gradually permeated the food. The belief is that this caused fermentation; it did not - it simply pickled the food.

About a decade ago, researchers in Louisiana discovered that the red chili peppers used to prepare so many deep south dishes had unique properties and would actually kill bacterial growth just as effectively as alcohol. So you know what the primary components in the brine solution used to make kimchi are? Red chili pepper, garlic, and salt - brine.

Westerners like to say that good kimchi can only come from those formulations that are 6 months old and have "fermented" the most. That is literally a crock (pun intended). You can make kimchi in as little as 3-4 hours that's every bit as good and hot as kimchi that's been stored away for 6 months in the back of a refrigerator; it's just a matter of knowing how.

I know this because the Korean Konnection (My pet name for my wife) is probably the equivalent, in a Korean's eyes, to Wolfgang Puck. She's not only probably the best Korean cook on the planet but the production of kimchi is like Zen to her and she prepares dozens of types of kimchi for us, her friends, and her church. Every Korean whose ever eaten her cooking or kimchi agrees that there is no Korean anywhere whose better at it. She literally goes through hundreds of pounds of Chinese cabbage, turnips, and all sorts of other vegetables every month. We have a total of four refrigerators and one freezer; two of those fridges are dedicated to kimchi. I think I know a little bit about the stuff.

If pickling produced alcohol would you allow your baby to suck on a dill pickle? They make amazing pacifiers, you know.

Sure, it's got a powerful odor - so doesn't sauerkraut which is exactly the same thing without the red pepper. Ever had a pickled egg or a pickled sausage? Whew! They're good though; aren't they?.

Brian's experience might have been kimchi; but, unless she'd just eaten some kimchi, it's more likely that she'd been eating raw garlic when she was drinking and if she'd been smoking the effect would have been increased tenfold. Koreans will eat raw garlic as a way to cut/affect the taste of alcohol - especially Soju which has a taste all it's own and will kick your butt all the way to Antarctica.

Like tequila with salt, Koreans will eat a garlic clove and then down a shot of soju. The result is the most vile breath on the planet - even worse than a Russian sailor's and I've had the occasion to experience that first hand and can tell you it was bad. S'funny thing though; when you and your friends are all eating garlic and snapping down shots of soju, nobody's breath is noticeably objectionable (D'oh, do ya think?).

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Posted

I may be a bit of a rube, but I have always thought that when something (such as all the cabbage and veggies in my basement and cold room) are pickled in brine they went through a process called "Anaerobic Fermentation." Am I wrong (again)?

-Brad

Posted
Originally posted by hausdok

Originally posted by AHIS

Mike,

I thought the day would never come that I would have to call you out on an issue, but Mike, your wrong about this. It most certainly goes through a fermentation process.

I'm sorry, but you're quite wrong.

Kimchi literally means pickled. Fermentation is the process of chemically converting something through the production of yeast and bacteria and it results in alcohol as a by-product. Pickling is a process wherein food is preserved in a brine solution that won't support bacterial growth and there is no bacteria, yeast or alcohol in kimchi that's made correctly. . . .

There are two basic families of pickles. Fermented and non-fermented. I prefer to refer to the latter as marinated.

The fermentation process in pickles doesn't necessarily involve alcohol. A bacteria produces lactic acid instead. This is why my traditional dill pickles are pucker-sour even though the *only* ingredients that I add to them are brine, dill & garlic -- no vinegar. The fermentation process creates the lactic acid that makes them tart.

There are some pickling processes that do involve alcohol -- my dad's pickled grapes, for instance will pickle you in no time. My family also makes pickles in oil -- a completely anerobic process that is quite dangerous because of the risk of botulism.

With traditional methods, you allow the vegetables to ferment until they reach the stage you like and then you arrest the process and can them -- or just eat them up before the process goes too far.

I wouldn't presume to argue with Yung's kimchee methods, but my attempts at kimchee always involved some vigerous fermentation -- the production of lots of carbon dioxide and a very tangy, acidic final product.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Posted

Jim,

I'll bow to your greater understanding of the scientific process but I can guaranty you that the KK can produce in about 24 hours kimchi that's every bit as tangy and strong as anything that goes through vigorous "fermentation". In fact, if you were to put the two side-by-side and do a blindfolded taste test, I bet you'd be convinced virtually every time that the one that was made in less time was the one that's pickled the longest. As I said, she's elevated the making of kimchi to Zen art. When her Korean friends ask her to make it for her she asks them how strong and how sour they want it and then she tailors it to the person she's making it for. Next time you come this way, give me some advance notice and I'll have her put aside a few jars for you.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Posted

I make sauerkraut every year. All you do is shred the cabbage; then place a good layer of cabbage then about a 1/4" of kosher salt and keep going till you have about 4-5 layers. Last layer needs to be salt only. I use old clay crocks with wooden tops. The tops float on the cabbage, then you place a weight on. As the cabbage reacts to the salt and starts pickling the weight will keep packing it down. After about 2 weeks you need to stir to bring the bottom up to the top and then place the top back on. The weight is not needed at this point. Let it sit for about 4 more weeks and then you have some fine sauerkraut.

The downside is that this process kind of stinks. So it is best done outside in a shed or covered area. I also set the entire crock in a cheese cloth bag that I have made and tie the top to keep any bugs out.

Posted

Mike your replay makes me hungry. I know you were in Korea and your wife is from there and I guessed you know a lot more about it then me. I’ve always been told it was fermented, but have also heard it called pickled cabbage too. In fact when I was in Japan and a newly arrived American would ask “What is thatâ€

Posted

Did you talk about this photo in another section?

Insulation on the GAS water heater is not correct.

I like the vice grips on the gas valve.

The flue on the furnace has plenty of 90's on it.

Is that an opening in the duct work blowing on the water heater flue? I think I see a coil inside?

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