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Korean Food: Seafood

Jangeo-gui | Maeun-tang | Nakji Bokkeum | Nakji-jeongol | Saengseon-gui

squid Korea is a peninsula, surrounded by water to the East, West, and South. So it should come as no surprise that Koreans eat a large amount of seafood, including fish, eel, crab, squid, whale, and many different types of shellfish. They get very specific about their seafood, with over half a dozen names for octopus, depending on its size. Almost every market has shops with water tanks to keep seafood alive. Busan's Jagalchi Fish Market is truly an unbelievable sight, with hundreds of merchants selling anything that swims, wiggles, or dive, all destined to be dinner for someone. Note: Most seafood dishes are served with the animals whole.


Jangeo-gui (Broiled Eel) Jangeo-gui
Korea's hot summers are the best time to have a dish of broiled eel. Koreans believe the dish helps increase stamina and eat it to avoid heat exhaustion. Eels are sliced longways and the bones removed before being seasoned with sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar. The strips are then broiled.
Spiciness:  Average Price: 

Maeun-tang (Hot Spicy Fish Soup) Maeun-tang
Restaurants that offer this dish often allow you to select your fish from an aquarium. Many specialty seafood restaurants have several aquariums from which you may select. Popular fishes for this dish include red snapper, sea bass, yellow corvina, codfish, globefish, croakers, pollacks, and even fresh water fish like carp. It can also be made with crabsand clams. (The price is calculated based on the weight of the fish.)

The cleaned fish is cut into several pieces and boiled with ground beef and green vegetables such as watercress and garland chrysanthemum, along with red pepper paste. Hot pepper sauce and vegetables are added to this mixture, then it is seasoned with pepper powder, garlic, soy sauce, and more pepper paste. The main flavoring for this popular dish is fiery kochujang (red bean paste).

This soup is one of Korean's most popular side dishes when drinking. It can be made from left-over pieces of raw fish. If you order raw fish and rice, the soup is made from left-over parts of the fish.

How to eat: Put some rice into your mouth and have some soup for mild taste (recommendation). When you drink, have this between the drink. The spicy taste will clear your throat.
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Nakji Bokkeum (Stir-fried Octopus) Nakji Bokkeum
An octopus is cut into bite-sized pieces, along with carrots, onions, green onions, and watercress. This dish is cooked in a round-bottomed Chinese wok over a strong fire and mixed with pre-cooked rice. Red pepper powder and black powder are added as the main seasonings.
Spiciness:  Average Price: 

Nakji-jeongol (Octopus Stew) Nakji-jeongol
Seasoned octopus and vegetables are arranged in a pan casserole with beef broth and cooked at your table. Cooked noodles are added when the soup is boiling. Octopus is a favorite dish of Koreans.

How to eat: Eaten with a bowl of rice. Most Koreans mix rice with spoonfuls of stew.
Spiciness:  Average Price: 

Saengseon-gui (Grilled Fish) Saengseon-gui
The Korean way of grilling seafood is to use the entire fish (including the head!) with simple seasonings such as salt, soy sauce, or hot pepper sauce. Popular choices of fish for this style of cooking include snapper, herring, mackerel, sole, and flounder. Grilled squid (ojingeo-gui) is also very pupular. Taehap-gui (grilled clams) are opened and seasoned with sesame seeds and salt and served garnished with finely chopped scallions, sesame seeds, and black pepper.
Spiciness:  Average Price: 

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