[GLOBAL INSIGHTS]

by Karen Nachay

Ready Set Gochujang

n doing research for this Korean cuisine is very popular sugar, honey, or oil, or add small gochujang to hummus and other month’s Ingredients column right now with foodies, this is amounts of it to foods like sauces, dips and spreads, salad dress- Iabout Asian ingredients and one of the flavors that may get soups, and stews. Even though ings, breading and batter, and cuisine, experts mentioned one the uninitiated interested in this gochujang is made with chili pep- seasoning blends and rubs. ingredient in particular as having cuisine,” remarks Chris Warsow, pers and comes in various heat As Michael Harlan Turkell, potential in culinary and pack- corporate executive chef at Bell levels, combining it with other cookbook photographer, author, aged goods applications. You Flavors & Fragrances, ingredients can temper the heat a and moderator of a session at the may have even noticed it: a thick Northbrook, Ill. (bellff.com). bit so that the finished product is Culinary Institute of America’s red paste sold in plastic contain- Typically found in Asian mar- more rounded and balanced with 2015 Worlds of Flavor Conference ers at the grocery store. That’s kets, gochujang is now sold in heat and other flavors. on Asia and the Theater of World gochujang, an intensely flavored grocery store chains like Whole Sriracha, another spicy Asian Menus explained, there are differ- condiment made from glutinous Foods and Walmart. Unlike srira- sauce that has gained mass ent iterations of gochujang; it is rice, fermented soybeans, chili cha and soy sauce, this appeal in recent years, has not just one sauce like ketchup. To peppers, and salt (and some- condiment is too strong to be turned up in ketchup, snack demonstrate this, Hee Kyung times a sweetener) widely used used on its own; you mix it with foods, and even beer (Rogue Ales Lucia Cho, owner of Bicena and in Korean cuisine. “Although other ingredients like soy sauce, has brewed Rogue Sriracha Hot Gaon restaurants in Seoul, Korea, Stout Beer made with the Huy and Ki Su Bang, executive chef at Ssamjang sauces made with Fong brand of sriracha). Can Bicena, presented three different gochujang come in many variations gochujang be far behind? Chefs sauces based on gochujang. The and are often used to top foods wrapped in lettuce leaves. © Adam_ are already experimenting with first was a vinegar-based gochu- Lee_MY/iStock/Thinkstock different ways to incorporate the jang made with vinegar, condiment in dishes while ingredi- gochujang, sugar, lemon juice, ent manufacturers are developing garlic juice, ginger puree, and gochujang ingredients for use in simple syrup that can be used packaged goods. Frank with raw fish in sushi in place of Dominguez, corporate chef at soy sauce, said Cho. The second Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Va. was a thick paste created by add- (smithfieldfoods.com), says that ing soybean paste to the gochujang is making an impact in gochujang along with barley, recipes as a marinade and ingre- chopped garlic, honey, and ses- dient in sauces. He has used ame oil. Cho said that this paste is gochujang in a marinade for pork particularly delicious in lettuce ribs prior to smoking them and wraps. The final sauce was made developed a BBQ sauce by blend- by sautéing garlic, scallion, ing gochujang and sriracha for a chopped protein, soy sauce, ses- pungent, spicy glaze that pairs ame oil, chopped pine nuts, and well with pork (the company is the gochujang. This version may be top U.S. producer of packaged used in bibimbap (rice with other pork products). One of the newest ingredients for a one-dish meal), ingredients introduced by stews, and stir-fry. FT Woodland Foods, Waukegan, Ill. (woodlandfoods.com), is a gochu- Karen Nachay, jang powder. The shelf-stable Senior Associate Editor • [email protected] ingredient allows product devel- opers to add the pungent flavor of

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