9 traditional Korean kitchenware [ Korean Cooking Tools ]
There are many traditional cooking utensils in Korea.
There are tools that have been used since long ago and tools made in modern society.
This post takes a closer look at Korean cookware and its functions.
Index
- Chopsticks [ Jeosgalag ]
- MillStone [ Maesdol ]
- Ttukbaegi
- Rice Winnow [ Ssal ki ]
- Bokjori
- Mortar and Pestle
- Cauldron [ Gamasot ]
- Dalgona Tool
- Cauldron Lid [ Gamasot ttukkeong ]
- Conclusion
Some of the cooking utensils I will introduce may be familiar to you, while others may be your first time seeing them.
There are various cooking utensils such as chop-sticks, mill-stones, earthen pots, rice-winnow, Bok-jori, mortar, cauld-ron, dalgona mold, and cauldron lid.
Let’s learn about Korean cooking utensils one by one.
Chopsticks [ Jeosgalag ]
![chopsticks [ traditional Korean kitchenware ]](https://i0.wp.com/scspbk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/chopsticks.jpg?resize=1024%2C423&ssl=1)
Jeosgalag are a commonly used tool in Asian culture.
In the West, forks are usually used instead of chop sticks, while in the East, chop-sticks are used.
chop-sticksare tools used to cook or eat food by leveraging two long sticks with three fingers.
In Korea, children are taught to practice using chop-sticks around the age of four.
Using chop-sticks keeps your fingers moving, which helps a lot with brain development and makes it easier to pick up and eat food.
Jeosga-lag are a necessity in Korean culture, so much so that they are used even when cooking food.
Using chop-sticks isn’t difficult, but it takes a lot of practice.
Korean Utensils Set can be easily purchased online.
MillStone [ Maesdol ]
You may be unfamiliar with mill-stones.
It is made of two round stones stacked on top of each other, and the stone on top has a handle to turn it.
The stone component of the traditional Mill-Stone is made of mugwort stone.
By processing the mugwort stone, the lower stone is made into a round and wide shape, and the upper stone is made by drilling a hole in the center of the round shape.
It is mainly used to grind grain, and is also used to grind beans and grains.
To use, place the mill-stone in a large container, place beans in the center hole, and then turn the top stone in a circle.
The beans are ground and released in liquid form between stones. The bean water is collected and used to make tofu or bean noodles.
Put the beans into the hole of the mill-stone and add water little by little as you grind them to grind them better.
Ttukbaegi
There are two types of ttukbaegi.
There are stone ttuk-baegi made of carved stones and earthenware ttuk-baegi made of red clay.
To make an earthenware ttuk-baegi, red clay is shaped into an ttuk-baegi, then lit oak wood and baked at a temperature of 1000 degrees.
The difference between an earthenware ttuk-baegi and a stone ttuk-baegi is the temperature difference.
Compared to earthenware ttuk-baegi, stone ttuk-baegi have higher thermal insulation power.
Stone ttuk-baegi is thick and the stones retain heat, so they do not cool down easily.
ttuk-baegi are generally used for cooking soup or rice.
When you cook rice, the rice sticks to the ttuk-baegi and turns into kkambap.
After you transfer the rice to another bowl, you can see the kkambap stuck to the ttuk-baegi.
At this time, add an appropriate amount of warm water and wait for 5 to 10 minutes to create a savory nurungji soup.
If you eat scorched rice soup for dessert after finishing your meal, it is easy to digest and there is no need for another dessert.
There are also a variety of ttuk-baegi dishes, such as dolsot octopus rice bowl, dolsot pork rice bowl, dolsot bibimbap, and ttuk-baegi bulgogi.
Rice Winnow [ Ssal ki ]
Rice winnow is currently not widely used in Korea, so it is a difficult tool to see around you.
However, it is still sold at online shopping malls.
Usage is simple.
Dry the rice and then peel it.
This tool was mainly used to separate the peeled husk from the rice.
ssal ki is usually made from bamboo.
Another thing is that when children peed on the blanket, they were made to wear rice win now on their heads like hats and go to the next door to buy salt.
It is one of the old customs, and it has been passed down since the old days when children were embarrassed and adults scolded them not to pee again.
They are all gone now.
Bokjori
This is a tool used to wash rice.
In the past, rice was stored poorly and bugs called weevils appeared in the rice.
It was used to filter out rice bugs, and was mainly used to filter out small stones the size of rice grains.
To use, pour rice into a bowl and mix with water.
When you slowly turn the top of the rice using the bok-jori, the rice grains rise to the surface of the water for a moment, and then the rice grains floating on the water are scooped out using the bokjori.
Another thing is that there was a saying that if you hang fortune-telling in your house, it will bring good luck, so at one time, many were hung in the house.
Mortar and Pestle
A mortar is a tool used to crush grain.
Put a small amount of various grains such as beans, sesame seeds, rice cakes, etc. in a Mor-tar and hit it from top to bottom with the Mor-tar rod the grains.
Currently, I use a small Mor-tar at home, but even that Mor-tar gets pushed into the blender, so I don’t use it much.
In the days when there were no blenders, garlic was crushed in a Mor-tar and used a lot.
Cauldron [ Gamasot ]
Gamasot is a traditional Korean pot.
It is used to light a fire in the furnace and boil rice or soup.
The Cauldron is made of cast iron, so it is quite heavy.
In the past, we washed rice in a pot and put potatoes or sweet potatoes on top to cook rice, but after eating rice, we often ate sweet potatoes or potato as dessert.
All soups, boiled chicken, and steamed dishes were made in one Gama-sot.
And after cooking, the rice sticks to the bottom, which is called kkambap.
You can take the kkambap out of the pot and make scorched rice soup and make kkambap snacks.
To make kkambap snacks, fry kkambap in oil and then lightly sprinkle sugar on top of the fried kkambap.
A crunchy and excellent kkambap snack is completed.
It’s a pity that there aren’t many places where Gama-sot are used these days.
Dalgona Tool
Dalgona is very famous all over the world.
It first appeared in Korea around 1957 to early 1960 in Busan. Sugar was dissolved in dalgona ladle, glucose lumps were added instead of Korean-style soda powder, and then the dalgona was sold as a finished product.
If you add glucose chunks to dissolve sugar and mix it, the sweetness will become stronger.
Dalgona was popular nationwide in Korea from the 1970s to the late 1980s.
In the past, in front of an elementary school, they built a tent like a food stall and sold dalgona inside over a briquette fire instead of a gas stove.
There was a time when children would sit together in groups and place 3 to 4 dalgona molds on a briquette burner to make and eat them.
The price at that time was $0.05.
Currently, prices are rising a lot, so Dalgona is sold for about $1 per piece.
Cauldron Lid [ Gamasot ttukkeong ]
I made a lot of pancakes, fried foods, etc. using the old Gama-sot ttukkeong.
Currently, cauldron-lids are widely used for grilling meat.
When you go to a Korean restaurant, you can often see cauldron-lids used for grilling meat.
After heating the bottom of the Gamasot ttukkeong, place meat on it, add kimchi, green onions, garlic, etc. and bake together.
The Gamasot ttukkeong is not a method invented in modern society.
Since ancient times, people have often made fried food cauldron lids.
Conclusion
We looked at a variety of traditional Korean cooking utensils.
There are things we see for the first time, but there are also many things we are familiar with.
Many products that come out these days are made by modifying traditional cookware.
I will come back with more useful information in the next column.
