hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the sundubu jjigae from the FX series “The Americans.” For those unfamiliar, the stew that the Jennings family are eating here is a classic Korean kimchi and soft tofu stew, prominently featuring the Korean chili powder “gochugaru,” which is a fairly mellow form of spice (not unlike the chili powder found here in the states). Sundubu jjigae also leans very heavily into fishy and brine-y umami with its use of a dried kombu sea kelp and anchovy stock, not unlike the rabokki recipe that we did a few months back as well.

While our gochugaru certainly does give the stew a deeply red color that looks quite spicy, I honestly think that this is a bit of a mislead, and it looks a little spicier than it actually is. Lastly, the final note that I’ll mention is that a truly classic sundubu jjigae is made using a Korean dolsot stone bowl. Apart from being a super iconic part of how this dish is plated, it also allows to you cook the stew directly in the stove in the bowl that you’ll be eating out of, which (as we’ll see in a moment) ends up being a super important part of how our poached egg turns out. I don’t own a dolsot stone bowl, so I’m gonna run through my best approach to work around this today as well. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on December 24th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 3-4 green onions

• 1lb (1 block) soft tofu

• 6-8 shrimp

• 1/2 cup kimchi

• 3 eggs

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine (or 1 tbsp each rice vinegar and fish sauce)

INGREDIENTS (stock)

• 1 sheet dried kombu kelp

• 1/4 cup dried anchovy

• 6 cups water

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of asian fusion with a shot at the very popular “Crispy Kimchi Bacon Fried Rice” found at the Woo Can Cook pop ups all around the California Bay Area. For those unfamiliar, earlier this summer, we launched a fried rice pop up here in Oakland, serving many of the fried rices and dishes from this series. The kimchi fried rice that we’ll be taking a shot at today is a staple of the Woo Can Cook menu, and features crispy bacon bits, fermented korean “kimchi,” a sweet and savory gochujang and hoisin sauce, and finally, a 2 minute wok sear for a wonderfully crispy finish to the rice. 

We’ll also use this as an opportunity to take a look at how we cook this at the pop up when we’re cooking on 200,000 BTUs of wok burner heat, and then take a look at how to adjust this approach to accommodate for the more moderate BTUs of home burners like the ones you all probably have. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on October 22nd, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp (about 1 inch) ginger

• 1 cup kimchi

• 4 strips bacon

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• kosher salt

• 2 green onions

• 2 cups leftover rice

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp gochujang

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of asian fusion with a shot at the very popular “Crispy Kimchi Bacon Fried Rice” found at the Woo Can Cook pop ups all around the California Bay Area. For those unfamiliar, earlier this summer, we launched a fried rice pop up here in Oakland, serving many of the fried rices and dishes from this series. The kimchi fried rice that we’ll be taking a shot at today is a staple of the Woo Can Cook menu, and features crispy bacon bits, fermented korean “kimchi,” a sweet and savory gochujang and hoisin sauce, and finally, a 2 minute wok sear for a wonderfully crispy finish to the rice. 

We’ll also use this as an opportunity to take a look at how we cook this at the pop up when we’re cooking on 200,000 BTUs of wok burner heat, and then take a look at how to adjust this approach to accommodate for the more moderate BTUs of home burners like the ones you all probably have. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday October 22, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hi there hello everyone! Tonight we're making a Shanghainese dish called "Lion's Head Meatballs." This was one of my favorites when I was a kid. “Shizitou” is a Chinese wok seared meatball braised in an oyster sauce base, and sauteed with veggies.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS (dry)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp ginger (about 1 inch)

• 1/2 cup kimchi

• 4 strips bacon

• 4 eggs

• 2 green onions

• 2 cups rice (leftover)

• vegetable oil

• kosher salt

• furikake (optional)

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp gochujang

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine

hi hello hi everyone! we're making a crispy kimchi fried rice today that I love doing in a cast iron pan, cause the heavy bottom of the pan helps us get a super crispy bottom layer of rice for a nice bit of crunch. I'll be splitting this one between a wok and a cast iron, but if you only have one, you can totally do this whole dish in just one pan.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS (dry)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp ginger (about 1 inch)

• 1/2 cup kimchi

• 4 strips bacon

• 4 eggs

• 2 green onions

• 2 cups rice (leftover)

• vegetable oil

• kosher salt

• furikake (optional)

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp gochujang

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine

Hi there hello everyone! Tonight we're making a Shanghainese dish called "Lion's Head Meatballs." This was one of my favorites when I was a kid. “Shizitou” is a Chinese wok seared meatball braised in an oyster sauce base, and sauteed with veggies.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS (dry)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp ginger (about 1 inch)

• 1/2 cup kimchi

• 4 strips bacon

• 4 eggs

• 2 green onions

• 2 cups rice (leftover)

• vegetable oil

• kosher salt

• furikake (optional)

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp gochujang

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine