Drinks & Drinking Culture - K-Food: Korean Home Cooking and Street Food - Da-Hae West, Gareth West

K-Food: Korean Home Cooking and Street Food - Da-Hae West, Gareth West (2016)

Chapter 8. Drinks & Drinking Culture

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If you’ve ever been to Korea - or even seen the video for Psy’s Hangover - you’ll have some idea of what drinking in Korea is like. Drinking is an important part of Korean culture because Koreans see it as an important way of forming bonds and relationships, as it makes people let their guard down. In fact, there’s even a saying which translates as, ‘one glass isn’t enough, three’s too little, five’s the right number and seven’s pushing the limit’. I’ve heard my uncle say this before and it’s a rule I’m pretty sure he sticks to.

The most popular alcohol in Korea is soju, which was traditionally made by distilling rice and water. Nowadays, the mass-produced varieties contain a mixture of grains (including wheat, barley and tapioca) along with ethanol, water and sweeteners. It’s cheap (and so is an easy way to get drunk) as one bottle of standard 375ml (13fl oz), 19 per cent ABV soju normally costs around W1200 or about £0.75. Soju is a clear spirit, like vodka but it tastes a little sweeter and feels smoother. It’s usually served chilled and poured into shot glasses, though there’s a real culture of mixing your drinks in Korea, which we’ll go into more detail on later. As well as soju, other popular drinks include:

Makgeolli

Makgeolli is a fermented drink (some say rice wine, some say rice beer) made with rice using a Korean fermentation starter called nuruk. It’s a creamy, cloudy drink that’s slightly sweet and a little bit fizzy. It’s about six per cent ABV and is usually drunk from metal or wooden bowls. Traditionally favoured by farmers and the elderly (it’s often considered to be quite filling), makgeolli used to be a pretty unfashionable drink, though that’s now changed with the rise of makgeolli bars which sell different variations of it, including chestnut, yuja (yuzu), berry and sesame.

Beer

Beer or mekju as it’s called in Korean is very popular. The Korean brands OB, Cass and Hite dominate the market with their light, easy-to-drink beer. People more used to Western-style beers often find Korean beer quite watery and weak, but as it’s so light, it’s makes a great accompaniment to Korean food, which is often full of strong flavours.

Bekseju

Bekseju or ‘one-hundred-year-old wine’ refers to how old you might live to be when drinking it due to its apparent health properties. Bekseju is made with Korean sweet (glutinous) rice and is flavoured with ginseng and 11 other herbs including ginger, cinnamon and liquorice - all of which combined are said to help you live a long life. A little sweet, the predominant ginseng flavour can taste quite medicinal at first until you get used to it.

Sansachun

Sansachun is another drink known for its medicinal properties, and is said to help calm your nerves. Supposedly, a shot of this a day will keep the doctor away. Sansachun is made from the red berries of the sansa (hawthorn) and is very sweet and syrupy, so it’s best enjoyed before a meal rather than with food.

Bokbunja

Bokbunja is a syrupy wine made with black raspberries that is usually between 15-19 per cent ABV. It’s sweet, mild and deep red in colour, and works really well with desserts - I like to pour it all over an Eton mess as the flavour really complements the berries and meringues. It’s said to help promote ‘male stamina’ (like a lot of things which are said to be good for the health in Korea), and so is a popular drink with honeymooners. The best thing about bokbunja though has to be its translation, which is ‘a force so strong, it could knock a urinal over’, illustrating perfectly how easy to drink it is.

Maesilju

Maesilju is made from small green plums called maesil. It usually comes in a green bottle with a wide top with a few plums at the bottom. It’s sweet and tart as the plums are usually fermented with plenty of sugar, and it’s usually drunk from small shot glasses like soju, but can also be enjoyed as a dessert wine or in cocktails.

DRINKING RULES

People new to Korean drinking culture are often surprised by how many rules there are. These rules include:

✵ Drink the drink you’re given. It’s considered very rude to refuse a drink - even if you’re not a big drinker, you’d be expected to at least take the first glass.

✵ Make sure to pour and receive drinks with both hands, unless you’re drinking with friends, or if you’re the eldest.

✵ The first drink should be with everyone all together, so that you can ‘cheers’ or gumbae in Korean.

✵ The youngest at the table should pour the drink, unless someone older takes it from them.

✵ Never fill your own glass, particularly if it’s a sharing bottle such as soju. Always keep an eye on everyone else’s glasses to be ready to pour them a drink so that their glass doesn’t sit empty - Koreans also believe that you shouldn’t top up a glass that is half-filled (you should wait until that person has drained their shot).

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HWESHIK

Most companies in Korea will take part in something called hweshik which translates as ‘company dinner’, as it combines the words hwesa (company) and shiksa (meal). These company meals are held on a regular basis (once or twice a month) and are pretty mandatory if you want to get anywhere in business. Hweshik is more than just eating together and is very different to the average company get-together in the UK as it’s actually an event that takes place in several rounds called il cha, ee cha, sam cha, sa cha (and if you’re still standing, o cha) - rounds one, two, three, four and five, with each round taking place in a different location.

Il Cha (1)

Hweshiks usually kick off at a Korean BBQ restaurant, with the boss ordering meat (usually samgyeopsal, for the entire table along with plenty of drink (usually beer and soju).

Ee Cha (2)

After the barbecue, the next place is the pub, or hof as it’s called in Korean. This will include more food called anju (usually Korean Fried Chicken) and a few bottles of soju will be ordered.

Sam Cha (3)

Sam cha is often another hof for a change of scenery and plenty more drinks. At this point, there will be a lot more drinking games going on.

Sa Cha (4)

For round four, everyone then moves over to the noraebang or karaoke. Karaokes can be found all over Korea and are usually private rooms with a big screen, a fat book of songs to choose from and a few tambourines. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the best voice, as the whole thing is more about the bonding experience, but if you want to save face some people (members of my family included) practice four to five songs to make sure they’re able to belt them out perfectly when their time comes.

O Cha (5)

If you have the stamina to last until o cha (impressive), then it’s time to move to a club for more drinks and lots of dancing, often until the sun starts to rise…

MIXING DRINKS

Mixing your drinks is very common in Korea, with ‘bomb’ type drinks being particularly popular - and not just reserved for university students. Even when President Lee Myung Bak was in office, he’d always drink soju bombs when he was drinking in public with other high-ranking officials.

Somek

The most popular soju mix is somek - a glass of beer mixed with soju. You put a glass of soju at the bottom of a beer glass, pour beer up to the rim and stick a chopstick in the centre which you then hit hard with the other chopstick to cause bubbles to rise and mix everything together. Another way to mix a somek is to line up a row of beers with shots of soju balanced in between them to create a soju train. The first soju shot is then flicked over so that all the soju glasses fall into the beer in a domino effect.

Go-jin-gam-rae

Translating as ‘no pain, no gain’, this drink is a combination of cola, soju and beer. Place a shot glass three-quarters full of cola at the bottom of a beer glass followed by an empty shot glass on top which you fill with soju. Beer is then poured in the gap next to the glasses until it reached the top, with the idea being to drink this all in one (or ‘one shot’ as Koreans say) so that you get the fizz of the beer, followed by the soju and then ending with the sweetness of cola.

O-Sip-Se-Ju

Bekseju or ‘one-hundred-year-old wine’ becomes o-sip-se-ju or ‘fifty-year-old wine’ when mixed in equal quantities of soju.

So-baek-san-mek

This drink is named after the initials of all the component drinks and is a simple mix of equal parts of soju, bekseju, sansachun and mekju (beer). This is often done by the bottle in a big jug.

HANGOVER CURES

Due to having such a big drinking culture, Korea has a lot of hangover cures. The most popular include soups such as Gamjatang, bean sprout soup, haejangguk (which literally translates as ‘hangover cure soup’) and dried pollock soup.

There are also lots of different energy drinks that you can buy at the convenience store (or pharmacy if you’re in need of something stronger) in small brown or green bottles which you down in one shot to get rid of a hangover. One of the most popular is called Condition - you drink one before you start drinking any alcohol and then one the next day, and most Koreans will swear that you won’t feel a thing, no matter how much you’ve had to drink the night before.

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DRINKING GAMES

Gareth has been introduced to a whole host of different drinking games by my cousins, which include the following:

Flicking the Soju Cap

The common green soju bottles have a metal screw-top lid. As you open the bottle, you’re often left with a metal thread dangling from the side, which you twist in on itself to create a little stick. Everyone around the table has a turn flicking the stick - the winner is the person who is able to get the stick to fly off and the person before them has to drink a shot.

Baskin Robbins 31

I’m not sure why this is called Baskin Robbins, but basically everyone around the table counts up to three numbers in order. For example: one or one, two or one, two, three. This goes around the group until it gets to 30 - whoever 31 lands on must drink.

Three, Six, Nine

Go around the table and count in order starting from one. Any time a number has a three, six or nine in it, the person has to clap - until the numbers reach double figures (33, 36, 39), in which case you have to clap twice on these numbers. Whoever says the wrong number or claps in the wrong place (or forgets to clap twice) has to drink a shot.

Titanic

Fill a glass with beer and then float an empty shot glass on top. Everyone has a turn pouring a little bit of alcohol into the shot glass and whoever makes it sink has to drink.

Everyone Drinks

Each person takes turns to get everyone else around the table to have a drink by coming up with criteria for those who have to take a shot. For example, ‘all the people wearing jeans, drink’, or ‘all the men over 20, drink’. This game is fast-paced and dangerous as it’s so open to stitching someone up.

The Black Knight/Rose

If you’ve reached a point in your evening where you really can’t drink anymore, you can nominate a Black Knight (for men) or Black Rose (for women) as someone to take your drink for you. By doing this though, your ball is very much in the Black Knight or Rose’s court as they can think up the terms of repayment (a favour or dare) and then there’s always the risk that they might refuse you, in which case you have to drink two shots instead... it’s a pretty risky business and only really suggested for desperate times!

Kimchi Bloody Mary

In Korea, eating and drinking with your colleagues (and boss) is an important part of team bonding called hweshik. This midweek drinking culture means that hangovers can be a common problem, which explains Korea’s many different hangover cures. Here we’ve taken the traditional Bloody Mary recipe but given it a bit of an extra Korean chilli kick with the kimchi and gochugaru. We’ve also decorated this drink with bean sprouts as a cheeky nod to the (many) Korean hangover soups in which they feature.

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1 long red chilli, trimmed, deseeded and finely chopped

ice cubes

35ml (1¼fl oz) vodka

25ml (1fl oz) soju (Korean rice/grain spirit)

50ml juice drained from kimchi

70ml (2½fl oz) tomato juice

2 teaspoons lime juice

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

TO DECORATE

1 tablespoon gochugaru (Korean red chilli powder)

¼ lime

3-4 beansprouts

1 celery stick

1_ Put the chilli at the bottom of a pint glass and squash it with the end of a rolling pin (or muddler if you have one) to release its flavour.

2_ Fill the glass with ice cubes, then add the vodka, soju, kimchi juice, tomato juice, lime juice and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the cocktail into a second pint glass, then return it to the original glass. Repeat the process 3 times (the aim is to chill the cocktail without melting the ice and diluting the drink).

3_ Spread the gochugaru evenly over a small plate. Run the lime quarter along the rim of a highball glass, then dip the rim of the glass in the gochugaru to coat. Fill the glass with ice cubes, strain over the cocktail mix and decorate with a few bean sprouts and a celery stick to serve.

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Apple and Chilli Smash

When I order something from a menu that says it has chilli in it, I really want to be able to feel that chilli heat. Now, I don’t necessarily mean I want my head blown off, but I definitely want to know that there’s some chilli in there. That’s why I love this drink in which the sour apple contrasts with the chilli’s prickly, fruity heat. It’ll leave your tongue tingling.

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½ lime, cut into quarters

½ apple, cut into 1-cm (½-inch) cubes

1 red chilli, trimmed, deseeded and roughly chopped

2 teaspoons caster sugar

50ml (2fl oz) apple vodka

crushed ice

50ml (2fl oz) clear lemonade

1 red bird’s eye chilli, to decorate

1_ Put the lime, apple, chopped chilli and sugar in a jug. Using the end of a rolling pin (or a cocktail muddler if you have one), squash the ingredients together to let their flavours infuse.

2_ Pour the apple vodka into a highball glass and fill with crushed ice. Tip the smashed lime and apple mix into the glass and stir together well with a cocktail spoon. Pour over the lemonade.

3_ Cut a slit in the middle of the bird’s eye chilli and prop on the rim of the glass to decorate and serve.

Grown-up Yakult

Ever since I was little, I’ve been a bit addicted to Yakult. For me the milky probiotic is a real reminder of Korea (I drank at least three to four bottles a day when I was there) and even now my aunt always has some in her refrigerator ready for me when I visit, as she knows how much I love it. Combining it with soju might sound a bit intimidating, but along with the lemonade, this cocktail actually ends up tasting like fizzy sweets. Trust me.

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ice cubes

70ml (2½fl oz) soju (Korean rice/grain spirit)

1 Yakult (65ml/2¼fl oz)

70ml (2½fl oz) lemonade

Fill a highball glass with ice cubes. Pour over the soju, Yakult and the lemonade to finish. Stir together with a cocktail spoon and serve.

Soju Mule

This cocktail was the most popular drink at our first ever pop-up in Tooting market. It is almost sinfully simple but the sweetness of the soju balances brilliantly against the sourness of the lime and the bitterness of the Angostura. This drink is amazing served in a huge jug filled with ice for friends to share on a summer’s day.

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ice cubes

1 lime, cut into eighths

10 drops of Angostura bitters

70ml (2½fl oz) soju (Korean rice/grain spirit)

80ml (2¾fl oz) ginger beer

1_ Fill a highball glass with ice cubes.

2_ Squeeze the lime segments over the ice, then drop them into the glass. Pour over the Angostura bitters, soju and ginger beer. Stir together with a cocktail spoon and serve.

Baesuk Martini

Definitely one for those with a sweet tooth, Baesuk is a traditional Korean punch made from steamed pear, cinnamon, honey and jujube. Here these flavours combine perfectly with rum to create a lightly spiced martini version of this Korean sweet treat.

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1 x 410g (14oz) tin pears in syrup

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon clear runny honey

ice cubes

15ml (½fl oz) spiced light rum

35ml (1¼fl oz) vodka

1 jujube (dried red date), to decorate (optional)

1_ Drain the syrup from the pears into a saucepan and set the pears to one side.

2_ Add the cinnamon stick and honey to the pan and heat gently for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until the honey has dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse, then remove the cinnamon stick and leave for a further 5 minutes to cool.

3_ Fill a martini glass with ice cubes to chill, then tip the ice out.

4_ Fill a pint glass with ice cubes. Pour over the rum, vodka and 50ml (2fl oz) of the cooled syrup and gently stir the ingredients together with a cocktail spoon.

5_ Place the jujube at the bottom of the martini glass and strain over the cocktail mix.

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HongCho Collins

HongCho is a flavoured drinking vinegar with added fruit concentrate. In Korea, it’s usually enjoyed in the summer, mixed with sparkling water and poured over ice, as a tangy, refreshing drink. This cocktail mixes HongCho with soju - the tang of the drinking vinegar taking away the harsh alcoholic edge of the spirit. Dangerously delicious, it’s perhaps a little too easy to drink…

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ice cubes

70ml (2½fl oz) soju (Korean rice/grain spirit)

70ml (2½fl oz) pomegranate HongCho

25ml (1fl oz) lemon juice

35ml (1¼fl oz) bokbunja (Korean berry wine)

25ml (1fl oz) sugar syrup

soda water, to top up

TO DECORATE

slice of lemon

1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds

1_ Fill a highball glass with ice cubes and set aside.

2_ Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Add the soju, HongCho, lemon juice, bokbunja and sugar syrup and shake vigorously for about 1 minute, or until a frost forms on the side of the shaker.

3_ Strain the cocktail into the highball glass and top up with soda water. Decorate with a slice of lemon and some pomegranate seeds.

TIP: Make up your own sugar syrup by stirring together equal parts of caster sugar and water until the sugar has dissolved.

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