It’s not as if Gourmandistan hasn’t ventured Korean cuisine before. But now that we own Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard’s Koreatown: A Cookbook, we’re pretty sure our realm will now frequently include meals with banchan, gochugaru and other good things out of the Hermit Kingdom and its more friendly neighbor to the south—quite possibly this soy-braised tofu dish called Dubu Jorim.
Hong is a Korean-American chef who runs the restaurant Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong in New York’s Koreatown, and who previously worked in the kitchens of Momofuku and Jean-Georges. He partnered with Rodbard, a Brooklyn food writer, to create a book with interviews, essays and photos from Korean places across the USA. From Los Angeles to Atlanta to Manhattan, recipes and reminiscences mix to present an enticing picture of Korean food, which we are eagerly exploring.
We began our journey with a selection of banchan, including a kimchi contest between David Chang’s Momofuku recipe and the marinade/cure mix offered in Koreatown. (The competition was declared a draw, though Steve still misses the funky salted shrimp Michelle has banned from Chang’s version.) In addition to various marinated vegetables, we’ve tried out braised soybeans, blistered peppers, soy and sesame spinach, cucumber salad and glazed potatoes.
Since our long ago purchases of Momofuku and Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen, we’ve always kept many Korean ingredients on hand, and we were able to bang out the braised tofu with very little effort. The sweet and smoky undertones of gochugaru (ground Korean chili pepper) really are essential for the dish and thankfully most any decent-sized American town has at least one Asian grocery where you can pick up a bag. Koreatown describes Dubu Jorim as something “for fans of cooking with texture,” and we did find the dish, in which the tofu is first fried then braised, to have “an incredibly pleasing mouthfeel.”
Our tubs of fermented bean paste and bags of chili powder may be in danger of running low quite soon as we’re decidedly into a Korean cooking phase. But since we’ll be running to our nearby Asian grocer in the not-too-distant future to stock up on more things for banchan and other ideas Korean, that should not be a problem.
(adapted, barely, from Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard’s Koreatown: A Cookbook) Slice the tofu into 1/2″ pieces and wrap in paper towels to dry. Mix together soy sauce, garlic, ginger, gochugaru, sesame oil, sugar, mirin and water in a bowl. Generously coat a skillet with vegetable oil. Heat until just starting to smoke. Add tofu and cook, in batches, turning frequently until nicely browned on both sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate or a cooling rack set over some waxed paper. When all the tofu is cooked, remove all but about 1 TB of oil from the skillet. Add the soy sauce mixture, then return the tofu to the skillet. Braise over medium-high heat until the liquid is caramelized (about 4 or 5 minutes). Remove from heat. Serve at room temperature, garnished with scallions and sesame seeds.SOY-BRAISED TOFU
Gourmandistan 
Looks delicious. More than.
It was!
Would you please send a few servings my way? That looks so good!
Lucky you—you could easily go to real Koreatown!
‘Tis a small world’, it really is! . . . . In Australia Korean and Mexican are the ‘flavours-of-the-month’ at the moment and how can you possibly not have gochugaru amd gochujang in your pantry 🙂 ! And everyone has ‘their’ favourite kimchi recipe in ‘the making’!! Actually my favourite and very practical recipe comes from a Lille academic in France 🙂 !! Fusion: the name of the game!!! Your tofu marinade shall be tried in absence of a certain book . . . and I am certain, enjoyed!! Thanks !!!!!
It’s funny, isn’t it? Suddenly today it was like Korean food everywhere in my Internet stream.
Always something new to learn. Looks and sounds delicious!
Indeed!
Sounds delicious
It was!
I agree. I will try it, as I have been experimenting more with tofu lately, after a re-reading of Mark Bittman’s VB6 and for a new business project A trick which I have picked from Kenji A Lopez from Serious Eats is to pour over tofu some boiling water, this, counterintuitively as it might sound, apparently has the effect of firming up tofu even more. I did not do blind testing, I just trust theme and do it. stefano (pr right now I have to admit that my favorite way of serving tofu still remains the ubiquotus tofu chocolate mousse, with or without spices). s
That’s interesting. I’m hoping someone will buy me his new cookbook. 🙂 I like tofu … as long as somebody’s not trying to pass it off as something else. Like fake meat.
Anything with gochugaru in it moves to the top of my list. I have to confess I’m not wild about tofu but this sounds really good. Sorry, was that damning with faint praise? Not the intention, it really does sound delicious! Lx
Good stuff, huh? I actually like tofu—so long as it’s just being tofu (i.e., not masquerading as meat).
Wow! Love it
Thanks!
I would like this beautiful dish for breakfast – the best breakfast ever.
Any meal. 😉
More deliciousness from there or wherever you have moved Gourmandistan to now!
You never know where we’ll turn up!
This is a good recipe for someone (me!) who loves Korean food and needs a recipe with ingredients that aren’t too hard to find. 🙂
Voila!
Now we more in French! 🙂
Yum! I can munch on this non stop.
Me too, Raymund!
This dish could make a tofu lover out of me. It sounds delicious!.
Tofu can be good!
Fantastic and delicious is what this is all about. I am looking forward to your next post!
Aaw, thanks. It was the best cookbook impulse buy I’ve made in a long time.
I tried it for lunch. pretty good and quick. nice recipe. thanks. stefano
You’re welcome. Good, eh?
Well you know I’ve got all of these ingredients. Thank you for posting this!
Yay! (And it’s decidedly just tofu. No masquerading.)