Mushrooms in Korean food
Mushrooms (버섯)
In Korean food, mushrooms go into broths and seasonings as well as appearing as pieces. Dried shiitake is a common stock ingredient, so a clear soup can carry mushroom even when none is visible.
Where it hides in Korean food
Dried shiitake and kelp are the classic natural seasonings of Korean temple food, simmered together into a stock that is used in place of water. Temple food leaves out meat and fish and builds flavor from dried mushrooms instead, so vegetarian and temple-style restaurants are a common place to meet mushrooms. Dried shiitake is also ground into a powder and added in small amounts to soups, stir-fries and braised dishes, and many cooks boil dried shiitake with kelp in the soy brine for ganjang gejang.
Japchae, stir-fried glass noodles, usually has mushrooms such as wood ear, shiitake and oyster mushrooms tossed in with the other vegetables, and shiitake has been part of it since it was a royal court dish. Bulgogi is often stir-fried or simmered with mushrooms, especially in the brothy Seoul style. The vegetables in jjamppong can include shiitake or wood ear, and the glass noodle filling of savory hotteok sometimes has sliced shiitake.
Korean hot pots called jeongol usually contain mushrooms along with beef or seafood and vegetables, and beoseot jeongol, mushroom hot pot, is built around several kinds at once. A mushroom hot pot is not necessarily vegetarian: it may be cooked with beef, and some recipes use an anchovy and clam broth. Enoki and oyster mushrooms are common additions to budae jjigae and sundubu jjigae, and cream tteokbokki almost always has button mushrooms.
Mushrooms are also made into namul side dishes, and oyster, enoki, shiitake and button mushrooms are all used this way. Bibimbap may be topped with sauteed mushrooms like the other vegetables. Pyogo jeon is a shiitake cap filled with ground beef and pan-fried. At samgyeopsal restaurants, button or oyster mushrooms are often grilled in the pork fat alongside the meat.
Dishes that contain it
Sometimes in it
- BibimbapShiitake or oyster mushrooms are sometimes sauteed and added like the other vegetable toppings, and Jeonju bibimbap is topped with shiitake.
- Budae-jjigae (army base stew)Some recipes add mushrooms such as enoki as an extra topping.
- BulgogiMushrooms are often stir-fried or simmered with the meat, and they are almost always in the brothy versions such as ttukbaegi bulgogi and Seoul-style bulgogi.
- Ganjang-gejang (soy sauce marinated raw crab)Many cooks add dried shiitake along with kelp when boiling the soy brine for extra savory depth, but simpler recipes may leave it out.
- Hotteok (sweet filled pancake)Some glass noodle hotteok fillings include sliced shiitake mushrooms along with carrot and spinach.
- Jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup)Mushrooms such as shiitake or wood ear are sometimes among the jjamppong vegetables.
- Sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew)Enoki, oyster or shiitake mushrooms are sometimes added.
- TteokbokkiCream tteokbokki almost always has button mushrooms, and mushrooms are sometimes added to the red version too.
Based on the 20 dishes this site has researched. Dishes not listed here can contain it too.