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Shellfish in Korean food

Shellfish (조개류 · 굴 · 전복)

In Korean food, shellfish hides in broths and seasonings more often than in shellfish dishes. Oysters often come in through kimchi and oyster sauce, and clams and mussels through broth.

Where it hides in Korean food

In the kimjang season, when kimchi is made for the winter, shucked oysters often go into the kimchi filling, and freshly mixed geotjeori kimchi may have raw oysters too. Some kimchi is made with oysters on purpose, such as oyster kkakdugi, radish kimchi with plenty of oysters, and in winter some places serve gul bossam, boiled pork with raw oysters.

Kalguksu broth is often made with clams along with anchovy and kelp, and bajirak kalguksu is cooked with short-neck clams, as its name says. Small clams such as bajirak are also often added to doenjang jjigae and seafood sundubu jjigae.

Oyster sauce is a seasoning made from oysters and the broth of long-simmered raw oysters. Besides Chinese-style stir-fries, some recipes mix it into japchae and tteokbokki seasoning, so it can end up in dishes without oysters in the name. Jjamppong, a Korean-Chinese noodle soup, commonly has mussels in it.

Eorigul jeot, oysters mixed with salt and chili powder, and jogae jeot, salted clams, are served as side dishes and with drinks. Street tent bars serve mussel soup and cockles with drinks, some giving the mussel soup at no charge, and on Jeju, abalone porridge, rice cooked in broth simmered from abalone, is eaten as a local dish.

How it is written in Korean

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

Korean law requires packaged food that contains this ingredient to name it in a separate allergy box near the ingredient list. The legal name is 조개류(굴, 전복, 홍합 포함).

Dishes that contain it

Usually in it

Sometimes in 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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