[Nakgopsae]
It is hard to believe it was only May, but last month brought a continuous stretch of hot days. Just thinking about the upcoming rainy season followed by the sweltering heat of summer is enough to make one's head spin, but this is precisely the time of year when we should start preparing our bodies for the summer months.
In Eastern medicine, the rainy season is believed to bring "dampness evil" (humidity), causing unnecessary moisture to accumulate in the body, which leads to physical ailments such as lethargy in the limbs, a loss of appetite, and sensitivity to cold. To counteract this, it is highly recommended to actively incorporate ingredients that stimulate the digestive tract—such as ginger, green onions, garlic, chives, and chili peppers—all of which are used abundantly in Korean cuisine. Capsaicin, the spicy component found in the chili peppers used in Korean dishes, is said to stimulate the mucous membranes of the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, thereby boosting appetite and enhancing metabolism. For this rainy season, we would love to introduce a Korean dish that you should definitely try: nakgopsae.
"Nakgopsae" is a hot pot dish that originated in Busan, in the southern part of South Korea. It is a dish where nakchi (long-arm octopus), gopchang (beef or pork tripe), and saeu (shrimp) are simmered in a sweet and spicy sauce, with the name derived from the first letters of each ingredient. It is such a famous local specialty that Busan has restaurants entirely dedicated to it. When asking an acquaintance from the city, "What do you recommend in Busan?", the answer is often "nakgopsae." It is a dish that allows you to savor the rich flavors of both seafood and juicy tripe simultaneously, making it an excellent accompaniment to both rice and alcoholic drinks. When you order it at a restaurant, a pot filled with the ingredients is brought out and simmered on a tabletop stove right before your eyes. Watching it bubble away right in front of you heightens your anticipation, with the wonderful aroma drifting through the air. Once it is ready, you ladle a generous portion of the ingredients along with the rich broth over white rice. After topping it with side dishes or Korean seaweed to your liking, you mix it all together and eat it just like bibimbap. The plump, chewy texture of the tripe pairs perfectly with the soup infused with the deep umami of the seafood, and you will find yourself eating in blissful silence while working up a sweat. To finish the meal, you can toss udon or instant noodles into the remaining concentrated broth, ensuring you enjoy every last drop.
In recent years, the popularity of nakgopsae has been steadily spreading in Japan, with an increasing number of Korean restaurants offering it and famous chains from authentic Busan expanding into the country. While the flavor eaten at specialty restaurants is undeniably delicious, making it at home allows you to adjust the spiciness to your preference and make use of leftovers in your refrigerator, greatly expanding the ways you can enjoy it through your own variations.
The basic seasoning consists of a broth base mixed with condiments such as garlic, chili peppers, gochujang (Korean chili paste), soy sauce, and sugar, but you can also use a commercially available kimchi tteokguk or kimchi jjigae base to take out any guesswork. Furthermore, it can easily be made with readily available ingredients by substituting a seafood mix for the fresh seafood, or using pork belly instead of tripe. In fact, there is even a menu variation called "naksamsae," which features samgyeopsal (pork belly) instead of tripe. For cooking, a wide and shallow pot—such as a sukiyaki pot or a yosenabe—is highly recommended because it makes it convenient to portion out the ingredients. Since you will want to ladle the ingredients along with the savory broth onto white rice, a bowl with a fair amount of depth is safer and more practical than the standard shallow tonsui bowl often used for hot pot dishes. Additionally, Yoshita Handi-Design Studio's Renge Spoon is perfect for realizing the ideal bite: thoroughly mixing the ingredients and rice to carry the broth, toppings, and rice to your mouth all at once.
Before the full-blown heat of summer arrives, let us aim to build a body that can work up a healthy sweat and prepare ourselves to energetically navigate the Japanese summer.
Kiya's Sukiyaki Pot
https://www.shokunin.com/en/kiya/sukiyaki.html
Nakamura Douki's Yosenabe
https://www.shokunin.com/en/nakamuradouki/yosenabe.html
Seiryugama's Bowl
https://www.shokunin.com/en/seiryu/hachi.html
Ichiyougama's Menbachi
https://www.shokunin.com/en/ichiyou/menbachi.html
Yoshita Handi-Design Studio's Renge Spoon
https://www.shokunin.com/en/yoshita/cutlery.html
References
https://www.543life.com/content/shun/post20220602.html
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/syouan/seisaku/capsaicin/
https://japanese.visitkorea.or.kr/svc/contents/contentsView.do?vcontsId=178464
