Jeotgal and fish sauce in Korean food

Where it hides in Korean food

Jeotgal is not made from just one thing. Fish such as anchovy and yellow croaker, pollock roe and guts, shrimp and crab, clams and oysters, even squid and small octopus are all made into jeotgal. So which allergy a jeotgal touches, among fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, squid and octopus, depends on what it was made from, and once it is mixed into a seasoning it is hard to tell.

Jeotgal is also served as it is, as a side dish. Common ones are myeongnan jeot from pollock roe, changnan jeot from pollock guts, thinly sliced squid jeot and eorigul jeot from oysters. Most are seasoned red with chili powder, so they can look like other spicy side dishes.

Myeongnan jeot also goes into dishes beyond the side plate. It is sometimes added to steamed egg or fried rice, and altang, a roe stew, is often cooked with myeongnan jeot.

Jeju black pork barbecue is often dipped in meljeot, a salted anchovy sauce, and some places warm the meljeot on the grill. In some regions the liquid from jeotgal is used in place of soy sauce, and anchovy jeotgal is also mixed into seasoned seaweed.

How it is written in Korean

• 젓갈jeotgalsalted fermented seafood
• 액젓aekjeotliquid fish sauce
• 멸치액젓myeolchiaekjeotanchovy fish sauce
• 까나리액젓kkanariaekjeotsand lance fish sauce
• 새우젓saeujeotsalted fermented shrimp

These are common words, not a complete list. A word missing here does not mean the ingredient is missing from the food.

Korean law does not require packaged food to name this ingredient in its allergy box, so 젓갈, 액젓 can be in the food without showing up there. Read the full ingredient list for the words above. The exception is a sauce made from shrimp or mackerel, such as saeujeot: those must be named in the box as shrimp or mackerel.

Dishes that contain it

Based on the 20 dishes this site has researched. Dishes not listed here can contain it too.

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Sources we checked

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